The School District of New Glarus expanded its 4K program to a full-day format during the 2025-26 school year, giving its youngest students more time for play-based learning and early literacy instruction.

The expanded program emphasizes exploration, collaboration, creativity and purposeful play. District officials said the approach is intended to strengthen children’s academic, social and emotional development while helping them build positive associations with learning.

The district also introduced the Heggerty Phonemic Awareness Curriculum, which provides daily instruction in the foundational sound skills children need as they begin learning to read.

Another addition was the Core Knowledge Language Arts 4K curriculum, commonly known as CKLA. The curriculum uses hands-on, age-appropriate instruction to develop vocabulary, language skills, listening comprehension and early literacy.