Jones Elementary School is committed to providing a foundation for our youngest Longhorns as they enter school for the first time. We understand the capacity of the young mind to assimilate positive social practices, formulate basic learning connections, and realize the importance of school prior to the beginning of Kindergarten. During this small window of time in a child’s life, changes can occur that will provide a lifetime of opportunities or consequences.
We currently support a half-day Pre-K program for 40 students per year. Our goal is to support a full-day Pre-K program for every family living in the Jones School district. Beginning with the 2019-2020 school year, we will have a full-day Pre-K program for up to 60 students. We are able to support only 60 students at this time because of limitations on space and building resources.
By creating a full-day Pre-K program for every student, we hope to accomplish at least the following:
- Create a love for school and a connection to classmates at the earliest possible time.
- Teach children the processes that are necessary for fully taking advantage of an efficient learning environment.
- Help children recognize the social cues that drive positive self-image and interpersonal relationships.
- Provide a strong foundation for early literacy and numerical understanding
By focusing on the learning objectives above over a full year of education, students entering Kindergarten will have gained strong development in the following areas:
- Social confidence by developing friendships
- Self-Reliance & Independence by attending school with reduction of separation anxiety
- Understanding school as an enjoyable, stimulating place to go
- Patience, rule-following, and procedures
- Working with tools and resources commonly found in a classroom
Research has shown that extended-day preschool of good quality taught by certified educators can have dramatic and long term effects on children’s learning across a broad range of knowledge and skills including those listed above as well as in reading comprehension and math calculation. Our hope is that by offering all our families a quality, all-day pre-kindergarten program, the achievement gap that is often apparent in kindergarten will be minimized and teachers can continue along a stable path of progression, rather than spending time reteaching skills.
Pre-enrollment is Monday, May 6th beginning at 7:45 in the elementary library. Please refer to the Jones Elementary Facebook Page for more details.
The Jones Journal 