August Report from Ellen Jockusch, Head of School

Summer thus far at SJES has been anything but slow and sleepy! For openers, we have a record number of children in our summer program – 44 (as compared to 34 last summer), and more will be joining for our second summer session.

The next time you’re at the school, you’ll notice a LOT of changes in the classrooms – changes that correlate to the new programs we’re launching this year. A few highlights:

• The Green Room is now set up to be home to our Active Learning Program, which will welcome children ages 18- to 35-months when school begins on August 22.
• The Blue Room will house our Discovery class, a new preschool program for children ages 3 to 5 that is geared toward kindergarten readiness. We’re very proud of the fact that our Discovery program has been awarded a grant to participate in Texas School Ready!, a comprehensive kindergarten readiness curriculum developed at the Children’s Learning Institute at the UT Health Science Center in Houston. Through this grant, SJES has received a $2400 curriculum, lots of new materials, and professional development opportunities for Anna Kago, the master teacher for the Discovery Program.
• The Red Room is being transformed into a literacy and arts enrichment center. It now houses our library, and eventually it will be home to several computers in which our older learners can develop the keyboarding skills and a sense of respect for computers they will need when they enter elementary school. We also use the Red Room for special programs such as Africa Safari, in which Elizabeth Kahura – storyteller, musician, and educator – does a special program for the children on African folktales. 
• The Purple Building is now our dining area. The children eat their lunch family-style there. When school opens at the end of August, we will offer the USDA Food Program which will enable us to provide a healthy breakfast, lunch, and snack to every child (and staff too!) at no additional cost to parents.
• The Orange Building will house our wonderful Montessori program when school opens on August 22. The class will spread across both rooms. 

I am also pleased to announce that SJES has been invited to be a partner with UT’s ACE (A Community for Education) program through a collaboration with the Capital Area United Way’s Success by 6 initiative. Through this partnership, we will receive a research-based curriculum focused on literacy enrichment and the development of pre-reading skills. Two UT students, Americorps volunteers who have been trained by the UT ACE program’s pre-kindergarten expert, will work with children in the Montessori class for a total of 30 hours a week, using this rich multi-sensory and multi-cultural curriculum.

To view this article in the St. James' Episcopal Church Newsletter The Voice of St. James', click here

To view the photo gallery of our summer program, click here

Comments

[xiaoxun]

-paul picot replicaif it's good, I'll come up with a real prize.

[swiss replica watches]

I really like breitling chronomatic replica
your style and taste. I shall read you buy hublot swiss replica wholesale
r blog more often in the future.most of your fashion picks will also be swiss corum watch replica
on my wish list, for sure. I don’t know whether you like (this), either.fake swiss tag heuer watches

[eddrt]

Wearing a Hublot Replica would make you stand out from the other competitors and give confidence to you so you have a larger chance to win. Maybe you are afraid that people would know you are wearing a Replica Watches. As we stated before, no one could tell the difference unless you take off your watch and send the watch to be inspected.