Early Childhood (Ages 2-5)

St. Martin's Early Childhood students learn to explore, investigate and ask questions. We provide a safe, warm, caring and nurturing environment and a curriculum directed toward developing the "whole" child.

The St. Martin's learning environment emphasizes important concepts and values, such as respect for self and others. Our students grow socially, emotionally, physically and intellectually within a safe, nurturing and welcoming environment.

Early Childhood classrooms are filled with smiling faces eager to participate in stimulating adventures. Students satisfy their insatiable thirst for knowledge with many hands-on opportunities that engage the mind, hands and heart. We help shape your children into lifelong learners.

Many Early Childhood students participate in the Explorers Extended-Day program, which offers after-school care and various enrichment classes.

Curriculum

Science Lab & Outdoor Classroom

St. Martin’s award-winning Outdoor Classroom is a Certified Natural Wildlife Habitat by the National Wildlife Federation and a Nature Explore Classroom certified by the Arbor Day Foundation. Our Outdoor Classroom has many different areas the children can explore: a dinosaur excavation site, a pond with fish and frogs, numerous gardening beds, a large shaded gazebo, open green space and a greenhouse. Students learn to love nature and to cooperate, collaborate and appreciate the work of others as they explore the Outdoor Classroom.

The Early Childhood Science Lab furthers the students’ experience through science enrichment that will remain a source of interest and understanding throughout their lives. Our science program develops the scientific process skills of observation, classification, and communication and excites the children about the world around them. Because of young children’s innate curiosity, they eagerly embrace all science activities.

We merge Science, Math and Technology education. Color mixing, exploring which materials dissolve in water, comparing similarities and differences in objects, and observing different types of plants and animals are all hands-on science activities we do in the lab. Students use high-definition digital microscopes connected to laptops. Such activities prompt students to ask critical thinking questions, which builds a firm foundation for their future science curriculum. The addition of hands-on learning and exploration turns their time in the science lab into an unforgettable experience, which gives each student a spark of imagination and curiosity toward science.

Reading and Technology

The Reading and Technology Lab provides students weekly guided instruction in small groups. Using desktop computers, a SMARTBoard and iPads, students practice literacy skills, phonemic awareness, rhyming and concepts about print and build their skills in identifying sight words, decoding and practicing reading. Our Reading Resource teacher meets weekly with students in small groups. This program aims to provide additional activities and strategies for children as they progress from early emergent readers to early fluent readers and beyond. Materials of various reading skill levels are used to enhance the student’s phonics skills, reading comprehension, vocabulary growth and love of reading.

Spanish

Envisioning our students as future global citizens, the early childhood Spanish experience provides vital foreign language exposure and experience at a young age. Our Spanish curriculum embraces a broad spectrum of communication skills. With rich curricular experiences, the program offers a vision of what students should know and be able to apply in all languages. The Spanish classroom experience aims to develop positive attitudes and excitement toward learning the Spanish language. Classes are taught using multisensory methods, and EC students learn by playing games, listening and repeating, reproducing sounds as they are heard, and learning fundamental phrases and conversation.

Math

As Mathematicians, students investigate mathematical ideas and engage in meaningful, hands-on activities. The math program is organized with a comprehensive curriculum that allows continuous exposure to concepts throughout the year. We use grade-level mathematical concepts and skills to develop children’s ability to recall knowledge from long-term memory.

Our curriculum provides an exploratory, hands-on, center-based approach to learning mathematics. Students learn by sorting and classifying blocks at clean-up time, or they might record the number of monarch butterflies emerging from chrysalises for another activity. Our young students are challenged as they count the number of rings on a tree slice or the number of steps from point A to point B in the Outdoor Classroom. The students enjoy math while having fun, taking turns and solving problems.

Chapel & Religion

As an Episcopal school, the community affirms the beliefs and traditions of the Episcopal Church while also celebrating religious diversity. Childhood faith is characterized by awe, love, and curiosity; these gifts are nurtured and developed throughout our program. Each week in Chapel, students are guided through a simple liturgy that includes prayer, song and story. Our students and teachers unite in joyful fellowship to worship and learn about the Living God.

Early Childhood students attend religion class once a week. Our religion program is designed to foster respect, tolerance and understanding of the faith traditions, beliefs and customs practiced by members of our school community and people worldwide. As we learn together about God’s great love for us through the lively telling of biblical stories, we hope that children will learn about God, Jesus, and all of God’s people and their hearts of worship.

Woodworking

Music & Movement

Early Childhood Music and Movement is an integrated approach for developing early music and gross motor skills. Active play is the foundation for the bi-weekly classes. Simple songs, rhymes and fingerplays are used as the basis for musical development. In addition, age-appropriate percussion instruments are used to develop foundational skills such as steady beat and musical contrasts (fast-slow, high-low, soft-loud, short-long). During movement time, students experience music from a variety of genres and cultures to develop gross motor skills such as galloping, skipping, jumping, marching and dancing.

Visual Art

The Early Childhood art program is designed to help children be creative and express themselves as they experience a variety of fun art activities. Participating in art can help young children learn about cooperation, collaboration, empathy, and emotional regulation. Art-related activities are fun for young children and are an excellent way to encourage creativity and develop fine motor skills and spatial awareness. The St. Martin’s art experience is well integrated and frequently intersects with the language arts, science and social studies curriculum. Our program embraces the energy and curiosity of young students by balancing productive play and structure to nurture artmaking and creative thinking.

Guidance

Guidance classes are taught weekly by the EC School Counselor. The children are learning through this fun, hands-on, multi-sensory approach. Using children’s literature, music, movement, stories, and imaginative play, students learn about sharing and being an important group member. Our goal is to help students discover their interests, find friends, and develop character.

Social aspects are taught along with academics. Six of these social skills are particularly important: learning that it feels good to help other people, developing empathy, understanding that everyone has rights that must be respected, learning to be generous, discovering the value of cooperation, and discovering the joys of friendship.

TinkerLab

The Early Childhood curriculum harnesses the natural curiosity of our youngest students by guiding them through the processes of inquiry and discovery. The TinkerLab is an exciting space connecting the Art Room and the Science Lab. The Tinker Lab provides students with a wide range of learning experiences that allow students the opportunity to create, try, problem-solve, and try again. The lab's tools are organized, and clever storage solutions around the room allow a variety of materials to always be within reach.

The TinkerLab is a dedicated space for hands-on experiential learning equipped with various tools and materials to support collaborative problem-solving. Learning experiences are student-centered and are intended to be open-ended. Teachers promote verbal communication by encouraging students to think out loud and aim to inspire creative thinking and problem-solving through collaborative play and open-ended questioning.

Meet the Team

Hours of Operation

M/T/Th/F

2-year-olds, Beginners & Pre-K

8:10 am - 1:30 p.m.

Wednesday