Why Do We Call the First Year of School Kindergarten?

The cliché "blink and you'll miss it" takes on an entirely new meaning the moment you watch your child strap on their first backpack and walk into their first classroom. You blink, and memories of the last five years flood your brain: first words, first steps, and first smiles. And, suddenly, it's time for kindergarten.

So, you ask yourself, "Where did the time go?" just as your child searches for a box of crayons and finds friendly faces to sit next to.

There are a lot of firsts when it comes to formally entering the school system, but if it's the first official year of school for four-to-six-year-olds across America, why do we call it "kindergarten?" And why is it the only school year that isn't numbered?

WHY DO WE CALL IT 'KINDERGARTEN'?

The first official year of school for children in the United States isn’t first grade; it's actually Kindergarten. So why, exactly, don't we call it first grade?

The reasoning exists in the meaning. In German, "kinder" means child and "garten" means garden, so "kindergarten" literally translates to "children's garden" or "garden of children." The creator of the first kindergarten, educator Friedrich Froebel, explained why he felt the name perfectly captured his vision for the program:

"Children are like tiny flowers; they are varied and need care, but each is beautiful alone and glorious when seen in the community of peers."

Before Froebel introduced the concept in 1840, children typically did not attend school until age seven, as it was assumed they could not focus enough to complete a lesson. Froebel's "kindergarten" was also symbolic in its curriculum.

KINDERGARTEN CURRICULUM: THEN AND NOW

The educator believed young children needed nurturing similar to plants in a garden. Tending a garden is hands-on and observational; through doing, we learn about the plants and the earth. Froebel argued that the best way to "instruct" young children was not to instruct them at all, but rather to calmly guide them.

He encouraged children to play outdoors with minimal direction in an environment where they could "flourish freely." By using patterns and elements found in nature, he introduced science, geometry, and other subjects in ways that fostered imagination.

By simply letting the child play, observe, and come to their own conclusions, Froebel believed they learned "free self-expression, creativity, social participation, and motor expression," the building blocks that set the foundation for a successful entrance into the first grade and so on.

Today, kindergarteners learn about shapes, time, objects, and seasons. They practice drawing, the alphabet, and ideally, begin to read and write on their own. While today’s curriculum has surely evolved from Froebel’s 1840 model, the basic idea remains the same: to cultivate a strong, creative foundation for children as they enter the school system.

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