Saint Demetrios Pre-School, Neighbor

Thank you for your interest in Saint Demetrios Pre-School. The Pre-School has been on the grounds of

Saint Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church since September, 1999. The Saint Demetrios Pre-School is a non-profit school serving children ages 2 (Pre-School) Through 4 (Pre-Kindergarten). Our vision is to contribute to the healthy growth and development of our children in a secure Christian environment. The Pre-School is a Ministry of the Church, is approved by the Archdiocese of America, the Greek Embassy, and the Maryland State Department of Education – Office of Child Care. Our Pre-School is an outstanding early education program providing children with multidimensional opportunities

that develop their intellectual, social, spiritual emotional, and physical skills. We believe in active, hands-on learning that is systematic and effective. Examples are ...

1.A play dough Birthday Cake...developing fine-motor skills and counting candles.

2.Show and Tell...practicing speech, developing self-confidence, and listening to others.

3.Freeze Dancing...improving coordination and listening skills while having FUN.

4.Bouncing a ball...strengthening complex gross motor skills.

5.Making a dinosaur sculpture...discovery and creativity.

6.Singing the Rug Manner Song...learning school manners.

7.Paint brush and easel...gross motor and self-expressing.

8.Large Puzzles...building self-discipline, focus and cooperation with a friend.

9.Blocks...applying geospatial logic and problem-solving methodology.

10.Collages...use planning skills and fine motor coordination (cutting and gluing). IRA/NAEYC Joint Position Statement, "Children take their first critical steps towards learning to read and write very early in life. Long before they can exhibit reading and writing production skills, they beg

in to acquire some basic understanding of concepts about literacy and its functions." We support this by:

•Using themes to increase vocabulary, to engage the students, and using many different genres of literature. Reading aloud to the students during Circle Time and often during the day. Keeping an interesting library (changing with themes). Modeling reading to give children a basic understanding of concepts about literacy and its function. Allowing the children to experiment, giving them materials f

or pre-writing activities.

•Developing phonemic awareness, phonics, and phonological awareness through oral language development, language games, letter-sound correspondence, the alphabetic principle, rhyming words, word families, shared reading, and language experiences.

Our educationally based philosophy and curriculum will emphasize that each child will be elevated to his/her own

individual potential at his/her individual pace. Our goal is for each child to be kindergarten ready when he/she graduates from our school.

Betty Boteler/Director