How Belleville School District Is Setting Up 4-Year-Olds for Pre-K–Grade 5 Literacy Success

In this interview, Belleville’s Principal, Assistant Principal, and two 4K teachers share their early experiences piloting Pinecone Path: A Curriculum for the Year Before Kindergarten and what they hope the curriculum will help their four-year-old students achieve as they prepare for elementary school.

Pinecone Path will be published in June 2026 and available for the 2026–27 school year.

What drew Belleville to participate in the Pinecone Path pre-publication pilot for your 4-Year-Old Kindergarten (4K) classes?

Melissa Riedel, Assistant Principal

Our Collaborative Classroom representative, Kari Steck, told us about the opportunity to pilot their forthcoming Pinecone Path curriculum for the year before kindergarten. We jumped on it as soon as we read it.

Our 4K program has always been strong, but aligning instruction from 4K–5th grade is going to make an even stronger impact on our students and their learning.

Our 4K program has always been strong, but aligning instruction from 4K–5th grade is going to make an even stronger impact on our students and their learning.

Jamie Bell, 4-Year-Old Kindergarten (4K) Teacher

Last year was my first year as a teacher in Belleville School District. I have taught in other districts and was hoping to adopt a 4K reading curriculum here.

Along with a few others, Kaitlin Hoven (the other 4K teacher) and I spent a lot of time creating a reading curriculum compiled from the previous year’s 5K curriculum. It was a lot of work, and we really questioned if we were aligning everything.

[Now with Pinecone Path] we love using a curriculum with all the materials chosen for us and ready to go, instead having to decide the content from scratch. 

[W]e love using a curriculum with all the materials chosen for us and ready to go, instead having to decide the content from scratch. 

Kaitlin Hoven, 4K Teacher

Last year when Belleville adopted the Collaborative Classroom programs Collaborative Literacy and SIPPS, we were a bit disappointed when we found out there wasn’t a 4K component at the time. We have always wanted to better align our 4K curriculum with kindergarten, and this pilot of Pinecone Path seemed like the perfect way to do it.

Even though Pinecone Path isn’t officially published yet, we’re so excited our principals provided us with this opportunity to pilot. 

Kelsey Schmit, Principal

We were previously missing the early literacy skills instruction. The focus on these foundational skills will provide more intentional instruction in exactly what students need, at their pace, with the small-group sets.

With stronger foundational skills, students will be able to engage in high-level learning without needing to fill holes in the upper grades. 

How has Pinecone Path supported your district’s vision for early literacy readiness?

Jamie Bell, 4K Teacher

It is still early in the school year, but I have already seen an increase in focus on comprehension and vocabulary. I know other early literacy skills are coming. 

Kaitlin Hoven, 4K Teacher

With only a month of school behind us, we haven’t had a chance to delve that deep into it yet. Even so, we can see it will help students with their early literacy readiness throughout the year in fun and engaging ways. We have touched on rhyming already, and we know that rhyming is one of the major skills that kindergarten teachers have been asking us to focus on more before we had Pinecone Path.

What can tell us about your experience piloting Pinecone Path?

Kaitlin Hoven, 4K Teacher

So far this Pre-k pilot has been great. We have been feeling super supported by the Collaborative Classroom curriculum creators as we pilot this.

We have already learned many fun songs and games to use in our morning meetings. For example, encouraging name learning in the classroom, along with the routines.

The pilot has also had a huge impact on our prep time. In the past, we felt like we never had  enough time to plan everything. Now we can focus more on enriching the activities we are doing.

It’s a really great feeling as an educator to know that you will be teaching EVERYTHING 4K students need to know before entering kindergarten. The curriculum we were using before Pinecone Path was self-made. Although we felt like we were doing a great job, this new curriculum has made it easy to know for sure we are hitting all the major skills. 

“It’s a really great feeling as an educator to know that you will be teaching EVERYTHING 4K students need to know before entering kindergarten.”

How has Pinecone Path helped align early literacy learning with K–12 literacy instruction?

Kaitlin Hoven, 4K Teacher

Pinecone Path focuses on the five major early literacy skills: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. All of these major early literacy skills will help our youngest students have a better foundation as they begin to learn more difficult literacy skills in K–12. 

What role has professional development or teacher support played in the success of the Pinecone Path pilot?

Kaitlin Hoven, 4K Teacher

We felt very supported before we even began piloting this curriculum. Months before we even began the school year, we were given access to a drive with all the content. The drive included instructional videos and other important teaching materials.

We felt very supported before we even began piloting this curriculum.

Our Collaborative Classroom curriculum consultant has met with us via Zoom twice already and it’s only September. She went through the materials with us, helped us learn tunes to songs, and helped us better understand the goals of Pinecone Path. We have meetings set up for the future. After teaching the curriculum, and we keep detailed notes on items to discuss when needed. 

Jamie Bell, 4K Teacher 

I agree with Kaitlin. I loved meeting once we had the actual manuals. The manuals are so easy to read, and I look forward to meeting again soon!

Based on your pilot experience, what potential do you see for Pinecone Path as a foundational literacy program?

Kelsey Schmit, Principal

I think this is laying a stronger foundation between 4K and kindergarten, one that we were missing previously. The skills taught [in Pinecone Path] will support the skills kindergarten teachers work on from day one.

I think Belleville School District will look forward to officially adopting Pinecone Path when it is ready for release!

Related:

Learn more about Pinecone Path: A Curriculum for the Year Before Kindergarten.

Six Best Practices for a Successful Curriculum Pilot

Early Literacy Predictors – Oral Language

Quality Interactions in Early Childhood: 5 Essential Building Blocks