Featured Class - Kindergarten
St. Martin’s-in-the-Field Kindergarten, where the two most important disciplines, math and reading, are taught in small group rotations with two highly experienced teachers, can pay dividends.
Did you know that a good Kindergarten education makes dollars and sense? New research funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) measures a fascinating outcome—Kindergarten students in small classes led by experienced teachers learn more, and Kindergartners who learn more earn more as adults. They are also more successful in life overall. How important is Kindergarten, and why is it worth your investment at St. Martin’s-in-the-Field?
THE LEGACY OF KINDERGARTEN
The 2010 study funded by the NSF examined the life paths of nearly 12,000 children who are now 30 years old. “We find that both smaller classes and teachers with more experience improve long-term outcomes,” said Harvard University economist John Friedman, who produced the study. Children who have a robust Kindergarten year are more likely to graduate from college, less likely to become single parents, more likely to own a home by age 28, and more likely to save for retirement earlier in their work lives.“Kindergarten interventions matter a great deal for long-term outcomes,” said Friedman.
THE INVESTMENT OF A ST. MARTIN'S-IN-THE-FIELD KINDERGARTEN
Experienced teachers and small classes are key ingredients in the magical formula that will ensure success for your child. St. Martin’s-in-the-Field Day School offers both. St. Martin’s-in-the-Field has two highly experienced, degreed teachers in Kindergarten—Debbie Pittenger and Allison Jacob. Between them, they have 19 years of experience at our school. They have worked as a team for years. They have built a Kindergarten curriculum that balances readiness in the fundamental skills of reading and math with the five-year-old child’s sheer delight in the physical world and the capacity to wonder.
“We’re different from other schools,” said Debbie Pittenger. “We really know each individual student. We want our Kindergartners to have a rich, experiential education even as they acclimate to a learning environment. And because there are two us,” said Debbie, “we can each play to our strengths. I love teaching number sense, and Allison enjoys language enrichment.” Debbie uses the Chicago Everyday Math curriculum. “From the children’s point of view, they’re just having fun with numbers.” Allison nurtures the linguistic sense with the Macmillan/McGraw Hill series, Beginning to Read, Write, and Learn Letterbooks.
Soon Kindergarteners will be releasing the horseshoe crabs they have raised. At Easter, the Kindergarteners participated in the egg-drop experiment, which illustrates principles of physics. Few programs offer the variety and yet consistency of approach that characterize St. Martin’s-in-Field.
As librarian, Cynthia Barry loves stoking the children’s imaginations through storytelling and exposing them to an enriched vocabulary—a building block of all future learning. Kindergarteners at St. Martin’s-in-the-Field also take French with Edward Warfield—again, creating those linguistic pathways in the brain—and technology and art with Sue Maloney. Music is inspirational, and Mary Gaylord brings out the joy in the young children, as parents witness at weekly Chapel and special holiday events throughout the year. They learn lifelong good health habits and physical fitness with athletic director Betz Wild.
It makes sense. Good early education—especially that all-important Kindergarten year—can impart skills that last a lifetime: patience, a sense of self, good manners, perseverance.
An investment in the Kindergarten year pays dividends. The choice of a St. Martin’s-in-the-Field Kindergarten is a wonderful gift for which your children will thank you one day.
We’ve extended our morning and afternoon programs by a half-hour each, so Nursery through Pre-Kindergarten half-day classes are now three full hours—9:00 a.m. to noon and 12:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. In addition, we offer before-school care starting at 7:30 a.m. and after-care to 6:00 p.m. for 3-year-olds through 8th graders. Parents of children who attend all-day Pre-K 4s and Kindergarten can avail themselves of the full time span, if they need it and as they need it. We hope this new scheduling is helpful to parents. We fully believe that the slightly longer session times are beneficial to our young students.
TOUR OUR CLASSES
To schedule a tour, call 410-647-7055, or contact us at info@stmartinsdayschool.org. Let your friends know about St. Martin’s-in-the-Field Day School, where our students are Learners, Leaders, and Friends.