* K4 Class meets five days a week. On Mondays school starts at 9:00 A.M. All other days’ school starts at 8:00 A.M. The school day ends at 12:30 P.M. Monday through Friday.
* All students will either need to bring a lunch or order lunch from the school cafeteria.
In addition to their primary teacher, K-4 students have specialized teachers in Music, Motor Development, Library, and Chapel.
Language Curriculum
Students are encouraged to participate verbally in class, to ask questions, to respond to questions, to make comments, and to express feelings. Books and poems are carefully chosen to provide the four-year olds with experience, knowledge and fuel for imagination. Activities that stimulate listening and speaking are included in the curriculum. Children working in small groups participate in activities that include visual discrimination and memory, auditory discrimination and memory, letter identification, and oral comprehension.
Math Curriculum
The math program enables students to use math by exploration and situational opportunities. Math skills are acquired through spontaneous (but guided) play, projects, and situations. A wide variety of math manipulatives guide students to: observe similarities and differences, measure and compare volume and length, create extend and describe patterns, make comparisons of size, shape and color; count forward and backward and use number names to identify the quantity of a group of objects.
Science and Social Studies Curriculum
“Discovery” science is a part of the St. James curriculum. Science projects are experimental and exploratory; they encourage the active involvement of the four year old. Students use all of their senses to observe similarities and differences during science activities.
The students are encouraged to appreciate the viewpoints of others as well as to value their own opinions. Show and Tell is a segment of the social studies. This activity provides students with experiences in speaking in full sentences and sharing ideas in front of a group.
Art
Art materials are designed to stimulate the child’s artistic expression. Art at this age is viewed as a process, rather than a product. Open-ended activities in which each child can feel successful are emphasized.
Learning Centers
The preschool classroom is divided into Learning Centers. Cooperation is practiced while working in centers helps prepare the child not only for school, but also for life. “Playing” in these centers gives the child the opportunity to be creative, to use problem solving techniques, to manipulate situations, to adapt to unplanned events, and to negotiate and work within situation limits.
Spiritual Formation and Growth
Four year olds attend a weekly Chapel service. In addition they begin each morning with a devotional.
Motor Development
Students attend Motor Development classes in the gym twice a week for twenty-five minutes.
Music
The music specialist directs a class twice a week for fifteen minutes. Four year olds work to recognize the difference between speaking and singing voices. They also develop their musical abilities through singing, playing rhythm instruments, moving to the beat, and creating with music.
Library
Students are scheduled for a weekly twenty-minute library time in order to listen to a story read by the Librarian and choose a book to be taken home.
Computer
Each classroom has a center for student exploration. Each computer is programmed with software for letter, number, color, and shape identification work as well as critical thinking.
Outdoor Play
Thirty minutes a day are scheduled for outdoor play. This time includes the opportunity for the child to use large muscles while running, climbing, jumping and balancing. It is also a good time for students to work on the social skills of playing cooperatively, sharing and taking turns.
Parent Communication
A Parent Orientation prior to the opening of school introduces the room, teacher and curriculum to the parents. One regular parent conference is scheduled each year. A newsletter, which describes the past activities of the class and tells about the upcoming themes, is sent home regularly.
* K4 Class meets five days a week. On Mondays school starts at 9:00 A.M. All other days’ school starts at 8:00 A.M. The school day ends at 12:30 P.M. Monday through Friday.
* All students will either need to bring a lunch or order lunch from the school cafeteria.
In addition to their primary teacher, K-4 students have specialized teachers in Music, Motor Development, Library, and Chapel.
Language Curriculum
Students are encouraged to participate verbally in class, to ask questions, to respond to questions, to make comments, and to express feelings. Books and poems are carefully chosen to provide the four-year olds with experience, knowledge and fuel for imagination. Activities that stimulate listening and speaking are included in the curriculum. Children working in small groups participate in activities that include visual discrimination and memory, auditory discrimination and memory, letter identification, and oral comprehension.
Math Curriculum
The math program enables students to use math by exploration and situational opportunities. Math skills are acquired through spontaneous (but guided) play, projects, and situations. A wide variety of math manipulatives guide students to: observe similarities and differences, measure and compare volume and length, create extend and describe patterns, make comparisons of size, shape and color; count forward and backward and use number names to identify the quantity of a group of objects.
Science and Social Studies Curriculum
“Discovery” science is a part of the St. James curriculum. Science projects are experimental and exploratory; they encourage the active involvement of the four year old. Students use all of their senses to observe similarities and differences during science activities.
The students are encouraged to appreciate the viewpoints of others as well as to value their own opinions. Show and Tell is a segment of the social studies. This activity provides students with experiences in speaking in full sentences and sharing ideas in front of a group.
Art
Art materials are designed to stimulate the child’s artistic expression. Art at this age is viewed as a process, rather than a product. Open-ended activities in which each child can feel successful are emphasized.
Learning Centers
The preschool classroom is divided into Learning Centers. Cooperation is practiced while working in centers helps prepare the child not only for school, but also for life. “Playing” in these centers gives the child the opportunity to be creative, to use problem solving techniques, to manipulate situations, to adapt to unplanned events, and to negotiate and work within situation limits.
Spiritual Formation and Growth
Four year olds attend a weekly Chapel service. In addition they begin each morning with a devotional.
Motor Development
Students attend Motor Development classes in the gym twice a week for twenty-five minutes.
Music
The music specialist directs a class twice a week for fifteen minutes. Four year olds work to recognize the difference between speaking and singing voices. They also develop their musical abilities through singing, playing rhythm instruments, moving to the beat, and creating with music.
Library
Students are scheduled for a weekly twenty-minute library time in order to listen to a story read by the Librarian and choose a book to be taken home.
Computer
Each classroom has a center for student exploration. Each computer is programmed with software for letter, number, color, and shape identification work as well as critical thinking.
Outdoor Play
Thirty minutes a day are scheduled for outdoor play. This time includes the opportunity for the child to use large muscles while running, climbing, jumping and balancing. It is also a good time for students to work on the social skills of playing cooperatively, sharing and taking turns.
Parent Communication
A Parent Orientation prior to the opening of school introduces the room, teacher and curriculum to the parents. One regular parent conference is scheduled each year. A newsletter, which describes the past activities of the class and tells about the upcoming themes, is sent home regularly.