Welcome to our very 1st Virtual Open House!
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Our 1 year old ProgramJohn Calvin Playschool’s 1 year old program is designed to help transition children into being away from their primary caregiver. We do this by nurturing students with a warm and loving environment through age appropriate activities. Children in the program will learn through play, movement, music, tactile art experiences, and interactive circle time. With a toddler-friendly, theme-based approach, children will be introduced to colors, shapes, numbers, the alphabet, and holidays. Our 1's program is available for children ages 12 months to 23 months and it takes place in the Nursery Room of the Church. There are 3 options: Monday, Wednesday, & Friday from 8:45 - 11:45 am; Tuesday & Thursday from 8:45 - 11:45 am; or Monday through Friday from 8:45 - 11:45 am. These students have Music and Body Movement once a week in their classroom. Students in this program are not potty trained. Our 1’s: Students must turn 1 by August 1 in order to begin the program. | Our 2 year old ProgramJohn Calvin Playschool’s 2 year old program focuses on providing children opportunities for socialization. This is often times the child’s first school experience and we want it to be positive, enjoyable and fun. By providing a nurturing environment that fosters independence and working relationships, children have opportunities to problem solve, establish friendships, and improve communication skills. Teachers will go over colors, songs, holidays, and seasons with the students, but our main focus is encouraging and promoting a happy, wholesome, and positive self-image. These students also attend a Music and a Body Movement class once a week with a seasonal Bible time. Students in this program DO NOT have to be potty-trained, but we encourage parents who are working on this task at home to discuss it with the teachers so we can reinforce it at school as well. Our 2's program has 3 options: Monday, Wednesday, & Friday from 8:45 - 11:45 am; Tuesday & Thursday from 8:45 - 11:45 am; or Monday through Friday from 8:45 - 11:45 am. Our 2’s: Students must turn 2 before November 15th of the current school year. | Our 3 year old ProgramJohn Calvin Playschool’s 3 year old program emphasizes socialization skills and appropriate classroom behavior. More cognitive skills such as number sense, color recognition, calendar components, senses, manners, seasons, holidays, and basic literacy skills are practiced as well. Cutting, gluing, writing, and painting are done frequently to aid in fine motor skill development in addition to circle time with stories and songs. These children also attend Music, Body Movement, and Bible Time once a week. Students in this program DO need to be potty trained because teachers spend most of their time in learning centers with the children. Our 3's program has 2 options: Monday, Wednesday, & Friday from 8:45 - 11:45 am or Monday through Friday from 8:45 - 11:45 am. Our 3’s: Students must turn 3 before December 31st of the current school year. |
Our 1 year old Program
John Calvin Playschool’s 1 year old program is designed to help transition children into being away from their primary caregiver. We do this by nurturing students with a warm and loving environment through age appropriate activities. Children in the program will learn through play, movement, music, tactile art experiences, and interactive circle time. With a toddler-friendly, theme-based approach, children will be introduced to colors, shapes, numbers, the alphabet, and holidays.
Our 1's program is available for children ages 12 months to 23 months and it takes place in the Nursery Room of the Church. There are 3 options: Monday, Wednesday, & Friday from 8:45 - 11:45 am; Tuesday & Thursday from 8:45 - 11:45 am; or Monday through Friday from 8:45 - 11:45 am. These students have Music and Body Movement once a week in their classroom. Students in this program are not potty trained.
Our 1’s: Students must turn 1 by August 1 in order to begin the program.
Our 2 year old Program
John Calvin Playschool’s 2 year old program focuses on providing children opportunities for socialization. This is often times the child’s first school experience and we want it to be positive, enjoyable and fun. By providing a nurturing environment that fosters independence and working relationships, children have opportunities to problem solve, establish friendships, and improve communication skills. Teachers will go over colors, songs, holidays, and seasons with the students, but our main focus is encouraging and promoting a happy, wholesome, and positive self-image. These students also attend a Music and a Body Movement class once a week with a seasonal Bible time. Students in this program DO NOT have to be potty-trained, but we encourage parents who are working on this task at home to discuss it with the teachers so we can reinforce it at school as well.
