Our core curriculum is tailored to the age and individual to give each student the tools they need to gain authentic confidence, emotional intelligence, curiosity and humanity. We teach at the highest academic standards, giving students a foundation for excellence.
The program features exceptional teachers leading intimate classes where each child is known and each child’s strengths and areas of growth inform the program content and pacing.
Learn to be a learner.
Learn to thrive in a group outside the family. Learn to know your feelings, and talk about them.
Learn how words stand for thoughts. Written words hold ideas we can share.
Learn counting, shapes, volumes, and time. Use these ideas to learn about the world.
Share ideas in your many languages: words, structures, paintings, organized sound, your moving body, and your ready imagination.
Use your body to move in large ways and small, careful ways to do your best.
Learn how things work and why. Explore ideas that open new worlds.
Learn who you are in relationship to others in your community, your world, your history.
Preschool and Transitional Kindergarten teachers carry the Key Concepts to every teaching task choosing the appropriate teaching methods and resources to empower students. They teach Key Concepts in three important ways:
Every teacher-child interaction is a learning opportunity. Grounded in respect, love, and trust, the child learns from the teacher and the teacher from the child.
Whether a circle time or a small group orchestrated by the teacher to attend to a particular kind of learning, children learn from each other and from the teacher.
In this dynamic and sometimes extended process, the teacher integrates the key concepts into the child’s spontaneous, day-to-day discoveries, interests, and questions. Teachers also provoke the children’s curiosity with unique and intriguing ideas. In turn, each child’s experiences, personality, knowledge, skills, and interests determine what, how and even whether a child will learn from any given activity.
The Trinity Preschool and Transitional Kindergarten programs provide the time, space, expertise, and guidance to prepare children for elementary school through an unhurried, child-centered set of experiences
Trinity School’s warm-hearted and experienced teachers understand that children age three or four have distinct ways of viewing reality and are beginning to shape their understanding of how the world works. Therefore teachers foster the curiosity that motivates a child’s life-long learning by posing questions that encourage the child to observe, use language, and take reasonable risks. Key Concepts as well as teachers’ extensive experience guide learning for Trinity School’s youngest students. Children explore the concept of God in weekly Chapel services conducted by a chaplain of Trinity Church.
Children ages 3-4 enter a social and learning world outside of home. As the children engage with learning activities, questions and observations form the basis of interaction with teachers and other students. Handling, moving, and thinking about different materials leads to problem setting and problem solving. A piece of string might generate a conversation about line; a found wheel might lead to exploring why certain shapes roll and others do not. All of this exploration leads to transformative thinking.
Every activity in our Preschool Program affords the teacher new opportunity to assess student development and growth. Conversing with students about play, work, drawings, and feelings tells students how valuable they, their thinking, and their learning are.
The Transitional Kindergarten program is appropriate for:
Our Transitional Kindergarten extends the philosophy and approach of our Preschool for children who will be age four by September 1st or those who may closely meet the Kindergarten age requirement but would benefit from the Transitional Kindergarten year. Children move through developmental stages at different rates and in different ways. Trinity’s Transitional Kindergarten program provides time, space, and expert teacher facilitation for children to continue maturing, to integrate learning skills, and to practice social relationships. The Transitional Kindergarten child leaves the program with confidence and academically prepared to begin the elementary years.
Child’s play is child’s work. Within the stimulating classroom environment, the child, peers, and teachers make choices as they explore learning areas and materials. Using language and intentional relationships, students make plans anticipating what they intend to do, how, and with whom. Teachers guide the child’s articulation of the plan and facilitate the child’s reflection on completed work to instill self-awareness and independence in learning.
During project work, students design, create, and represent ideas and discoveries through conversation, art, writing, and inventing. Teachers value students’ graphic language whether expressed in a painting, a sculpture, or in written words. The visual representation of children’s ideas becomes increasingly deliberate as teachers record and read back. Thus children establish the foundation for later formal reading and writing instruction.
Transitional Kindergarten students attend Chapel once a week to explore the idea of God and our relationships to God and to each other.
Delight in thinking to solve problems. Value different perspectives.
Read fluently with understanding and pleasure. Expand your world.
Write to know what you think and why. Learn many forms of communication. Match message with audience.
Of different cultures, of art, of music, and our bodies. Open yourself to expression.
Know basic math facts. Mentally manipulate numbers. Solve real problems.
Know who and what came before you. Build on their good ideas. Avoid their mistakes.
Explore the unknown. Learn to frame the next question. Pursue a logical response.
Forgive yourself. Forgive others. Treat others as yourself. Serve the common good.
In this way, the Trinity School experience provides each child with the learning tools to be a problem-solver, an information manager, and a productive team member. Trinity School prepares students to learn how to ask the next relevant question that will inform solving a given problem at hand. This is how we train the curious mind in each child.
Kindergarten is a time when young students need to know they are cared for and valued as they begin more academic learning. Kindergarten teachers provide assurance and care for the child throughout the learning day. Students receive direct instruction as well as workshop time with hands-on activities that provide opportunity to explore and integrate prior learning. Teachers encourage students to take risks in all areas of the curriculum, knowing it is a safe place to explore, make mistakes, and ultimately succeed.
Kindergartners crave exploration and structure. Students explore new learning in each activity as they write, draw, and speak their ideas to increase critical thinking skills. Students express and develop their interests at inquiry centers throughout the room. Kindergartners thrive in a flexible environment that provides places for large and small groups, individual work, and quiet retreat areas. The students’ work is celebrated and exhibited throughout the classroom.
Kindergartners thrive in comfortable structure as the teachers guide the daily routine; support each student; meet them where they are; and modify instruction to meet each child’s educational requirements within a classroom context. Students increase self-awareness and self-regulation by learning conflict resolution. Caring and compassion are central to all relationships in the classroom and at recess.
