We use the One In Christ curriculum through Concordia Publishing for all of our Early Childhood Religion classes. It is developmentally appropriate for young ages and gives the perfect balance of both old and new testament bible stories. Most importantly it fosters a friendship with Jesus, our Lord and Savior. Through songs and activities it helps build the beginning of faith at a young age.
Preschool and Kindergarten students at St. John's take an active role in problem solving and maneuvering through day to day challenges that occur in their lives. They talk about feelings, how to recognize those feelings in others, and how to appropriately communicate those feelings to their peers. In addition, our students work on self-management, decision making, and solving conflicts with those around them. Throughout the year, our preschoolers and kindergarteners learn about the world around them--diving deep into topics like holidays and celebrations, community helpers, and social responsibility. It is our mission to equip them with the knowledge that they need in order to be good, Christian citizens in the world around them.
Art engages children in open-ended play and helps develop cognitive, social-/emotional and multi-sensory skills. Children explore various art mediums such as painting, air dry clay, mixed media, watercolors, chalk, crayons and markers. Creative art projects follow yearly themes and seasons , as well as holidays. Free exploration allows children to utilize their full creative potential.
St. John’s offers Physical Education to all of its grade levels.
At the Preschool level, the children meet for one time a week for 30 minutes. They work on their fine and gross motor skills. They also concentrate on cooperating, following rules, and getting along with their classmates.
Our kindergarteners meet for 30 minutes, four times a week. In addition to building on what was learned in preschool, they also focus on good sportsmanship, proper safety habits as well as caring for their bodies. They also practice throwing, catching, kicking, and dribbling through simple games. In addition to Physical Education class, the students do have opportunity for exercise during recess periods throughout the day.
Students will explore and experience music concepts such as beat, rhythms and melodic contour. Perform musical concepts through movements, vocalizations and instrumental accompaniments by creating musical patterns. Students will learn awareness of musical contrasts such as high and low pitches, soft and loud sounds and same or different. Perform simple rhythmic and melodic patterns.
Foundations of math are taught throughout the day and are applied through opportunities of play in Preschool. We explore number work, ten frame activities, graphing, and math manipulatives with physical objects. Children enjoy patterns, games, measuring and calendar time. Kindergarteners expand on the foundations they learned in Preschool such as numbers, ten frames, and patterns. They also sort and classify objects. The second part of the year they focus on addition and subtraction.
Preschool and Kindergarten incorporate Science with discovery activities. This includes Life Science and Natural Science. In the fall, we enjoy pumpkins, bats, spiders, plants and animals. As we move into the winter months we have STEM activities which include measurement, space, planets and stars. Children enjoy providing tasty snacks for our animals that visit our backyard by creating Cheerio strings and birdseed ice cubes. In the spring we learn about bugs and insects. Our friends enjoy first hand learning about planting in the planter boxes and composting with our compost station.
