St. John's Prekindergarten Home

WELCOME to Pre-Kindergarten! My name is Sue Waldren, and you may contact me by phone at 486-1860 or via email at sue-waldren@cdolinc.net.

This is a child-centered program where children are exposed to age-appropriate learning experiences in a loving, Christian environment. Children are encouraged to make choices and try new things, but are never forced. We are not concerned with the end product as much as the process. Through hands-on activities, children learn about their environment, how to solve problems, how to resolve conflicts, and get along with their peers. Our goal is to help children feel good about themselves, about school, and to be successful in what they do. We use many types of art media to encourage creativity as well as activities to develop large and small muscle coordination and other readiness skills.

Each day will include creative playtime, story time, finger plays, sharing, music, snack, outside play, art, and movement activities. We will have many special days and celebrations, including birthdays and holidays. You may bring treats for the class on your child's birthday.

A few days before the beginning of each month, I will be sending home a newsletter telling about the activities of each month. It will include finger plays, songs, and poems that we are learning.

We will take two field trips a year, depending on availability of a bus driver. There will be times that we will combine the morning and afternoon classes and all go together. All of the trips are taken by school bus for a slight charge. All parents and younger siblings are invited to our field trips.

Our classes are as follows:
4-5 Years T-TH 9:00-11:30 A.M. 4-5 Years M-W-F 9:00-11:30 A.M.
4-5 Years T-TH 12:30-3:00 P.M. 4-5 Years M-W-F 12:30-3:00 P.M.

If your child is in the afternoon class and has an older sibling at St. John’s, he/she may stay in our class until 3:10 p.m. and I will walk him/her to the sibling’s class and you may pick them both up at 3:15 p.m.

Tuition is due the first of each month. Tuition will be $75 for the 2-day class and $90 for the 3-day class. A second pre-kindergarten child in a family will receive a 25% discount. Rates are based on 8 days a month for the 2-day class, and 12 days for the 3-day class. Some months have more days and some have less but it all works out in the end. We generally follow the St. John's calendar. I will let you know each month if there are any changes from the regular schedule. THE REGISTRATION FORM WILL NEED TO BE FILLED OUT AND A $25 REGISTRATION FEE PAID TO HAVE YOUR CHILD IN ONE OF THE FOUR CLASSES.

SOME OF OUR PROCEDURES

Parents are welcome to visit the classroom at any time. However, I recommend that you wait until the third week of school. This will give students and me time to get acquainted. Parent-teacher conferences are scheduled in January. Special parent-teacher meetings may be scheduled at the request of either parent or teacher. Feel free to call me at home or email me at school or home if you ever have a question or a problem. Email is a great way for us to stay in touch.

Although I rarely need to discipline, I sometimes find it necessary to sit a child on a chair for a minute or two and explain the inappropriate behavior and decide on a more appropriate way to handle the situation. We encourage children to use their words to solve a problem. My approach is gentle but firm. I try to be positive and loving with each child. Each child has something very special to add to the class. The more positive I am, the more effective I will be as a teacher. Praise and encouragement are important to all of us! Most discipline problems can be avoided by redirecting the child to another activity.

There is no dress code for preschool; we do go outside unless it is raining or extremely cold, so please dress accordingly.

CLASSROOM HAPPENINGS

Our class is set up in centers and the children may decide which centers to try. Research has shown up that children learn by doing. Their most important job is to play. Our job is to give them lots of age appropriate hands-on learning activities.

SCHEDULE FOR A TYPICAL DAY

Morning Time	Activity	Afternoon Time
9:00-10:00 a.m.	Creative Play, Art & Centers	12:30-1:30 p.m.
10:00-10:10 a.m.	Clean Up	1:30-1:40 p.m.
10:10-10:20 a.m.	Jesus Time	1:40-1:50 p.m.
10:20-10:30 a.m.	Snack Time	1:50-2:00 p.m.
10:30-11:00 a.m.	Outside Play	2:00-2:30 p.m.
11:00-11:30 a.m.	Story Time, Music & Movement	2:30-3:00 p.m.

The children take turns being the leader each day and the leader takes home the show and tell bag. When your child brings home the bag, he may bring a favorite item to share with the other children. I will assign one day each month for each child to bring a snack. The children really enjoy bringing the snack; it makes them feel special. It doesn't need to be fancy--a box of graham crackers, teddy grahams, finger jello, rice krispy bars, apples, bananas, raisins, cheese & crackers, crackers & peanut butter, veggies are some suggestions. Popsicles and ice cream bars are a hit, especially when it's hot. We do have a refrigerator and freezer for our use. I am really excited to be your child's teacher and am looking forward to a wonderful year!! I feel privileged to work with you to foster in the children a love of God and a love of learning. Please pray for me as I will for you as we undertake this awesome task. I hope you enjoy using these pages to find the information you need, and have fun with all the activities we do here at school!