About Us
PHILOSOPHY
ST. LUKE’S LITTLE SCHOOL PROGRAMS ARE DESIGNED TO PROVIDE A CHRISTIAN, DEVELOPMENTALLY APPROPRIATE CURRICULUM AND TO AFFIRM EACH CHILD THROUGH GROUP AND ONE-ON-ONE INTERACTION. EACH CHILD IS VIEWED AS AN INDIVIDUAL WITH UNIQUE NEEDS AND ABILITIES. THE CHILDREN ENROLLED IN THE PROGRAM WILL FIND A WORLD OF TOYS, EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS, CARING, FRIENDLY ADULTS, AND OTHER CHILDREN WHO ARE EXPLORING THE WORLD BEYOND THEIR OWN HOMES UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF A HIGHLY TRAINED STAFF. THE PROGRAM PROVIDES A VARIETY OF ENJOYABLE, CREATIVE LEARNING ACTIVITIES SUCH AS ART, MUSIC, STORIES, COOKING, AND SCIENCE, BALANCED WITH OPPORTUNITIES FOR PLAY AND SOCIAL INTERACTION. THE CHILDREN WILL ALSO BE ENCOURAGED TO DEVELOP A RESPECT FOR CULTURAL DIVERSITY. THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE PROGRAM STRESSES A POSITIVE APPROACH TO DISCIPLINE WHICH SETS CLEAR AND CONSISTENT LIMITS INTENDED TO ENHANCE THE CHILD’S SELF-ESTEEM WHILE PROTECTING THAT CHILD FROM HARM AND MAINTAINING THE SAFETY OF OTHER CHILDREN.
LITTLE SCHOOL CURRICULUM
Without sacrificing the FUN-damentals of learning, our Christian curriculum strives to meet the many educational needs of our children. Little School Teachers are dedicated and highly trained in developmentally appropriate practices and combine those with play, social interaction and creativity in a loving, nurturing, caring environment. By keeping in touch with our feeder school districts, we are able to excellently prepare our students for kindergarten. Little School prides itself with small class ratios and lots of individual attention.
All students at Little School participate in our wonderful Literacy Program called “Letterland” which are “pictograms that carefully fuse letters and animated characters. This is an exciting, fun way to learn letters, letter shapes, direction, formation and sounds. Characters have personalities, friends and homes. Children will develop all the cognitive, language and literacy skills they need for successful reading and writing!
This program addresses all areas of your child’s growth including personal, social, emotional, language, communication, literacy and mathematics in a creative and physical environment.
Three Year Old Curriculum:
Little School’s three-year-old Christian curriculum is socially based. We feel that this may be many of our children’s first school experience and that social skills are extremely important to learning. We work on tasks such as listening skills, sitting still for short periods of time, sharing, bathroom etiquette, fine and gross motor skills and appropriate interaction with new friends. We begin introduction to and work on all of their beginning academic skills including, colors, letters, shapes, opposites, cutting skills, name letter recognition and writing. Assessment of children is important and each child is recognized for their individual abilities and needs. Teachers are also trained to assist parents in seeking additional help for any apparent speech, language, hearing or behavioral difficulties.
Four Year Old Curriculum:
Little School’s four-year-old Christian curriculum is academically based. We feel that is an excellent year to prepare children for their kindergarten experience. Our teachers are highly trained and able to meet the requirements of public and private schools. Continued work on academic skills include writing practice, math games, language skills, colors, alphabets, patterning, sequencing, as well as fine and gross motor skills. We also continue to work on all social skills and appropriate interaction with peers and adults. At this level, teachers are also trained to identify and help parents work with any apparent speech, language, hearing or behavioral difficulties. Conferences with parents are offered in January or February to discuss student’s progress and readiness for Kindergarten.
Explorers Curriculum:
Explorers is a specifically designed class to meet the needs of children who are not attending kindergarten. Students must turn five from April to September and have a teacher referral for this program. Explorers assists children who are academically progressing with fine motor skills, writing, letter recognition and basic skills for kindergarten, but lack the maturity and social skills to be successful in a highly academic kindergarten situation. This class is also designed to help those students who need further work on their academic progress including more fine motor development and readiness skills. Children experience a special curriculum that studies continents and different cultures and provides new and different learning from a regular preschool curriculum. These students are evaluated at the beginning of the year to begin with appropriate work. As the children progress so does Explorers! Our goal for this program is to encourage and assist students to do their very best in kindergarten. These classes enable children to sharpen their school preparation and maturity, while becoming more self-confident and self-reliant. This class is designed to give children a boost in self-esteem and to work on all aspects of their education.
ALL ABOUT US
CHILD SAFETY:
Children are supervised at ALL times. Parents are required to sign their child in and out of Little School. Children will only be released to adults stated in their school file. We keep all doors locked and all visitors are required to sign in and are monitored by staff.
LONGEVITY:
Little School has been state certified and licensed for 10 years, being established on September 5, 1995. Little School is an educational outreach program of St. Luke’s United Methodist Church and follows all of the criteria for National Accreditation.
STAFF QUALIFICATIONS:
All teachers are required to have a degree pertaining to Early Childhood and be group leader qualified. They must pass a background check be trained in CPR, first aid, medication management, and emergency procedures. 15 hours of continuing education are also required. We have a long standing staff retention with playful, loving, experience teachers. Our teacher to child ratio is a low 6-1 or less. The Director, Kay Swanson, has been at Little School since in opened in 1995 and has over thirty years of Early Childhood experience.
DISCIPLINE:
Children who are happy, busy and well loved rarely have discipline problems. Redirection is always used first with skills taught to help with occasional disagreements. Iif necessary an occasional age appropriate time out is used.
SCHOOL CALENDAR AND SNOW POLICY:
Little School follows a traditional nine-month calendar observing a Christmas and Spring Break. Snow days will be posted on 3 television stations and closures are made with the safety of children and families in mind. As a general rule if the Douglas County Schoola are closed Litttle School will also be closed.
SNACKS AND LUNCHES:
Parents volunteer to bring snacks for their child’s class. They are encouraged to bring healthy, fun, nutritious snacks. Children bring their own lunch to school. Allergies are closely monitored.
PARENT VISITATION AND INVOLVEMENT:
Parents are encouraged and most welcome at Little School. Teachers will utilize parents as often as possible. For safety, visitors must sign-in and wear a visitor's badge.
EXCITING ADDITIONS:
Small Class sizes, an outstanding music teacher, including programs, songs, and instruments. Chapel, Christmas & Graduation Programs. Thanksgiving Feast, Western Week, Pajama Day, Dad’s Saturday, Spaghetti Dinner, Career Days, Guest Speakers and our Annual Art Show.
POTTY TRAINING:
Children are required to be independently potty trained for all programs. In compliance with the privacy policies, children must be able to wipe themselves. Assistance is available for clothing and you will be asked to bring a complete change of appropriate seasonal clothing.
IMMUNIZATION:
All children must be completely immunized and up to date on all vaccinations. This is for the protection of teachers, infants and pregnant mothers.