Optional Full Time Kindergarten beginning September 2018. We are pleased to announce that next year we will be offering Extended Kindergarten Program for families that wish to enroll their children. Parents can choose the Regular Kindergarten Program, which runs Monday, Wednesday and Friday, or the Extended Kindergarten Program, which will run every day. The Extended Kindergarten Program is an educationally rich environment with lots of opportunities for exploration, discovery and play. The students will enjoy music, story time, crafts, centers, gym class and more. Although new concepts are not taught during this time, lessons taught in the Regular Kindergarten Program are reinforced through this program.

The Kindergarten program at Timothy Christian School is taught by a qualified, Christian teacher in a caring and safe environment. Class sizes are small, approximately 10 to 15 students per class. In Kindergarten, children learn the fundamentals that will provide them with a strong academic foundation. Here are five building blocks to learning introduced in Kindergarten at Timothy Christian School:

Letter recognition and sounds. Being able to identify all the letters of the alphabet, both capitals and lower case is important, but not as important as learning the 42 sounds of the English language. Using the Jolly Phonics resource, children learn how to identify sounds in words. Knowing sounds is the precursor to reading.

Number identification and basic math skills. Children learn to sort, match, estimate, graph and count to 100 in Kindergarten. The focus is on an active, exploratory problem solving approach to mathematics.

Social interaction. Our grade eight graduates fondly remember Centres in Kindergarten. Centres are where they got to practice many new skills and concepts. At the Home Centre or the Block Centre or the Make-it-Take-it Centre (where kids use recycled materials to build objects), children learn how to play and work with kids who are different from them. At Timothy, the children are taught to interact with others in a Christian manner.

Following instructions. The Kindergarten day has a routine. There is structured learning as well as structured play. The program is presented around various themes and special days. Here children learn to raise their hand, take turns, be polite to others and show respect to their teachers and care for their classroom and school environment.

Taught to know God’s Word. The Kindergarten student learns about people, plants, animals and things of our Father’s world. What differentiates our program from others is that God’s Word, the Bible, provides the basic foundation. Children listen to the stories of God’s actions with his people and they begin to learn who God is and what He is doing in this world.

In Kindergarten, each child is encouraged to develop his or her talents to praise God and serve others. They begin to learn basic French phrases and conversation. Students readily absorb new vocabulary and begin to recognize Canada as a bi-lingual country. Experiences in art, music, physical activities and field trips are also part of the Kindergarten curriculum.

In the Regular Kindergarten Program Senior Kindergarten meets every other Monday. Junior and Senior Kindergarten meet together on alternate Mondays and every Wednesday and Friday. The students are paired with a “big buddy” from the senior grades who helps them feel at home at the school and assists them with simple tasks like getting dressed for recess in the winter, reading and doing crafts together.

At Timothy Christian School, Kindergarten is like the rock that the rest of their learning is built upon. Send your child here so he or she will learn about God’s love for them while learning the fundamentals about reading, writing and arithmetic.  You can see more of the learning we do in Kindergarten by visiting our blog!