St. Ignatius Early Childhood Program

Kindergarten- 2nd Grade

St. Ignatius’ Early Childhood program lays the foundation for success across all levels of academia. Not only are all core classes taught but students are also instructed in six special courses each week: Latin, Art, Music, Computer Technology, Physical Education, Library Sciences. Accelerated Reader begins in second grade with an introduction in first grade. St. Ignatius also provides a reading specialist dedicated to K-2nd grade.  K-2nd grade Impalas have use of our outdoor garden classroom. Each homeroom has their own plot where they plant, cultivate, harvest and journal about plant science.

Each homeroom teacher focuses on Language Arts, Phonics, Handwriting and Math. Also, each teacher specializes in an additional subject (Science, Social Studies or Theology) and travels to each classroom to teach every single kindergarten student that subject.  The ability for our teachers to dedicate their time to smaller amounts of subjects allows them to be masters of their craft and inspires creativity of subject matter.  The students also love getting to spend time with all three kindergarten teachers daily. Kindergarten is the first year students go to all 6 special courses once a week with the exception of PE four times a week. They also get to eat in the cafeteria for the first time.  The big program in Kindergarten is the Kindergarten Fashion Show where students are assigned a character and get to dress up, memorize lines and present their character to the whole school with song pairings.  Below is a sample of what our students learn in kindergarten.

Language Arts, Phonics & Writing

  • Students will focus on each letter sound of the alphabet and master red words. Students will also focus on reading skills and story elements like listening, identifying titles, characters, setting and learning the jobs of the author and illustrator. They will begin picking problems, solutions and sequences out of a story.
  • Students will work on perfecting their full name and the number of vowels and consonants in their name as well as mastering all uppercase and lowercase letters. Students will work with CVC words and practice blending sounds into words. They will begin writing dictated sentences with CVC words. By the end of the year students will be writing full sentences.

Math

  • Students will work on recounting and one to one correspondence to understand greater than, less than and equal to values. They will work to compose and decompose numbers to 10. Students will learn subtraction, measurement, height, length, capacity and the practice of classifying objects. They will also learn about three dimensional shapes and math equations.

Science

  • Students will learn about the five senses, life cycles, animal habits, seasons and weather. They will study force, motion, magnets and the solar system. Students will learn about gardening, butterflies, recycling and the ocean.

Theology

  • Students will learn about All Saints Day, All Souls Day, Advent and Christmas. They will learn about creation and all the church seasons. Students will also attend school Mass each Friday, Adoration each Tuesday and do the Stations of the Cross weekly during Lent.

Social Studies

  • Focus on then vs. now and holidays around the world. Students will learn about American History, famous Americans and community helpers. Students will study our world community, the difference between want vs. need and what goods and services are.

1st Grade Academia

First graders are encouraged to be independent. This is the first you students have mandatory homework. Homework consists of 5 minutes of math, 5 minutes of phonics and 20 minutes of reading with a comprehension worksheet Monday-Thursday of each week. First grade puts on the Patriotic Palooza each year complete with songs, costumes and a skit! Below is a sample of what our students learn in first grade.

Language Arts, Phonics & Writing

  • Phonics, reading comprehension and grammar are main focus areas. Students will learn about different genres of books as well as working on describing characters and setting, picking out nouns, pronouns, etc. Plurals, open syllables, compound syllables and detached syllables. Open vowels, compound words and two syllable words. Focus on nouns, verbs and adjectives, main ideas in stories respond to texts, opinions and retelling of text. Prefixes and wild old words.  Journaling and writing in complete sentences with correct grammar and spelling.

Math

  • Addition and subtraction. Addition and subtraction strategies, place value. Two digit addition and subtraction. Time and measurement. 2D and 3D shapes and more.

Science

  • Compost awareness, garden science and planting seasons. Earth science and matter. Unit on birds and much more.

Theology

  • Creation, God’s Gifts. Prayers and liturgical seasons. Study of the Bible. Weekly adoration and school Mass.

Social Studies

  • Focus on being good citizens and map skills. USA symbols and Thanksgiving. Martin Luther King study. Major focus on the State of Alabama.

2nd Grade Academia

Second grade is an exciting year! Catholic students will receive their First Penance and First Communion. Along with the excitement of a sacramental year, second grade is a big academic year as well. Students are further encouraged to be independent. They receive a planner the first day of school and begin learning the importance of writing down their own assignments, learn how to manage google classroom to check for assignments and submit work and start working on cultivating time management, study skills and organization. Second graders also begin the Accelerated Reader program.  Below is a sample of what our students learn in second grade.

Language Arts, Phonics & Writing

  • Focus on reading fluently with expression and reading comprehension. Ability to identify each part of a story. Short and long vowel sounds, two sound patterns and layering 3 phonics patters. Conventions of writing (capitalization, punctuation and spelling).  Write a well-organized paragraph. Identify key features in stories: realistic fiction, fiction, informational text.

Math

  • Students learn addition strategies and vocabulary skip count using a 100 chart, even and odd numbers, master 50 and 100 addition facts. Place value to 1,000. Adding and subtracting two digit numbers. Learn 2D and 3D shapes. Counting money.

Science

  • Explore change in matter, work in classroom garden to learn about plants. Explore Ecosystems.

Theology

  • Sacramental preparation. Introductory Rites (prayers and responses), Act of Contrition. Liturgy of the Word and 10 Commandments. Liturgy of the Eucharist. Concluding Rites.

Social Studies

  • History of American symbols and monuments. Democratic values. Map skills and direction. Comparing physical features of different regions. Identify and recognize historical figures. Significance of national holidays. Production and distribution process. Supply and demand of natural resources.