Students in Grade 1 enter a major cognitive transition where logic is more apparent in their thinking. Together teachers and children engage in the core work of literacy while exploring new horizons of knowledge and ways of organizing thinking and learning. Teachers challenge students with more sophisticated and symbolic math, structured writing activities, and a variety of reading concepts. Children’s dramatic change in physical, intellectual, and social growth is accommodated and supported in all curricular areas.
Grade 1 students are industrious. Curiosity, openness, drive, and imagination fuel the Grade 1 student’s enthusiasm. Schoolwork can be as important to the student as is play. The child is ready to engage in tasks that seem never too big or too hard. The teachers support and guide their students’ “ready to tackle the world” attitude. Teachers recognize that support and encouragement are two of the most important building blocks for success. In their eagerness, as the students hurry to be the first to complete an assignment, or rush through the creation of a project, or run to be first in line, teachers help children learn that the process is as important as the product. Grade 1 students engage with learning and social relationships trying earnestly to do their best
Differentiation is an important aspect for Grade 2 students. The core work of literacy continues and takes place for children at differing rates. Within the classroom context, differentiated instruction supports a variety of learning styles. The room design provides for children’s need for movement and appropriate instructional periods. The classroom teacher accommodates motor differences with writing tools such as slant boards and finger pillows and supports math instruction with manipulative materials. Teachers instruct using a variety of modalities to ensure the small and large successes that prepare Grade 2 students to continue learning with confidence and competence.
Grade 2 students at Trinity are serious and diligent workers. Attention to inward thinking and diligent effort are key components in their actions and thinking. This is also a time when intense curiosity drives students to invent and organize information in more symbolic ways. In their minds their work should be quite correct. Teachers support this mindset by encouraging thoroughness rather that perfectionism. Grade 2 students especially love routine and structure. Knowing when and what to expect is important. Daily schedules and routines encourage students to manage their time effectively. Grade 2 students value their personal connections with the teacher. Humor, care, and fun are at the heart of these teacher-child relationships.
As Grade 3 students come to value peer assessment almost more than teachers’ assessment, collaboration and group projects come into practice. Trinity teachers introduce students to a sensitive and reliable approach to judging the work of peers. Ideas related to discrimination and justice increasingly occur to the minds of Grade 3 students. Teachers encourage the discussion of differences and diversity among and between individuals and groups. The teacher supports students as active participants in their own community.
Great ideas and incredible exuberance set the Trinity Grade 3 students apart. Constraints and limitations tend to evaporate. The sky is the limit! Ideas are abundant; energy is hard to contain; and the product may be produced within minutes – or after extended dedication! Teachers, aware of this behavior, create assignments that are concise with balance between thoroughness and refinement. The classroom teacher incrementally broadens and deepens all aspects of the program as students begin to look outward into the larger community. In Grade 3, students practice working together within their classroom community in homogenous and heterogeneous groups.
Socially, Grade 3 students are gravitating to more gender specific activities. With this in mind, unity and cohesion are practiced through discussion, conflict resolution, and group work. Students are aware that their own social-emotional skills are increasing. They are proud of their ability to take on more responsibility.
A growing sense of independence requires teachers to respond with instruction that supports this new maturity. Grade 4 students have mastered many basic skills and are ready to delve deeper into all aspects of their learning. The classroom teacher maneuvers the curriculum focus from acquiring and solidifying literacy to using it as a primary form of learning. Students expand their knowledge base and refine skill areas as they discuss and debate ideas, savoring opportunities to think critically and to question why things happen the way they do.
Grade 4 students replace the enthusiasm and liveliness noticeable in Grade 3 with seriousness and a strong desire to understand ethical issues. They desire a better understanding of how and why things happen in particular ways. Practicing for tests, note taking, and discussion paves the way for a less anxious, more reassuring approach to their work. A thirst for understanding and knowledge motivates students. Equity and fairness based on systems and rules informs their thinking. They seek rational explanations and clear guidelines for the vast world of ideas and issues opening to their awareness.
Social groupings by gender are common. Social problem-solving and conflict resolution can be intense and deeply heart-felt as students begin to refine and define their unique identity.
Grade 5 students make learning connections. Prior knowledge and skills now come together to enhance and leverage student learning. This creates a growing sense of self-confidence and self-assurance. The classroom teacher facilitates the students’ increased maturity in understanding through integrated projects that require and encourage the application of skills, concepts, and knowledge across disciplines. Grade 5 students are confident, well prepared, and ready for the challenges and opportunities of middle school.
Grade 5 students embody industriousness and a sense of pride. They are receptive to challenges and opportunities for action. Although impending adolescence is on the horizon, Grade 5 students are focused on integrating and applying skills and ideas. They consider collaboration in groups interesting and fun. Some of the gender boundaries established in Grade 4 come unraveled as students work together. Factual and conceptual information forms the basis for inquiry as students discuss, debate, and justify what they think. Students grasp hold of their abilities to think, organize, write, and take action. They avidly participate in service learning, sometimes forming individual projects outside of school. The Grade 5 year provides opportunity after opportunity for students to expand and apply their learning while also taking time to celebrate accomplishments and appreciate those who have made a difference in their elementary years.
January 20, 2017
Application Deadline
February 24, 2017
Tuition Assistance Application Deadline
March 7, 2017
Transitional Kindergarten and Preschool Decisions Mailed
March 15, 2017
Kindergarten – Grade 5 Decisions Mailed
March 16, 2017
Transitional Kindergarten and Preschool Contracts and Deposits Due
March 23, 2017
Kindergarten – Grade 5 Contracts and Deposits Due
Admission Hours
School Days 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Summer Hours: 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m
2650 Sand Hill Road
Menlo Park, CA 94025
