Our Program
St. James’ Children’s School offers a year-round, extended day program for Infants through Kindergarten. Our school has achieved a Maryland EXCELS quality rating Level 3 by the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE). St. James’ Children’s School has attained this rating based on nationally recognized standards and best practices that exceed state licensing requirements.
All classes use the Maryland State approved Creative Curriculum for Preschool and the Infants and Toddlers classes. We add additional themes and projects chosen by each classroom to give each class a full traditional Preschool or PreK experience. The Creative Curriculum program follows a developmentally appropriate continuum that can be adjusted to meet the needs and abilities of individual children and classes. It covers four domain areas: social/emotional, cognitive, physical and language development.
Our Kindergarten is fully approved and meets all standards as needed to matriculate to First grade if the child is age eligible to do so. All children in our two Pre-K classes have the opportunity to learn Kindergarten material when they are ready and interested in more challenging activities. Both Pre-K classes will cover early reading, math and social studies throughout the year and start small reading groups for children when they are ready. Our Pre-K/Fours class is typically for children who have just turned four in the Spring and Summer and those turning Four in the fall. Our Pre-K/Kindergarten class is for the older Pre-K students, those turning five in the Fall and Winter, and currently Kindergarten eligible students.
Our program in every room is play based, experiential and focused on social learning opportunities. Students are encouraged to explore, experiment and experience developmentally appropriate activities. Part of our day is also devoted to learning about God’s love with Chapel for our Pre-K/ Fours and Pre-K/Kindergarten classes, and Bible stories, songs and simple prayers in all classes Twos and older.
As part of our curriculum, St. James’ offers separate instruction in Art and Spanish. Ms Vanessa has been teaching with us for over 20 years and created a new Spanish program for us in 2016. Ms. Paige is our Pre-K/Fours Head teacher and has an Art degree from Towson. Spanish instruction is twice a week for Two’s through Kindergarten and Art is once a week for the same classes.
Music and Art Education
Our Weekly Music Program is provided by Ms. Gina from Music Time for Tots. Ms. Gina comes every Monday and offers an opportunity for Twos through Kindergarten children to explore and create music through a variety of fun songs and instruments. Art Education is provided by Red Panda Studios in Chevy Chase. Ms. Emily comes to St James’ twice a month with fabulous materials to create and explore different art domains. Process-based lesson plans are used to create a strong foundation of artistic understanding and allow the children to express themselves with different mediums and materials.
Spanish
Our Spanish program introduces our Twos through Pre-Kindergarten students to the Spanish language through hands-on activities, puppets, games, books, and songs. Children learn numbers, colors, greetings, phrases, and vocabulary related to the seasons, foods, days of the week, and more. Ms. Vanessa is one of our long term lead teachers, working at St. James’ for over 20 years. In 2016 she designed our Spanish program based on her many years experience teaching Twos through Kindergarten children. Throughout the year, her students learn about other cultures and apply their knowledge of Spanish in other areas of the curriculum. Spanish songs are included year round and especially at Christmas.
Extracurricular Options
Soccer Shots classes are scheduled for St. James’ classes for three sessions each year. All children age two and over are welcome to sign up through Soccer Shots and join their friends out on our field.
Positive Impact Martial Arts has youth programs open to our oldest four- and five-year-old children just upstairs in our building. Families can sign up their children through Positive Impact. Their instructors will pick up their children from our classes, and families can meet them upstairs at the end of class.