Saint Ambrose School Pre-Kindergarten
General Information:

About Our Program
Beginning in 2007-08, our program will be 5 full days, 8:30-3:00.  Afterschool care is available from 3:00-5:30 daily.  Our classroom has 1 teacher and 1 full time teacher aide daily. Our program provides a safe, developmentally appropriate educational environment for your child while instilling Christian values to begin the framework for a well rounded individual.  Different levels of ability and development are expected and accepted.  St. Ambrose Pre-K offers many learning styles to accommodate each child’s own uniqueness.  Children are provided many opportunities to develop social skills such as negotiating in order to solve interpersonal skills.

Philosophy
The emphasis of this program is not just on content or school readiness but more importantly on the process of learning. Children need also to be taught how to: learn, think, communicate, love, make decisions, organize thoughts and to create. Young children "learn by doing" and will be offered a variety of concrete "hands on" experiences.

Age Requirement
A child must be 4 years old by December 01 of the year entering school. Several parents choose to have their 5 year old delay the start of Kindergarten and attend/repeat the Pre K program. This is especially true when a child has a late birthday (e.g. September through December). The Pre K and Kindergarten teacher will gladly help assist you in this decision.  All children entering Pre-K must be able to use the bathroom independently.

Assessment
Your child's progress will be reported to you through parent/teacher conferences. There is regular communication between the teacher and parents to build mutual understanding and greater consistency for the children.

Attendance
Attendance at Pre-K is important. Each day brings new learning experiences and aids the child in school adjustment.

Calendar
You will receive a yearly calendar (at the beginning of the school year) indicating: No School days, half-day sessions and vacations. Also, students receive a monthly, updated calendar. Pre K students follow the school calendar.

Curriculum
Due to the New York Regents Action Plan the Pre-K will be academically structured. Children entering the program are expected to be able to follow directives given by the teachers. The Pre K program consists of both quiet and active times. There are indoor and outdoor play activities. The children will experience large and small group activities and individual attention.

Our Curriculum provides a developmentally appropriate educational environment for your child. Different levels of ability, development and learning styles are expected and accepted. Through the use of Learning Centers, the children will manipulate different materials and objects to help in the building of basic concepts.

Our core curriculum includes:

• Religion
• Language Arts
• Social Studies
• Math Readiness
• Science

 In addition to our core curriculum, Pre-K students have the opportunity to experience other learning activities including:

• Mass
• Library
• Physical Education
• Music
• Science
• Computers
• Development of Communication
• Exposure to literature
• Dramatic Play
• Large and small muscle activities
• Socialization

The following skills will be taught throughout the school year:

Reading Readiness:

• Capital and lower case letters
• Beginning sounds
• Sequencing
• Classifying
• Perception
• Matching
• Rhyming

Math Readiness:

• Counting
• Number recognition
• Shapes
• Finding shapes in environment
• Identifying size differences
• Categorizing objects (shape, color, size, texture)

Religion - Developing a relationship with Jesus throughout the year through:

• Christian atmosphere
• Daily prayer and Bible stories
• Celebrating Holy Days
• Instilling Christian values

Other learning activities include: Science, art, music, development of communication skills, exposure to literature, dramatic play, large and small muscle activities and socialization.

Children are provided many opportunities to develop social skills such as cooperating helping and negotiating in order to solve interpersonal problems.

Daily Schedule (2007-08)

• Welcome circle: including daily prayers, discussion of weekly theme and choice time for free play
• Free choice activities offered are related to a central theme and always include fine motor tasks
•  Clean up
•  Snack
•  Circle time including weather, calendar, story,  and academic drills followed by lesson of the day and directions given for project to follow
•  Project
•  Music
•  Lunch (hot lunch is available)
•  Recess
•  Quiet Time
•  Arts and Crafts
•  Dismissal

 Discipline Policy
Children learn discipline which is self-control by being  given a few, clear consistent fair rules to follow and by learning constructively from their mistakes and by being redirected to more acceptable behavior. Some specific techniques that will be used:

* Short, clear directives for example chairs are for sitting, blocks are for building
* Time away- A child who is troublesome or disruptive will be asked to leave the group to have a period of time out, inside the classroom, for reflection and calming down. 
* Make the child responsible for his/her actions by comforting and caring for the child he/she has mistreated.

Early Dismissal
If an occasion should occur when your child needs to be dismissed early, a note should be sent to the teacher indicating the time of dismissal. Your child may be picked up at the office. Children coming to school late must bring a note. They must stop at the office first before going to the classroom. A note must also be sent if your child has been absent.

Emergency School Closing
When school must be closed for inclement weather (or any reason of emergency) listen to your local radio stations for information (WGY, WROW, FLY 92, B95.5, WGNA, WPTR, WTRY) or TV stations 10 or 13. If North Colonie School District is announced as closed (in the morning) St. Ambrose School is automatically closed. In the event of early dismissal listen to the radio stations.

Parties
Special occasion parties (Christmas, Valentine's Day, etc) will be held during class time. Refreshments will be kept simple (napkins, cupcakes, juice, etc.).

Birthday Parties: Your child may celebrate his/her birthday with the class. This is done during snack time. It is the responsibility of the parents to provide all necessary supplies (napkins, plates, etc.)

The school does not provide class lists with address and telephone numbers to parents for any reason. Please do not ask teachers or the office for this information.

Unless all classmates are being invited, please do not send party invitations to school to be handed out during school hours. In the past his practice has caused some children's feelings to be hurt.

Religion
Catholic preschools have the opportunity to lead little children to Jesus. Lessons learned in the early formative years of preschool will be the seeds of adult life and faith. It is not so much in lectures and long explanations, but in the teacher's own attitude toward the things of the world that the child comes to understand that there is someone beyond all of us who cares for us. Since children this age are still egocentric and cannot understand the abstract theological concepts of the Catholic faith, we will be focusing on the message that God has created all people, animals, nature and all things that each of us are created in the uniqueness of God's love. 

• We will be learning the Creation Story including Adam and Eve and Noah's Ark
• We will be learning about Saints and their feast days
• We say daily prayers including one before snack
• We will be having a Thanksgiving Day and Easter prayer service
• Religious holidays ( Christmas, Easter, and All Saints' Day etc) will be taught and celebrated with the real meaning emphasized 
• We attend mass on holy days of obligation

School Hours  

Children are dismissed at the north door exit (near the playground)

Snack Time/Lunch
Children bring a snack to school in a lunch box. Snacks should be simple - crackers, cookies or fruit. Drinks may be carried to school in a thermos or juice box.  Please NO glass bottles.  Starting in our 2007-08 year, full day Pre-K students will be able to purchase hot lunch. Our hot lunch is provided by the North Colonie School District. 

Special Classes
Each week the Pre-K children will be attending many exciting programs that St. Ambrose offers. They will include:

• Library Children will be exposed to the exciting world of literature.
• Physical Education - Children wear the gym uniform. See dress code for appropriate attire.

Tuition
Pre-K tuition is a yearly fee, which can be paid in ten monthly installments, September through June. Payments are due the First Monday of each month. Payment is expected to be paid, on time, each month. If tuition is not received on time your child may not return to the Pre-K program until payment is received.

Please do not include Pre-K payment with any other fees, e.g. fundraising, tuition for upper grade (K - 8), book clubs, etc. Each must be a separate check or payment.

Thank you very much for your cooperation in these matters. If you have any questions, feel free to call the school office at 785-6453.