Our 2's program has 3 options: Monday, Wednesday, & Friday from 8:45 - 11:45 am; Tuesday & Thursday from 8:45 - 11:45 am; or Monday through Friday from 8:45 - 11:45 am.
Our 2’s: Students must turn 2 before November 15th of the current school year.
Our 3 year old Program
John Calvin Playschool’s 3 year old program emphasizes socialization skills and appropriate classroom behavior. More cognitive skills such as number sense, color recognition, calendar components, senses, manners, seasons, holidays, and basic literacy skills are practiced as well. Cutting, gluing, writing, and painting are done frequently to aid in fine motor skill development in addition to circle time with stories and songs. These children also attend Music, Body Movement, and Bible Time once a week. Students in this program DO need to be potty trained because teachers spend most of their time in learning centers with the children.
Our 3's program has 2 options: Monday, Wednesday, & Friday from 8:45 - 11:45 am or Monday through Friday from 8:45 - 11:45 am.
Our 3’s: Students must turn 3 before December 31st of the current school year.
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Our 4 year old Pre-K and Pre-K+ ProgramsJohn Calvin Playschool’s 4 year old programs provide hands-on learning activities to completely immerse the students in the learning process. We do not focus on memorization skills, but instead on acquiring essential facts by participating in a wide variety of interesting activities. Our children learn their facts such as colors, counting, shape recognition, letters and their sounds, but they do it in such an active and hands-on manner that they only refer to it as PLAY (educators call this Active Learning). Writing letters and names is emphasized along with science experiments, cooking experiences, thematic show ‘n tells, and Weekly Readers. Our Pre-K program meets Monday through Friday from 8:45- 11:45 am. Our Pre-K+ program meets Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 8:45- 11:45 am and 8:45 am- 2:45 pm on Tuesday and Thursday. On these long days, students bring their lunch and their nap mat. Students in our 4 year old programs go to Music, Body Movement, Bible Time, and Art classes once a week. These classes also attend off-campus field trips, and parents are often able to accompany the class. Our 4’s: Students must turn 4 before December 31st of the current school year. | Our Transitional Kindergarten (TK) ProgramTransitional Kindergarten is a unique program for our students who would benefit from an additional year before Kindergarten and for those that have late birthdays and miss the cut-off date for Kindergarten. These students receive a combination of advanced pre-kindergarten activities and kindergarten curriculum in a developmentally appropriate environment. The small class size allows for much individual attention, lively discussions, and the development of a strong sense of self-esteem. Family homework assignments allow the child to experience the fun of learning at home. Teachers focus on the recognition of letters and their sounds, writing names and numbers, and basic literacy skills. Through exploring, experimenting, and observing, the children acquire many basic principles of science, math and social studies. The TK program meets Monday and Friday from 8:45- 11:45 am and 8:45 am- 2:45 pm on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. On these long days, students bring their lunch and their nap mat. These students attend Music, Body Movement, Bible Time, and Art classes once a week. There are also off-campus field trips, and parents are often able to accompany the students for these experiences. In addition, our Transitional Kindergarten will present a special Christmas play for parents and friends before we break for the Christmas holidays. Our 5’s: Students must have completed 4’s or turn 5 before December 31st of the current school year. | Our ZOO-PHONICS CurriculumZoo-phonics is a multi-sensory program that John Calvin Playschool has implemented to effectively teach our students language arts. Each class level will use Zoo-phonics for letter recognition, letter sound, and letter motion, but the 4’s and 5’s classes will utilize the entire Pre-K and Kindergarten curriculum. Zoo-phonics is a research-based and field-tested program and our teachers are excited about using it to help our students excel and become early readers. Zoo-phonics is a method developed to make children strong readers and spellers using a “phono” (hearing), “oral” (speaking), “visual” (seeing), “kinesthetic” (moving), and tactile (touching)—whole brain approach. Students actually learn the sounds of the alphabet and advanced phonemic concepts through an easily understood, concrete method of presentation. Zoo-phonics uses animals drawn in the shapes of the letters for ease in memory. A related body movement is given for each letter. This concrete approach cements the sounds to the shapes of the letters. Lowercase letters and their sounds are taught first (needed 95% of the time in text), capital letters and letter names are taught later. Educational research repeatedly supports the focus of phonics in early reading programs, as well as the educational benefits of pictorial mnemonics and kinesthetic approaches to learning that are unique to Zoo-phonics. |
Our 4 year old Pre-K and Pre-K+ Programs
John Calvin Playschool’s 4 year old programs provide hands-on learning activities to completely immerse the students in the learning process. We do not focus on memorization skills, but instead on acquiring essential facts by participating in a wide variety of interesting activities. Our children learn their facts such as colors, counting, shape recognition, letters and their sounds, but they do it in such an active and hands-on manner that they only refer to it as PLAY (educators call this Active Learning). Writing letters and names is emphasized along with science experiments, cooking experiences, thematic show ‘n tells, and Weekly Readers.
