PRE-KINDERGARTEN PROGRAM
This year-round program is designed to provide your child with developmentally appropriate instruction to help them build the fundamental skills necessary to succeed in kindergarten, school and in life. Low student to teacher ratios ensure that your child will receive the individual attention they require during this critical developmental period. All classrooms create an atmosphere of learning through engaging center-based activities. Throughout your child’s week, their experiences will include: dramatic play, art, exploration through sensory activities, early literacy through books and stories, writing skills, pre-math skills, puzzles, and games with manipulatives…all so much fun. The sophistication of your child’s experiences will depend on their age and stage of development.
While learning occurs throughout the day, we ask that you to bring your child to school by 8:00 AM. When parents commitment to arriving at school by 8:00 AM, this helps ensure that your child will receive as much instruction possible to encourage appropriate skill set development. This holds true for students who participate in our part-week programs, as well. When available, parents may select a Monday – Wednesday – Friday or Tuesday – Thursday track. By popular demand, our PreK3, PreK4 & PreK5 students wear simple uniforms. See “Resources” section for more information about uniforms.
Enrichment activities are offered from 6:30 – 8:00 AM and 3:00 – 6:00 AM In addition to group play, lessons learned in the morning period are reinforced in the afternoon. Special extra-curricular activities such as dance and gymnastics are offered during the morning on days determined prior to the beginning of each semester.
PREK5 CLASS
Our PreK5Class is designed to meet the needs of families whose children either are not quite ready for the kindergarten jump or whose 5th birthday is after the September 1st deadline.
Sometimes parents find themselves in a dilemma...should they go forward and enroll their child in kindergarten, even though he or she may not be ready? What about the risk of their child being held back a year? Should they have their child stay an additional year in a PreKindergarten program? Our PreK5 Class was designed to assist our parents with positive avenues which will allow their child to grow, learn, and proceed to kindergarten with success. Our experience has taught us that parents see the great benefit of another year in pre-kindergarten a little down the road. Preparing a child for kindergarten involves the whole child. A checklist related to kindergarten readiness is available under “Resources” on our overiview page.
CURRICULUM
Students in our Twos classrooms will experience enriching activities created by experienced teachers. Our teachers use variety of curricula, including High Reach Learning and Wee Learn to enhance classroom instruction appropriate for children in the Twos classrooms. Activities for students who are two turning three include fun-filled and enriching activities that will encourage skill set development appropriate for their age.
Each Pre-Kindergarten Class uses curriculum to promote positive and successful skill development. The baseline curriculum for early literacy is Trophies Early Learning published by Harcourt. “Trophies” provides tremendous opportunities for children to develop early literacy skills through a print-rich environment that focuses on oral-language development, phonological awareness, concepts about print, alphabet knowledge, early stages of writing, and listening comprehension. Our early math curriculum is Mathematics for PreK published by Scott Foresman and Addison Wesley. Math is fun! Students will be introduced to concepts such as critical thinking skills, logical reasoning, spatial concepts, patterning and much more! Each PreK3, PreK4, and PreK5 classroom is equipped with computers for children to utilize at different points during the day.
As a ministry of Houston’s First Baptist Church, First Baptist Academy's Primary School is committed to sharing God’s love with each child in a way that is meaningful to them. Teachers help accomplish this by using Wee Learn Curriculum published by Lifeway. This curriculum offers students a large variety of appropriate learning experiences to help children become familiar with Bible stories and Christ-centered values. Students also attend weekly chapel to encourage corporate worship.
