Pre-School 3 year old and Pre-Kindergarten 4 year old programs
What do the students learn in class?
An alphabet letter each week that covers phonics and writing.
Shapes/Colors/ Numbers/Introduction to math concepts with counting, graphing, & sorting.
Social skills by creating independence, a positive self image through play, and cooperative learning with peers.
Community Relations with a food drive for the St. John Pantry through "Happy Birthday to Jesus" and with the Adopt A Student from Mexico program which includes having a "Tamale Feast " as a reward.
Big Buddy/ Little Buddy. Children are partnered up with the third grade to provide older peer role modeling.
Seeds Religion activities that follow the Gospel in Church. It is age appropriate and geared specifically for 4 and 5 year-olds. Children are also read to from a Toddler Bible.
What kind of activities do they do?
With the letter of the week, a letter page is created for their alphabet portfolio (Prek-4). The alphabet portfolio goes home at the end of the year with all their hard work. A table of contents explains what was done for each letter. Example: Letter F- the children glued feathers all over a capital letter F. In their writing journal on "Friday" the children are asked to recall what a feather looks like and feels like. They will then draw what a feather looks like to them. A letter song is sung 3 times each day. Although letter formation is discussed during circle time, it is not developmentally appropriate to give to each and every child a photo copied writing sheet to sit and write. The range of development is wide and children need time to develop these small muscles through painting, cutting, drawing, and play dough experimentation.
Weekly letter language cards go home with the letter. The children are asked what each picture is. For the Pre 3's it is only a picture of a "fan", but for the Prek-4's it is the picture of the fire engine as well as the written words. Some children return to these cards to write in their journal.
In the Pre 3's letters and numbers are talked about, but the curriculum is geared toward social experience.
Do children receive any special learning? (i.e. one-on-one time, student spotlight, extra help learning to read)
As the children become confident leaving mom and dad, and when they are adjusted to the routine of school, assessments are done on the basic skills of letter recognition, shapes, colors, and numbers. Children are also screened for physical delays.
If a child is accelerated in their reading, a request is made to have the child receive time with our reading specialist.
If a child is delayed with speech, a specialist from the Little Chute School District comes in to observe and provides additional services.
Each day a child is chosen for the show and tell bag. It goes home and they pick one thing to describe to their classmates. Building verbal skills is done through questioning and answering.
What differentiates St. Johns teaching from other school's Pre-school or Pre-K teaching?
Hands on activities are provided as much as possible. Example: Fire safety was discussed when we covered the letter f. Included was a field trip to the fire station and a ride back to school in a "real fire truck". In addition, the students were asked if they were afraid to ride the truck. Those who did not want to ride in the truck walked back to school with the teacher and assistants. They were given a choice and it made the field trip a success. The children read books all week about fire safety and the Weekly Reader was also focused on the theme. In the gym the children learned a finger play and pretended to be fire fighters. The whole day focused on fire safety and the letter f.
Looping! Studies have shown that if a child is in a comfortable learning environment with a teacher they know and trust, the child will excel and take risks in their learning. By having the same teacher for 3 and 4 year pre-school, the children become more comfortable and open up more.
What works best in the classroom environment?
Small class sizes. For Pre 3's the ideal classroom is 10. For Prek-4's the ideal size is 18-20. As the group becomes larger, the noise level increases. The new classroom gives us space to spread out and separate centers. It also gives the student who is not comfortable with loud noises a choice to move to a quieter room. With the smaller class size, children can be given more one-on-one time. In the past, we had two groups of Pre 3's. Each class consisted of 10 students.
Why choose St. John for your child?
Flexibility with learning styles and fun! Some children need to hear the music to understand a concept, others may need to move their bodies in gym, some are visual learners that can see a letter on the blackboard or card and grasp the knowledge and all of this is possible in our environment at St. John School.
Last updated 1/21/2010