Our Pre-K program meets Monday through Friday from 8:45- 11:45 am. Our Pre-K+ program meets Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 8:45- 11:45 am and 8:45 am- 2:45 pm on Tuesday and Thursday. On these long days, students bring their lunch and their nap mat. Students in our 4 year old programs go to Music, Body Movement, Bible Time, and Art classes once a week. These classes also attend off-campus field trips, and parents are often able to accompany the class.
Our 4’s: Students must turn 4 before December 31st of the current school year.
Our Transitional Kindergarten (TK) Program
Transitional Kindergarten is a unique program for our students who would benefit from an additional year before Kindergarten and for those that have late birthdays and miss the cut-off date for Kindergarten. These students receive a combination of advanced pre-kindergarten activities and kindergarten curriculum in a developmentally appropriate environment. The small class size allows for much individual attention, lively discussions, and the development of a strong sense of self-esteem. Family homework assignments allow the child to experience the fun of learning at home. Teachers focus on the recognition of letters and their sounds, writing names and numbers, and basic literacy skills. Through exploring, experimenting, and observing, the children acquire many basic principles of science, math and social studies.
The TK program meets Monday and Friday from 8:45- 11:45 am and 8:45 am- 2:45 pm on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. On these long days, students bring their lunch and their nap mat. These students attend Music, Body Movement, Bible Time, and Art classes once a week. There are also off-campus field trips, and parents are often able to accompany the students for these experiences. In addition, our Transitional Kindergarten will present a special Christmas play for parents and friends before we break for the Christmas holidays.
Our 5’s: Students must have completed 4’s or turn 5 before December 31st of the current school year.
Our ZOO-PHONICS Curriculum
Zoo-phonics is a multi-sensory program that John Calvin Playschool has implemented to effectively teach our students language arts. Each class level will use Zoo-phonics for letter recognition, letter sound, and letter motion, but the 4’s and 5’s classes will utilize the entire Pre-K and Kindergarten curriculum. Zoo-phonics is a research-based and field-tested program and our teachers are excited about using it to help our students excel and become early readers.
Zoo-phonics is a method developed to make children strong readers and spellers using a “phono” (hearing), “oral” (speaking), “visual” (seeing), “kinesthetic” (moving), and tactile (touching)—whole brain approach. Students actually learn the sounds of the alphabet and advanced phonemic concepts through an easily understood, concrete method of presentation.
Zoo-phonics uses animals drawn in the shapes of the letters for ease in memory. A related body movement is given for each letter. This concrete approach cements the sounds to the shapes of the letters. Lowercase letters and their sounds are taught first (needed 95% of the time in text), capital letters and letter names are taught later.
Educational research repeatedly supports the focus of phonics in early reading programs, as well as the educational benefits of pictorial mnemonics and kinesthetic approaches to learning that are unique to Zoo-phonics.
