PRE-K

Pre-K Program (Children turning 5 by December 31st)
Monday through Friday
12:30pm – 3:00pm OR
9:00am-3:00pm
Extended Hours avialable before 9:00, before 12:30, or as late as 5:30

Pre-K at King’s Gate is for children who have already turned five, or will turn five by Dec. 31.*

The Pre-K class at King’s Gate utilizes a developmental pre-kindergarten curriculum that allows the children to learn in a wide variety of ways in order to meet all learning styles. The Pre-K year is such an amazing period of growth and learning, and our program is designed to provide a learning platform that will allow your child to be ready for** Kindergarten, and equipped for success.

As the children arrive every morning, they go to our chapel for Happy Happenings. They will enjoy starting their day by singing their favorite songs with all their friends. Each week in Pre-K a new thematic unit is introduced, and the activities in the classroom are built on the theme of the week. The Pre-K class focuses on academic as well as social skills. Some of the social skills this class focuses on are listening, respecting others, sharing and conflict resolution.

They will start their classroom activity with a morning meeting, which is a teacher-directed large group time during which math, language, spelling, and reading readiness skills are introduced by the teachers. The morning meeting time allows concepts to be introduced to the class as a whole, as well as providing a sense of community in the classroom. The children continue their day with small group time in learning centers. The centers provide for continued learning through age-appropriate developmental play. Some of the centers the children explore in Pre-K are math, science, sensory table, blocks, free art, journal writing, home living, computer, and Bible.

Language and reading readiness/emerging literacy skills are taught and supported using both a whole-language, and phonics approach. The Pre-K children are introduced to the characters of Letterland® as they begin to recognize letters and the sounds each letter represents. The children will have ABC homework once a week to reinforce/practice the letter of the week. Some examples of homework include writing a list of items in their home or finding pictures in magazines of items that start with the letter of the week. They enjoy drawing the Letterland character of the week. They will also work with the Handwriting Without Tears® (HWT) curriculum every day to support their emerging literacy skills. On Mondays, the Pre-K children enjoy building letters with the HWT mat and wood pieces. On Tuesdays, they will practice writing letters by tracing the letter of the week. On Wednesday, they enjoy using the HWT Stamp & See Screen. The Wet/Dry Try is Thursday’s HWT activity. On Fridays, the children enjoy writing on their own.

The math curriculum used in Pre-K is Growing with Mathematics (GWM.) This curriculum allows math concepts to be integrated into many of the activities of the classroom. The Pre-K class works very hard to learn to write numerals. Once a week they write in their Number Journals to practice one to one correspondence and recognition of numerals. Some of the math skills we focus on using Growing with Mathematics include calendar, sorting, collecting, comparing, counting groups, positional language, and measurement. Calendar skills are reinforced with calendar homework that will begin in January. The children enjoy using calendars they have made to locate and mark particular dates and events. We are continuously working on skills and will add new ones at appropriate times. The kindergarten GWM program is available in our Pre-K classrooms and King’s Gate teachers will expand the opportunities to progress into advanced concepts as they see evidence of readiness.

Every week the children attend chapel, participate in music with Ms. Allison and science with Ms. Laurie. The Pre-K children go to Martin Nature Park with Ms. Laurie as part of our science program and they also enjoy their field trip to pick out a live Christmas tree. In the spring they participate in the annual Easter Egg Hunt.

At King’s Gate we understand that each child learns differently, and at their own pace. All of our programs are designed to meet each child’s needs in a safe and loving environment. Learning at King’s Gate is fun!

*The child must be completely potty trained.

**Students who have completed a King's Gate PK4 and/or Pre-K program will have priority for the King's Gate kindergarten program.