January 2, 2025
When parents are just beginning to explore early childhood and kindergarten programs for their children, many questions are at the forefront of their minds. Will their child be safe and nurtured but also challenged? At MPA, the answer would be ‘yes’ to these questions. However, parents also question what institutes the proper amount of academic rigor for five to six-year-olds and ask what this rigor should look like in kindergarten.
Mounds Park Academy, one of the top two private schools in Minnesota and one of the nation’s top STEM schools, serves students PreK through 12th grade and features both a PreK and a kindergarten program that deeply believes that play is, in fact, one of the most important components of a successful early childhood and kindergarten program.
Benefits of Play in Child Development
In Suzanne Bouffard’s book “The Most Important Year,” she discusses best practices for the earliest years of school. She explains that successful early childhood programs follow the research, which states “very clearly that children learn through play and this notion that you have to choose between play and academic learning is a false dichotomy.” She writes, “One study showed that you can give children building blocks and let them build whatever they want. Or you can give children building blocks with a goal–to build a landing pad for a helicopter, for example. In both cases, everybody ends up having fun and learning something, but the kids who had a goal actually used richer vocabulary, especially around spatial skills and building concepts.” Read More
This message is from MPA’s Office of Admission from the December 21 issue of Inside MPA. 
This message is from MPA’s Office of Admission from the December 11 issue of Inside MPA. 
What makes a strong kindergarten program? How do you know what will be a good fit for your child? Should you find a program that focuses on academics, play, or one that promotes both? Is a public elementary school the right choice or a private one with smaller kindergarten class sizes?
“I’m living the dream every day,” remarks kindergarten teacher Katie Roche. “Not only do I have the honor of helping our kindergarteners grow into readers, mathematicians, scientists, and historians, I have the privilege of helping them learn to love school and truly love learning. That is the feeling we want them to have walking in through the front door every day, and to be carried with them even as adults.”
One of the most frequent questions asked of our admission staff when families are first exploring our school is, “Tell me about homework” or “How much homework do students have at Mounds Park Academy?” MPA’s philosophy is that homework should always affirm and confirm what students have learned in the classroom. In other words, homework assignments should be about practice. When homework is designed this way, it leads to students taking responsibility for their assignments because they understand how to approach it. Our end goal is that students will find motivation within themselves to succeed. We also work to teach our students balance. We want them to be able to focus on their academic achievements, but also be in the musical, or play soccer, or participate in debate. It is important that students can handle the responsibility of homework without them drowning in it. Rigor at MPA is not the amount of homework you have or the number of hours you spend studying. Rigor at MPA is a deep and meaningful inquiry.
This message is from MPA’s Office of Admission from the November 8 issue of Inside MPA. 
This message is from MPA’s Office of Admission from the October 26 issue of Inside MPA. 
This message is from MPA’s Office of Admission from the October 16 issue of Inside MPA. 
This message is from MPA’s Office of Admission from the October 2 issue of Inside MPA.