The Junior Kindergarten program at Christ Church Day School was created in the fall of 2009 to meet an educational need for children in the local community who are chronologically ready for a traditional Kindergarten program, but upon admissions assessment and review, are recognized to need more time developmentally before beginning a formal Kindergarten.  These children have most likely completed a typical preschool program for 3 and 4 year olds, and need more time to develop either gross or fine motor skills, or further time to develop confidence or socialization skills.  We believe in the gift of time.     Both a certified teacher and a full time teacher’s aide, also a certified teacher, teach the JK program at CCDS.  The combination of two teachers and a limited class size provides ample time for both one-on-one learning, as well as small group time, in a nurturing environment.    The program is varied and is dependent on the students themselves, as learning is catered to the individual children’s needs and interests.  Time is spent on developing language and handwriting skills, as well as those in math and science.  Time is also given for both fine and gross motor skill development, as well as spiritual growth.  The JK children attend chapel along with the rest of the student body at Christ Church once a week.    The classroom itself is an academically integrated and literature rich environment.  Stories, songs, poetry, and the children’s words themselves, are all written and posted across the room.  The children’s interests are carefully considered as teaching themes and units are prepared.  If a child is interested in dinosaurs, for instance, and that interest is growing, not waning, the teachers will expand and develop units across the curriculum areas to make learning continue to be broadening for that child, and those around him or her.  The JK year is meant to be unrushed and should be a time of exploration and peace.       The classroom is very much a community built on respect of one another.  The children are encouraged to express themselves and to listen to one another, especially when conflicts arise.  Time is spent on learning problem solving skills in a positive environment, and good sportsmanship is emphasized from day one, as we feel this is a life skill.   Practicing speaking skills are part of the daily routine; the children recite poetry and learn songs together, as well as take turns speaking or sharing in front of the class, promoting both self-confidence and academic growth. How do we give you a real sense of the JK year?   Here are a few highlights: •  We listened to the 50th anniversary audio recording of E.B. White reading Charlotte’s Web during quiet time each day for several weeks.  The children loved the story so much we transformed our dramatic play area into Zuckerman’s Farm, complete with the children painting a mural with a fence for Wilbur’s pen, and acting out the story. •  After reading Jan Brett’s The Mitten, the children measured out the length and height of a life-sized brown bear, comparing it to their own measurements of height.  We marked the measurements on an enormous piece of paper in the classroom, hung it up, and it made quite an impression, as the paper took up the better part of one side of our classroom. •  Time is spent at the beginning of each month with each child drawing a “self-portrait” of themselves.  The children studied self-portraits of famous artists.  •  After reading Martha Speaks by Susan Meddaugh, a great children’s book in which the dog develops the ability to speak after eating alphabet soup, the children made and ate alphabet soup of their own.  Afterwards, the children added the recipe for “alphabet soup” to their Recipe Books.  Tasting new foods is a regular thing in JK, where “you never know what your new favorite food is going to be.”  •  The children regularly tend their gardens outside the classroom, adding birdfeeders, growing radishes, daffodils, and milkweed to draw Monarch butterflies and caterpillars. •  The children take weekly walking trips to the Coronado Public Library for a special story time with the children’s librarian, and then check out books to take home. •  A map of the world hangs on the classroom wall and we regularly identify locations on the map that are important to a classroom member or are part of the news, such as countries and oceans relating to one child’s father, who is deployed with the Navy this year.  We have tracked his progress over the past five months.  Geography coming alive. •  Math is an integrated, daily part of the classroom curriculum and routine, as the children graph with magnets of themselves, find patterns in the classroom and on nature walks, count, and sort—everything:  coins, themselves, shapes, books, etc.  We want Math to be positive, natural, and fun. •  Letter identification, recognition, and practice is also integrated into the day.  The children regularly share “News of the Day” that is important to them, telling us a sentence or two, and we will write down their words on chart paper.  This is used for shared reading time, and the children work to recognize each other’s names, letters or words they know, or letter combinations they are learning.  This is a meaningful way to practice literacy. •  The JK program at Christ Church Day School is a happy place, one that is very much a part of the larger school, but one that is also in its own little world in The Little White House of 901 C Avenue.  It is a world that is welcoming, accepting, academically rich, musical, artistic, questioning, sometimes boisterous, sometimes quiet, and is a very happy place to be.