Kindergarten & TK Information

Kindergarten & TK Enrollment, 2025-26 School Year

A big welcome to our incoming Kindergarten and TK students and families!

INFORMATION NIGHTS

Transitional Kindergarten (TK): January 15, 6:30 to 7:30 pm
- In person at Earhart Elementary School
Kindergarten: January 16, 2025,

At the Info Nights, families will hear about the Transitional Kindergarten and Kindergarten programs and receive information about the enrollment process for AUSD. We encourage families new to Otis Elementary School to attend these important first events in getting to know our school.

SCHOOL TOURS

Please use the following form to sign up for tours of our school and tell us a little more about your child.
- 2025-26 Incoming TK/Kindergarten Form

ENROLLMENT

Otis Enrollment FAQs

The enrollment form will be available starting the morning of January 27, 2025. For more information about TK and Kindergarten enrollment, visit the Enrollment page of the AUSD website.

The first day of school for the 2025-26 school year is August 11, 2025. We look forward to meeting you and your child!

Otis Kindergarten Information Night FAQs

Following 2024-25 Kindergarten Information night, several families had additional questions. We attempted to answer those below.
If you still have additional questions, please contact us at 510-748-4013.

What is the teacher to child ratio for kindergarten?

How do you deal with gun safety given the nature of the shootings that occur?

Not a question that we enjoy answering, but unfortunately something that we need to talk about and have a plan for given where we are today. All staff are trained annually on how to respond in an emergency situation, including a situation that involves an active shooter. Your teachers are experts in having these conversations in an age appropriate manner and training our students to make safe decisions. We do active threat drills 2 times per year using the ALICE model of response. Additional information about the ALICE protocol.

Are there classroom parent volunteer opportunities?

Can you clarify after care options when at Lum?

Is there risk of construction going beyond the 2 years planned?

What is the curriculum for kindergarten and how is it delivered?

There are several curriculums that are adopted and used in Kindergarten including:

Center for the Collaborative Classroom (CCC)- English Language Arts
Eureka Math Squared- Math
Studies Weekly/ Scholastic News- Social Studies
Mystery Science- Science
Toolbox- Social Emotional Learning

Teachers also use a variety of other resources which they will be sharing with you at Back to School Night!

Are kids shown videos in class as part of the curriculum and how frequently?

There are certain parts of our curriculum where the use of video is used as an added engagement factor for students. Teachers may also use videos as supplemental resources for learning (such as Storyline Online for example) or classroom rewards. If you have specific questions/concerns in regards to the use of videos in the classroom, that would be a great question to ask your teacher at Back to School Night.

My child is already reading, will they be allowed to continue at their own pace?

The goal is always to differentiate our instruction to meet the needs of all of our learners wherever they may be. Teachers have a variety of levels of books in their classroom that students have access to. Furthermore, with the change to a full day Kindergarten schedule, Kindergarteners will have the chance to visit the Library/Media Center each week and can select books of their level and interest.