Junior Kindergarten

Beautiful books play a key role in the life of a classical student. Well written and beautifully illustrated books are the food to a child’s developing imagination. Junior Kindergarten students enjoy a feast of great books throughout their day. Students begin their day listening to a read aloud from The  Story Bible, a child’s Bible, and other devotional-style books to lay the foundation of beginning the day contemplating the Greatest Story of all. The day ends with a read aloud from a book of the Author of the Month, which introduces children to some of the best authors in children’s literature. Their sense of wonder and their growing imaginations are encouraged and guided through daily interactions with beautiful books.

Songs, chants and memorization comes naturally for young children. 

Memorization helps students recall information but it also strengthens the brain and prepares them for more difficult forms of learning.

Our Junior Kindergartners will memorize and recite many poems and scriptures throughout the year.  They will be delighted as they stand in front of the class and recite what they have learned.

Just as stories cultivate wonder and imagination, so does playing and exploring outside.  Coram Deo students extend classroom space and learning to the outdoors all year long as they plant gardens, look for bugs, observe trees, collect fallen leaves, watch the cloud formations, observe the changes with each season, sketch beautiful flowers, find the perfect rock for their classroom nature table, count how many bird and squirrel nests they can find on campus, pretend to be birds building nests, and much more. Keeping an eye on our bird feeder right outside our window will allow us to see many different types of birds that live in Indiana. Watching the geese migrate while hearing their honking calls, feeling the cool autumn breeze, and smelling the musty scent of autumn builds a powerful memory and love for birds which will be evoked years later when reading about migration or bird habits in biology class. Outside play and exploration lay the foundation for all future scientific study as they engage with creation using all their senses.

A child’s imagination and wonder are fed through living ideas, beautiful books, outside exploration, and multi-sensory learning. In the classical tradition, the early years of learning are characterized by multi-sensory discovery and delight. Wonder is the foundation of all future study, and wonder is evoked through hands-on discovery. When learning about trees, Junior Kindergarten students touch bark to feel its varying texture and stand underneath a tree looking up to see its patterns of branches and leaves. When learning to count or create patterns in math, students play with wooden blocks and beads to practice making patterns or showing groups of numbers. They count the trees on their playground by running up and touching them and they count how many sticks or acorns they can collect. They listen and dance to music during Composer Study, look at and observe art during Artist Study, practice writing in sand and salt trays, build items out of playdough during centers time, and more. This hands-on learning engages their senses through the day allowing the children to enter into delightful discoveries and rich learning thus sowing the seeds of wonder, imagination, and a love of learning.

As children made in God’s image, learning how to live in community is foundational to human flourishing. Our teachers cultivate the habits of relationship and learning which allow our JK students to flourish in our school community. We come alongside students and families in cultivating the habits of Attention, Obedience, Respect and Responsibility. They experience a gentle and nurturing environment of emotional coaching as they learn how to share and put others first, how to forgive and make amends, and how to encourage and show kindness in words and actions. Our teachers pray with and for our students, modeling dependence upon Jesus and living in obedience and faith.

Junior Kindergarten students have time set aside everyday to play both inside the classroom and outside on their playground and in their garden. Students use their imaginations, language, fine motor skills, and growing habits to build castles with wooden blocks, create watercolor paintings, pretend to make a dinner with cloth food, host a tea party with the wooden tea set, conquer puzzles and tangrams, and more. Play is also incorporated throughout the day as students work together to act out favorite books, pretend to travel to the countries they learn about, and imagine they are animals in the habitats they are reading about.  Play provides the space for their imaginations and wonder to take flight and bring them on amazing adventures.