Lower School
Pre-k Curriculum
We guide our pre-k students to challenge and extend themselves within a safe, nurturing, Christian environment. Our classrooms are designed to leverage their natural curiosity by providing opportunities to develop and strengthen communication skills, perceptual abilities, fine and gross motor skills, creative expression, the desire to read and write, and the use and understanding of numerals.
Our pre-k curriculum also helps develop social skills and autonomy through experiences and activities built around thematic units. Students have many opportunities to practice decision-making, negotiation, and emotional problem solving. A learning center approach encourages them to learn through direct interaction with their environment.
Language Arts
Pre-k students have many opportunities to see and “read” the printed word through the use of class-made books and stories, sight-word vocabulary throughout the room, and book and magazine centers. Students are read to daily from both seasonal and unit-related literature. We welcome parents into the classroom for weekly reading sessions; many grandparents participate as well via Skype videoconferences displayed on our SMART Boards.
Mathematics
Students dive into the world of numerals in pre-k. Teachers plan centers to include manipulatives that encourage discovery through exploration. They help students begin to understand mathematical concepts such as number/numeral relationships, measurement, geometry, word problems and simple computation.
Kindergarten through Fourth Grade Curriculum
Language Arts
The Lower School language arts curriculum offers students a wide range of experiences, motivating them to explore and enjoy the world of literacy. The program uses a child’s natural ability to tell stories by introducing students to story structure and helping them appreciate how pictures and print tell stories.
In kindergarten through second grade, big books and student anthologies integrate issues in social studies and science with reading, while helping students develop reading strategies such as predicting, using context, visualizing and summarizing. In third and fourth grades, students begin a literature-based reading program. To further individualize both writing and reading, Lower School students regularly participate in writer’s and reader’s workshop. This exposure to a variety of quality literature and writing styles provides a strong basis for developing individual writing skills.
Our program also strengthens phonics and sound/letter relationships. Teachers use poetry, fiction, nonfiction and songs to enrich and expand the language experience. In the early grades, rules of spelling, punctuation and grammar are taught both in natural context and through the basal reading program, and a more formal grammar study begins in grades three and four. Student grouping within the classrooms is flexible and based on interest, not ability, allowing for both independent and collaborative learning.
Mathematics
Our mathematics program emphasizes a learning-by-doing approach using problem-solving and everyday situations. The cyclical nature of the program lets teachers introduce concepts and skills, review them during the school year and then extend them in subsequent years.
At each grade level, we expect students to master certain concepts and skills. In kindergarten through second grade, teachers use concrete objects, such as pattern blocks, base-ten blocks and pictorial models to represent mathematical concepts and abstract ideas. In third grade, students move to pencil-and-paper activities and mental-math exercises. And by fourth grade, all are expected to have mastered basic addition, subtraction, multiplication and division facts.
Social Studies
Our social studies program gives students insight into their communities and helps them make connections to the larger world. A variety of lesson formats encourages students to explore the geographic, social and economic aspects of their world. Literature, biographies, primary sources and lessons about real families introduce young learners to people and events in other times and places. This multi-faceted program integrates an appreciation of cultural pluralism and an exposure to multiple perspectives as it teaches history and geography.
In kindergarten and first grades, students move from an examination of families to recognition of people who make a difference in their lives today and have done so in the past. Grades two and three explore the changing American land, its early inhabitants and their cultures, and the geographic regions of the United States from early times to the present. Fourth graders study Texas history.
Science
St. John’s students experience science through exposure to concrete examples of scientific concepts using hands-on activities pertinent to their daily lives. Lower School science focuses on “big ideas” or the common themes of science systems, models, constancy and change, and scale. Students develop process skills as they actively investigate concepts and evaluate the results of their investigations. They develop critical thinking and scientific reasoning skills as they respond to thought-provoking discussion questions.
Grades two through four meet regularly in a fully equipped Lower School science lab, in which students engage in individual and group experimentation and are exposed to interactive technology including laser discs, CD ROMs, and videos that enhance their lessons. In fourth grade, teachers guide students to a thorough understanding of the scientific method in preparation for the students’ participation in the Middle School Science Fair.
Enrichments
In addition to classroom and outdoor activities, our students participate in several enrichment classes each week. Taught by teacher specialists, these classes include Spanish, P.E., music and art.
With assistance from our Integrated Curriculum Administrator, teachers embed technology into their curriculum and use the computer lab for class activities and assignments. Teachers also work with our drama specialist, director of outdoor education and library resource specialist to expand and enhance their curriculum.