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Our 1 year old Program
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| Our 1's classroom is located in the Nursery, the first room in the church building with direct access to their private playground. | The 1's enjoy a classroom separate from the rest of the school where the teachers can engage everyone in individual and group activities without the distractions of the bigger kids on campus. | The 1's have a variety of toys in the classroom to build upon their language and motor skills. The big windows allow them to watch the weather, investigate their surroundings, and "talk" about what they see. |
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| Our 2's classrooms allow space for free play as well as circle time and classroom fun. | Our 2's have a variety of classroom decor to engage their interest and play while learning. | Our 2's enjoy the different centers in the classrooms so they can strengthen their motor skills while playing. |
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| Our 3's are engaged in circle time daily to review letters, numbers, shapes, colors, and more. | Our 3's classrooms focus more on learning centers and playing together in smaller groups. | There is a focus on letter sounds and our Zoo Phonics curriculum is truly enjoyable for our teachers as well as our students. |
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| Our PK/PK+ 4's work really hard on their handwriting and fine motor skills. | Circle time in PK/PK+ becomes more interactive with the calendar, holidays, and books that follow the lesson plans. | There are a variety of learning centers in the PK/PK+ classrooms to encourage taking turns, sharing, and friendship. |
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| Our TK students are the big kids on campus. They do extra fun activities throughout the year and put on a Christmas nativity play in December. | Circle time in TK is quite different. They build upon their letter sounds and handwriting to master their full names, dates, and sight words, as well as basic math skills using different formats they will need to be familiar with in big kid school. | Our TK teachers love sharing their knowledge with their students. TK gets to dabble in age-appropriate science and social studies lessons through Scholastic and complete so many fun projects throughout the year. |
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| The JCPS campus is gated and secure while the kids are in school. With Covid restrictions we have had to make some adjustments to allow all classes to play outdoors separately so our Quad area has been partitioned into sections to allow for more outside playtime. | Our Quad area is perfect for outdoor events, snack or story time, body movement classes, and just running off excess energy. We encourage our classes to spend as much time outdoors as possible so we utilize this space all day long. | There is a lot of green, grassy space to play games and run around, some benches for reading a story or taking a rest, and shade trees for when the sun is out. We love spending time in the Quad! |
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| Fellowship Hall is our main common area. Pre-Covid we would have music, body movement, art, and indoor recess in Fellowship Hall. This space is currently being used for a small handful of school events, such as school pictures, and our TK class has lunch and naptime here as a "big kid on campus" privilege. This space is utilized throughout the year for indoor classes, school events, our annual fair, and rentals through the church. | We offer Before Care and Extended Day! Before care starts at 8:00am and Extended Day dismisses at 2:45pm. There is a daily fee to use these services with a discounted rate if you pay monthly. For more information on these options, please contact the Playschool Office. | Spirit Days are always fun here at John Calvin! Twice a month we wear our school spirit shirts and have fun themes to go along with them. Some themes we have had this year so far are holiday accessories, crazy socks, and wacky hair. School shirts can be purchased through the forms in your back-to-school mailing or on orientation days. |
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| Family Fun Night is always a popular event here at John Calvin! Our teachers dress up in costumes and our families come to enjoy dinner and a movie at school. | It is a great way to meet other school families and let the kids see how fun school can be. We always get lots of pictures from our families. | Family Fun Night is truly just a preview of the fun to come... Trunk or Treat is another of our favorite events where teachers and playschool families host trunks and give out candy and treats to the students. |
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| Our 1's had a blast coloring their tablecloth for their Thanksgiving Feast! We are so thankful to their families for trusting their babies with us. | Our 3's shared a meal with their friends and said they were grateful for their families, their friends, their toys, and many other unique things. | Our TK class has a feast in Fellowship Hall with a traditional meal of turkey with gravy, baked macaroni & cheese, corn, green beans, cornbread muffins, and cranberry sauce. There were even 4 different kinds of pie! |
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| One of our littles resting in Extended Day. He's already had a full morning, eaten his lunch, and is napping before going outside for some more playtime before going home. | We have a few family movie nights where we invite the school families to join us in the Quad to watch the inflatable screen! | SUMMER CAMP!!! Water Days are the most fun days! We love when the water slide arrives at camp. If you are interested in sending your child for our summer camp program keep an eye out in March when the flyer goes out... we typically have 4 weeks of camp in June/July. |
