Private Transitional Kindergarten in Tarzana, CA
Age: Turns 5 Years Old Between September 2nd & March 1st
Empowering Early Learners for Bright Futures
Woodcrest’s Outstanding TK Program
Transitional Kindergarten (TK) is an educational program designed for children who turn five years old between September 2nd and March 1st of the academic year. Woodcrest’s TK program offers children extra time to help build a stronger educational foundation for Kindergarten. We incorporate learning and play through our innovative enrichment programs and modified, age-appropriate Kindergarten curriculum. Classes are small to ensure students learn at an individualized pace to accommodate all types of learning styles. After TK, most students are adequately prepared for Kindergarten.
Our groundbreaking
Transitional Kindergarten Curriculum
At this age, we focus on helping your child learn social skills, pre-reading skills, pre-writing skills, basic math concepts, and fine motor skills. In TK, your child will learn to recognize and identify letters, phonics, numbers, shapes, colors, and concepts. We encourage independence, creativity, and curiosity through various activities to build a strong educational foundation.
Learning the alphabet and phonics is one of the first big steps your child takes to learn how to read! Each week we focus on a new letter. We learn to recognize the uppercase and lowercase of each letter and the phonetic sounds each letter makes. We use many different activities to help your child solidify the new things they are learning, for example, if we’re talking about the letter “B,” we might have a tray with a small ball, a little boat, and some books. Activities like this allow children to touch, see, and play with things that connect to what they’re learning.
In TK, your child will learn to identify numbers and count all the way up to 100! They will also learn the basics of addition and subtraction, and to count by fives. These skills help them grasp number patterns and prepare them to learn more complex math concepts in elementary school. In our TK curriculum, we also practice identifying coins, providing a practical understanding of money.
In Transitional Kindergarten, your child will learn to recognize shapes from their unique characteristics. We practice counting the sides of a shape and looking for that shape around our classroom. We will learn about what makes a square different from a rectangle, and we will practice drawing and tracing shapes. We use blocks and shape-sorting games for children to practice what they’re learning independently.
At this age, your child can understand more abstract and complex concepts such as seasons, weather, nutrition, and more! We make learning about the world around us exciting and engaging. We explore seasons and holidays, understanding how the weather changes and why we celebrate special days. We discover the concept of animals hibernating during certain times of the year, adapting to their environment. Students also learn to recognize and spell their names, fostering a sense of identity. We discuss how foods help our bodies grow, think, and have energy for play. Through hands-on activities and interactive lessons, we aim to spark curiosity and lay the foundation for a well-rounded understanding of the world.
Art nurtures creativity, self-expression, and fine motor skills and is a great way for your child to connect what they are learning to the real world. In our art lessons, we have fun exploring what art is, different famous artists, and how we can make art ourselves! We use different objects and materials such as crayons, glue, feathers, and pipe cleaners and talk about using different colors, shapes, and tools to create our artwork. We also learn about music and play with maracas, drums, and more!
Each day, students practice writing and tracing letters, numbers, and their names with pencils in their workbooks. They also learn how to use pencils and scissors correctly all by themselves. These activities help them develop their fine motor skills and learn how to use tools.
Learning Activities for TK
Centers
In our learning centers, we provide a dynamic and interactive environment to teach various concepts. We play with objects like geoboards, free art, blocks, legos, magnets, and more to teach problem-solving, science, math, and fine motor skills.
Writing Center
In our Transitional Kindergarten (TK) writing centers, students build confidence in letter and number formation through daily writing activities. They practice tracing, independent writing, and name recognition to strengthen fine motor skills and early literacy. Teachers provide guidance to ensure proper pencil grip, letter formation, and the safe use of writing materials while encouraging independence and creativity.
Academic Games
One of the best ways to teach young children is through play! We play bingo, dominoes, memory, shape sorting, and a name-matching game to solidify the different things we learn each week.
Fine Arts
Our fine arts enrichment program encourages TK students to discover their creativity through hands-on art experiences. They study the works of famous artists and experiment with different mediums to create their own masterpieces. By exploring elements like line, shape, color, and texture, children develop an appreciation for artistic expression while gaining an understanding of how art reflects diverse cultures and perspectives.
Liberal Arts
Each month, TK students explore the works of a featured author, learning about their background and reading a selection of their books. Daily read-aloud sessions introduce new vocabulary, sentence structures, and storytelling techniques, enhancing language development and critical thinking. Reading is also an essential part of the daily routine, creating a structured and engaging environment for learning.
STEAM
In our Transitional Kindergarten (TK) classrooms, students engage in hands-on STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math) activities that encourage problem-solving and creativity. Each classroom reads a book featuring a problem for students to solve, such as building a sturdy chair for Baby Bear in The Three Bears or constructing a strong bridge after reading The Three Billy Goats Gruff. STEAM projects also connect to the weekly theme, allowing children to build and create based on what they are learning.
STEAM in TK happens in two ways: students visit the STEAM lab to work on larger projects with the STEAM teacher and also experiment with STEAM activities in the classroom. They follow a structured process—plan, build, test, revise—to strengthen critical thinking and teamwork skills.
Our Private Transitional Kindergarten Schedule
Circle Time
We discuss our daily learning objective, read a book, and go over the calendar.
Alphabet & Phonics
We practice tracing and sounding out letters and writing our names.
Arts & Crafts
We have a new project every day to go with our learning objective!
Math
We practice identifying numbers, counting, and sorting.
Lunch
Students eat their lunch.
Outside Time
We spend an hour outside playing games and getting our wiggles out!
Writing Exercises
We practice recognizing and tracing our names.
Snack
Students have a light snack.
Story Time
We read a story in our afternoon circle time.
Free Play
Students play or do homework.
Pick Up
It’s time to come get your little one!
See What Our Families Have To Say!
Ready to Enroll?
Once you’ve toured our preschool and decided that Woodcrest Preschool is the perfect fit for your family, simply visit our enrollment page to access all the necessary forms. Please note that enrollment is finalized only after a face-to-face meeting with our Preschool Director.
FAQs About Transitional Kindergarten
While both TK and Kindergarten share common goals of fostering early learning and development, TK serves as a transitional year to ensure that younger learners are well-prepared for the more formal academic setting of traditional Kindergarten.
Our TK students learn independence, problem-solving, motor skills, literacy, and social and emotional skills.
Full-time Transitional Kindergarten at Woodcrest Preschool costs $1415 per month.
We are open from 7:30 am to 5:30 pm, with class starting at 9 am and ending at 5:15 pm.
In California, Transitional Kindergarten (TK) is available for children who turn five years old between September 2nd and March 1st of the school year.
Transitional Kindergarten is a 1-year program.
