Arlington, Va. – The Washington Capitals announced today details surrounding the return of the Caps in School Presented by KPMG program for the 2025-26 hockey season and school year.
Caps in School engages and rewards teachers across the region through year-long programs and partnerships in the education space. It encompasses Educators Appreciation, a reading program, a writing program, a STEM field trip and a hockey school program. The Caps in School curriculum offers educators and grade-school students the opportunity to engage with the Capitals while participating in a variety of classroom programming.
Caps in School also provides students with the opportunity to participate in hockey-themed challenges with incentives to encourage reading and writing in the classroom.
Educators Appreciation Presented by KPMG
The Capitals are hosting Educators Appreciation presented by KPMG on Sunday, Oct. 19, at 12:30 p.m. against the Vancouver Canucks. The game will highlight educators from across the region as well as the Caps in School program throughout the afternoon. All teachers, administrators, school staff, students, and families are encouraged to attend the game through the Educators Appreciation special offer and will receive a Capitals lanyard and badge holder.
Tickets must be purchased through the special event ticket link in order to receive the Capitals lanyard and badge holder. Click here to purchase the special ticket package.
The Capitals will also celebrate the Washington Capitals Educator of the Year at that game. Fans are invited to submit an entry to honor a deserving educator who makes a difference at a localschool and represents #ALLCAPS. The grand prize winner will receive a Caps prize pack that includes tickets, recognition on the jumbotron during the game and signed Capitals memorabilia. Nominations are accepted for the following categories: teacher, administrator, principal, assistant and more. Click here to nominate an educator.
Reading Program
The Caps in School Reading Program is designed to encourage elementary school students to add more reading to their daily activity. All participating students receive bookmarks, as students and teachers look forward to monthly competitions, fun prizes and raffles for the top-reading classes and more. Click here to register.
Last school year, the Capitals welcomed more than 10,000 participating students across 481classrooms to the program. Together, they read a combined 7,305,781 minutes.
Additionally, Capitals players Hendrix Lapierre and Dylan Strome visited Belvedere Elementary School ahead of the Halloween holiday to pass out candy and lead story time with Ms. Veltri’s third-grade class. Later in the season, mascot Slapshot and the Caps in School team visited fourth graders at Landon School with pizza and Caps prizes to celebrate their winning raffle ticket for participating in all five months of the Caps in School reading program.
Educator Wish Lists
The Capitals have invited teachers to share their Amazon wish lists and details around their classroom, school and Capitals fandom. The Capitals will review the submissions beforechoosing a select number of educators and rewarding them with items from their respective wish lists. Through last season’s Caps in School program, the Capitals donated $3,000 worth of school supplies to 10 teachers throughout the region.
Writing Program
The Caps in School Writing Program is designed to encourage students to fine-tune their skills and focus on their writing while building confidence and gaining experience. Students in first through eighth grade within a 75-mile radius of Washington, D.C.’s Capital One Arena are invited to participate. Only one entry per student will be accepted for a related essay contest. Essay prompts feature questions related to team sports and hockey and are divided by grade group for first through fifth grades and sixth through eighth graders. Stay tuned for updates at washcaps.com/capsinschool.
Last season’s Caps in School Writing Program encouraged students in first through eighth grade to write about the importance of perseverance, hard work and community. More than 70 students submitted essays, with the winners receiving a Caps swag bag and two tickets to a 2025-26 regular season home game.
STEM Field Trip Presented by KPMG
The Capitals host a yearly Caps in School STEM Field Trip presented by KPMG. The annual trip is designed to use STEM in hockey to create a fun learning experience that keeps students engaged and opens their eyes to examples of STEM happening around them.
The Capitals will once again welcome select elementary school students to the Capitals practice facility, MedStar Capitals Iceplex, during the 2025-26 school year. During last year’s field trip, nearly 100 students from Payne Elementary School watched practice and participated in interactive stations run by Capitals and MedStar Capitals Iceplex employees.
Hockey School
The Washington Capitals Hockey School Program, presented by Capital One, is aimed at providing access to the sport of hockey by introducing it to children in elementary and middle school. During the 2024-25 season, nearly 117,300 students were introduced to the program across 93 schools. The Capitals Youth Hockey Development staff conducted 11 teaching trainings and 14 school visits.
The Capitals donate hockey equipment including sticks, nets, balls and pucks to each school, and P.E. teachers receive a standardized curriculum following SHAPE America’s national requirements. In addition, the Capitals Youth Hockey Development staff visits schools to host assemblies surrounding the game.
There are currently 1,694 schools in the Hockey School program, reaching 1,169,585 students across Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C. In addition, 3,200 teachers have been trained through the Hockey School program. Click here to learn more about the program.
To learn more about the programs offered throughout the school year and to register for Caps in School updates, visit washcaps.com/capsinschool.
