Healthy Environment - Answers A safe, clean, well-maintained classroom with a positive atmosphere
and social climate
Increases student and staff self-esteem and student achievement
Includes having children practice healthy habits
Includes a relaxed and happy eating environment
Provides an outline of healthy eating programs
Allows for food allergies
Gluten sensitivity
Celiac disease
Organic foods
Respectful Environment - Answers One where teachers show respect for: children, colleagues,
families, and in schools (children are respectful of adults and peers)
Teachers treat student courteously
Talk with them about in and out of school activities and events
Show a genuine concern for them as an individual
Supportive Environment - Answers Creates a climate in which children to their best work
Teachers have high expectations
Children are expected to succeed
Considers aspects of: immediate physical surroundings, social relationships, cultural settings in which
children function and interact
All children of cultures, genders, socioeconomic levels, and backgrounds are valued and included in all
activities
Challenging Environment - Answers Provides a curriculum that are neither too easy nor too hard
Teachers adjust learning levels to children's abilities while also making it possible for children to meet
Common Core Standards and state and local expectations
Responsive to children's cultures and socioeconomic backgrounds
Teachers are attentive to individual students and provide them with one-on-one attention and
instruction as appropriate
Teachers assess children's learning on a daily basis to inform instructional decisions and provide
necessary assistance
Physical Environment - Answers Environments that support learning are essential if we want all
kindergarten children to be successful
Organized to promote student interaction and learning
Provide materials that support children learning to read and write
Provide access and use of technology
Utilize grous
Use a variety of different instructional approaches
Adapt your classroom arrangement
Redshirting - Answers The practice of postponing the entrance into kindergarten of age-eligible
children to allow extra time for social-emotional, intellectual, and physical growth
Developmental Kindergarten (DK) - Answers A prekindergarten for kindergarten-aged children who
are developmentally or behaviorally delayed
Transitional Kindergarten (TK) - Answers Designed to give children the time they need to achieve
what is required for entry into first grade
Mixed-age grouping - Answers Students in two or three grade levels combined in one classroom with
one teacher
Gift of Time - Answers The practice of giving children more time in a program or at home to develop
psychically, emotionally, socially, and cognitively as preparation for kindergarten
Looping - Answers Occurs when a teacher spends two or more years with the same group of same-
age students
Celiac Disease - Answers An immune reaction to eating gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley, and
rye
Gluten Sensitivity - Answers A spectrum of disorders, including celiac disease and wheat allergy in
which gluten has an adverse effect on the body