Providence Academy’s Pre-Kindergarten classes have days full of learning and fun. Each day in Pre-K focuses on growing the students’ love for learning through structured lessons and open play.
The PA class of 2036 has two classes: Mrs. Raymaker’s and Mrs. Kennedy’s classes fill their days with math and reading groups, recess, special enrichment classes, such as Spanish, music, library, and art, and more to develop their social skills and education.
“We work together, with Mrs. Kennedy’s class, as a Pre-K team,” Mrs. Raymaker explained. This helps not only the teachers, but also the students, as they are able to interact with other children their age and be surrounded by those that aren’t in the same class.
After the Pre-K’ers arrive for the day, they join the rest of the school in prayer offered by Providence Academy’s Headmaster, Dr. Flanders. They start their day with literacy, which focuses on developing writing, rhyming, listening, and comprehension skills through mnemonic projects, stories, and songs. Depending on the day, each morning also includes a special enrichment class.
Senõr Donohue, Spanish teacher for Pre-K – 2nd grade, comments, “Watching the Pre-K move from no knowledge of Spanish to a base understanding fills me with joy because I am able to inspire young students to learn the language I have grown up speaking.”
Following morning recess and snack, Pre-K has math as a class, which is centered around building number sense. This includes using “ten frames” to learn place values, dice games, number recognition, and more.
Center time is the students’ opportunity to pick from any of the numerous stations around their classroom. Before lunch and in the afternoon, the Pre-K’ers can build Legos, use Wiki Sticks, read, play with the pretend kitchen set, and more.
When asked her favorite circle time activity, Gemma Barron, ‘36, said, “I love Wiki Sticks! I can make circles and cakes!”
At lunch time, students eat their lunch from home or the delicious option from the school’s main line, in their classrooms. After another recess, snack, and rest time, Pre-K has an afternoon activity. These range from projects to build memory skills and motor development, to having small groups about faith. Learning about faith is a major aspect of each day in the pre-kindergarten classrooms. With their religion curriculum, “Who Am I?”, the students get to learn prayers, stories from Scripture, virtues, and are introduced to the Saints.
The Pre-K teachers work hard throughout the year to prepare the students for the rigorous lower school curriculum. The teachers focus on each day being structured like a kindergarten day, rather than like a daycare, so the students are fully prepared for their futures at PA.
