Early Childhood

Education begins long before children enter school.

At Ascension, we see our Early Childhood programs as an extension of the development that happens at home. Our nurturing classes for three to five year-olds focus on promoting the physical, social, emotional, cognitive and spiritual growth through play and small group activities, while our Kindergarten classrooms build on early learning to master the skills necessary to excel in the Primary grades.

Ascension offers many preschool options to meet the needs of young families. Our students' days focus on socialization, reading preparation, developing motor skills, and independence. As a play-based program, all of our classes emphasize art, music and of course as part of the daily curriculum. Classes have access to both outdoor and indoor play spaces, and often will go on neighborhood walks together. Each classroom has one certified early childhood teacher and a qualified teacher's aide.

Our Kindergarten classrooms are designed specifically to help children prepare and learn during this critical year. Students work on early reading, math and science, while exploring nature, art, music and technology. Our experienced kindergarten teachers and aides work individually and as a full group with students to ensure they have the support they need to enter first grade.

Pre-Kindergarten 3 & 4 Program

Your Pre-Kindergartner is growing in independence, learning new skills and ready to make friends! Our classes are dedicated to these students who are just beginning their academic experience. We follow a lot of routines as this is the best means for students at this level to adapt and grow. As they move into their four-year-old year their needs change, and we challenge them a bit more with reading and writing curriculum, critical thinking science experiments, conceptual number recognition, and reading comprehension skills. Through play, art and music, we foster a love of reading and lay the foundation for your child's academic success.

PK3 and PK4 has an option of full or half days 2, 3, or 5 days a week. We require the schedule to be consistent throughout the year.

Kindergarten

Kindergarten is a special year filled with incredible growth physically, emotionally and academically. Kindergartners are full of energy with a passion to learn, and they are given many opportunities to do so throughout the day. Kindergarten students have reading, writing, math and religion every day. They begin to delve into new subjects such as science and geography! They also have physical education, library, music, art, Spanish to round out our comprehensive curriculum.

Ascension School has adapted a software program called i-Ready which provides analyzed reading and math assessments of each individual student to our teachers. We start this program in kindergarten and use it all the way to their 8th grade year. It gives each student a series of exercises based on their grade level, and it advances at a rate simultaneously with the student's individual learning. Teachers use this program as a tool not only to see the classes growth, but also to see each individual student's growth and as a means to communicate the progress to parents.

Kindergarten is a full-day, five day per week program.