Pre-K Programs :: 5 Qualities to Prioritize

Disclosure :: Our team knows all too well how hard it can be to choose the perfect school and pre-K program in South Louisiana. Education certainly is a hot button for discussion these days. This post is sponsored by St. John Primary but it is our hope that it gives you some guidance as you begin your search for a Pre-Kindergarten education program in Baton Rouge that meets your families unique needs. 

Pre-K Programs :: 5 Qualities to Prioritize 

The St. John Primary principal, Kim Naquin, said, ““I recently saw a quote that said, ‘From tiny seeds, grow mighty trees.’ When I read it, it struck me as something quite profound. Within these students, we plant tiny seeds each day. We plant seeds that we trust will help our students grow into faithful adults. In order for them to grow, they will need deep roots… roots that are deep in the soil of self-confidence and strong values. Each day we must water them with faith, hope, and love. We must feed the plants with the nutrients of knowledge, dedication and integrity. We must care for them so they can bloom with creativity, curiosity, intelligence, and most importantly, spirituality.”

With that thought, we wanted to bring you more information about the features of pre-K programs that are most helpful to advance student academic and social development.

What to Seek in a Baton Rouge Pre-K Program

An emphasis on true character development and strong values helps pre-K students begin their school adventure developing a true appreciation of everything around them. The emphasis on moral development helps pre-K students learn responsibility and how to become life-long learners, which sets the stage for a successful school experience.

Strong caring relationships between teacher and student lead to stronger educational gains for pre-K students. Encouragement, feedback and emotional support offered by teachers affect positive outcomes for students’ learning by advancing feelings of belonging and motivation to learn. Strong emotional support from teachers in the classroom affect pre-K students in particular in these ways:

• When teachers listen and encourage students to reason and work through problems, trust is established and cognitive challenges are offered to the young learner.
• Students build trusting relations with peers, which encourages cooperative learning from one another, thereby resulting in fewer conflicts.

A lower ratio of teachers to pre-K students increases the amount and quality of interaction with adults. This leads to greater social development for the young child and caring, trusting relationships between teacher and student.

Enriched pre-K environments and challenging instruction provide students with a step-by-step approach to express themselves verbally.

• Teachers provide organized learning tasks which develop language and pre-literacy skills for pre-K students.
• Rich oral language and pre-reading instruction are an important foundation to future literacy.
• Creative, imaginative, and challenging learning tasks help a student to live up to their full potential.

Professional training of teachers is related to the quality of the pre-K program. Ongoing professional development, teacher mentoring, feedback on performance, and child development nurtures stronger pre-K classroom practices, more effective teacher skills and better tracking of students’ progress.

Would you like to learn more about St. John Primary?

St. John Primary’s Pre-Kindergarten is a full day program. The curriculum and developmental program is designed to best meet each student’s needs. In preparation for St. John Primary’s Kindergarten curriculum, the Pre-Kindergarten program introduces a rigorous curriculum that includes sight words, letter sounds, and number sense. Each student progresses with help and encouragement to explore and search for answers in a loving and structured environment. At St. John Primary, emphasis is placed upon the students’ spiritual and academic development.

Students develop within a play-oriented curriculum with emphasis on language arts, problem solving, motor skills, following directions, and social skills. Creative activities provide age appropriate opportunities for the students to explore, such as cooking, music and movement, constructive play, and various art projects. Teachers provide students with opportunities to discover, gather information, classify, organize materials, process information, make decisions and solve problems, which reinforce the curriculum and in turn, expand the mind. Educational field trips are taken throughout the year.

“The biggest difference besides the foundation of our Catholic teachings is true character development. We not only focus on the strong education, keeping Christ in our lives, we also teach good moral judgment. We strive to be positive role models, knowing and living right from wrong, and sharing compassion and kindness.” -St. John Primary Teacher

Still looking to learn more about pre-K in Baton Rouge?

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As a principal at St. John Primary for the last three years, Mrs. Naquin has a background of eight years’ experience in administration and 21 years of experience as a teacher. Married for 40 years to Ken Naquin, Mrs. Naquin has three children and three grandchildren. She feels that “As a young parent, I provided a Catholic education for my three children.  Now that they are all adults, I continue to witness the extent of the foundation and opportunities they received, in the hearts of their children.  I am so happy that my husband and I made the sacrifices we needed to make, in order to allow our children to have that experience.”