Kindergarten/Young 5's Round-Up
Thank you for choosing Ludington Area Schools for your child’s educational journey! We are excited to partner with you and your family to help your child and every student reach his or her potential in an engaging, inspiring, challenging, and supportive environment. Strong early childhood programs serve as the foundation of a strong educational system, and we are confident that our programs will meet your child’s needs.
With the support of our dedicated team of educators, staff and administrators, LASD students are challenged to use their imaginations, engage their critical thinking skills and become inspired to develop habits that will help them continue to learn and grow for the rest of their lives. Through the implementation of strong research based programs and practices, and instructional facilitation and intervention by the best educators that you will find, students will graduate from our kindergarten program prepared and ready to continue on in their pathway to success.
We invite you to become fully involved in the educational journey of your child and hope that you will use this webpage to learn more about the kindergarten registration and enrollment process. Thank you for choosing to be an Oriole and welcome to kindergarten!
Click on the expandable content boxes below to learn more about registering your child(ren) for kindergarten at Ludington Area School District:
How old must my child be to enter kindergarten?
To enroll in kindergarten, a child must be five (5) years old on or before September 1st of the enrollment year. However, according to Michigan law, if a child residing in a district is not five (5) years of age on or before September 1st of the enrollment year, but will turn five (5) years of age not later than December 1st of the enrollment year, the parent or legal guardian may choose to enroll their child in kindergarten by submitting a written request to the District.
When in receipt of a written request, the District will make a recommendations to the child’s parent or legal guardian, as to the child’s readiness for school, and whether or not the child should be enrolled in kindergarten or the district's Young 5's program. Regardless of a district’s recommendation, the parent or legal guardian retains the sole discretion to enroll their child. Questions regarding enrollment or your child's readiness for kindergarten should be directed to Ludington Elementary School by calling (231) 845-3820.
How can I help prepare my child for kindergarten?
The District has developed a kindergarten readiness checklist that outlines developmental skills that can be focused on by families as their child prepares to enter into kindergarten. This readiness checklist outlines skills in the following areas:
- Personal and Social Development
- Writing and Fine Motor Development
- Literacy and Language Development
- Mathematics Skill Development
Please click on the link below to access the District's kindergarten readiness checklist and to learn more about how you can help your child prepare and be ready to start kindergarten:
Next, literacy experts across the state have developed the Essential Literacy Practices in Early Literacy. The purpose of the document below is to identify a small set of research-supported instructional practices that have a positive impact on literacy development in children. The District believes that the use of these practices every day will have a measurable positive impact on improving a child's literacy development. Click on the link below to learn more about these practices in early literacy.
Lastly, please make sure you have submitted all of the additional documentation required to complete the enrollment process. These documents include the following:
- Photo Identification of Parent/Guardian
- Child's Birth Certificate
- Proof of Residency: This is any document that contains the parent/guardian's name and address such as a piece of junk mail, utility bill. The proof cannot be mail sent from the District.
- A Copy of Child's Current Immunization Records
- Receipt of Hearing and Vision Screening*: Screenings can be completed at the local health department or through your preferred provider.
- Documentation of a Dental Assessment*: Assessments can be completed at the local health department or through your preferred provider.
* The local health department has clinics throughout the summer.
How do I register and enroll my child for kindergarten?
We are excited to meet our future Little O's at our upcoming kindergarten round up:
Following the registration event, the district will be launching it's online registration and enrollment portal for the upcoming school year. This is a secure and streamlined process which allows the District to verify all student demographic, emergency contact, and medical information for the new school year. This system will allow you to register your child for kindergarten, while also allowing you to update information for returning students. This online process will replace the need to complete many of the hard copy student enrollment and permission forms that the District has traditionally required.
Please follow the steps below to continue:
**Click here to enroll your child**
Click on the link above and complete the online registration form. Please note: Required fields are marked as "Required" and must be completed. Also, the District will receive the data exactly as it is entered. Please be careful of spelling, capitalization, and punctuation. Be mindful of Autofill options as they will change your entries.