PRE-KINDERGARTEN
Pre-kindergarteners/four years old are full of energy and curiosity. The goal here at Savannah Adventist Christian School is to help them attain and maintain their developmental milestones through instruction, scaffolding and play using an interdisciplinary thematic based method that allow them to see the intricacy and connectivity of life in relation to their lives and to God as their creator.
The core of our curriculum is based on the principles of the Seventh-day Adventist school system through Pebbles, a Faith-based Early Childhood Curriculum, and is also influenced by the Georgia Early Learning and Developmental Standards (GELDS). It focuses on maintaining positive developmentally appropriate practices that places children on a trajectory for success in all the developmental domains: Spiritually, Emotionally/Socially, Physically, Cognitively and through Communication.
SPIRITUALLY
In our Pre-K classrooms, children learn about the love of God through daily morning devotions, songs, Bible stories and learn to talk with God through prayer. Our Science and Social Studies are interconnected to our Biblical perspective that God is the Creator of our world and how it operates.
Science - children use their senses to explore, learn about and engage in various concrete physical science activities and simple experiments that allow them to investigate life cycles of plants, animals and themselves and other developmentally appropriate concepts such as the weather and other planets as they pertain to life on Earth.
Social Studies - children learn that God designed the family structure, that families make up communities and communities make up the larger society. They learn that families have various cultural backgrounds and learn how to appreciate the cultural perspective of their peers as well as cherish their own. They also learn about community helpers, special places in our community and how to stay safe at home and in the community. They learn too that they have an intricate role to play in their families and communities as they share they unique gifts and talents.
EMOTIONALLY/SOCIALLY
In our Pre-K classrooms, children are encouraged to use their words to express their feelings, to respect each others feelings, to love and accept themselves as unique individuals as well as treat others the way they would like to be treated. They are taught to accept responsibility for their choices and most of all they learn that God loves them and is willing to forgive them when they make poor choices and they too should forgive their peers when they are wronged. They are moving on the continuum of gaining self regulation and executive functioning skills such as working with peers, taking turns, sharing, dealing with disappointments, staying on task etc. They also strengthen their social skills as they participate in daily learning center activities that are designed to encourage peer association.
PHYSICALLY
In our Pre-K classrooms, children develop their gross motor skills through independent and planned outdoor activities. They also develop their fine motor skills through structured activities that are embedded in multiple classroom learning activities such as: cutting, gluing, lacing, coloring, drawing lines and self help skills such as zipping, buttoning, snapping as well as through other independent play activities.
COGNITIVELY
In our Pre-K classrooms, children's cognitive skills are enhanced through structured learning activities and games that focus on thought organization, recall, using concrete manipulative that encourage recognition of numerals, shapes, colors, counting, sorting, matching, patterning, sequencing and engaging them in any other developmentally appropriate activities that encourage mental organization.
COMMUNICATION
In our Pre-K classrooms, literacy is paramount and is integrated throughout the curriculum. This is done through finger plays, songs, rhymes, poems, name and letter recognition, asking and responding to questions, large and small group games and stories, emergent writing and reading activities that build communication skills, through role play and through peer association in daily literacy centers.
Here at Savannah Adventist Christian School, we understand that children have varied strengths and weaknesses therefore our practice is to differentiate instruction and learning activities to meet each individual need and use multiple forms of developmentally age appropriate assessments to ensure that each child is achieving his/her developmental milestones.