EARLY CHILDHOOD

Early Childhood Education Builds an Unshakeable Foundation.

Junior Pre-Kindergarten, Pre-Kindergarten, Kindergarten

Our educational environment is deliberately focused on building a strong, lifelong foundation of seeking. Our youngest students build in-depth basic skills and learn the value of honesty and friendship with guidance from teachers who love them. Our young learners are eager to explore, observe, and create, and we cultivate a secure, nurturing space for them to do just that.

Our Curriculum

Junior Pre-Kindergarten

We give our Junior Pre-Kindergarteners a loving and constructive space to explore their creativity and natural curiosity.

  • In JPK, students focus on building numerical and literary foundations as well as build knowledge through exploration and play. Students gain confidence with the structure and routine of a play-based, traditional academic day.

  • In JPK, purposeful opportunities are provided to support each student's social-emotional growth. A few focuses are language development, cooperative play, learning to be a friend and student, self-regulation, and providing skills that help students be successful in life and the classroom.

  • Daily, physical activity through structured and unstructured exercise is an integral part of the curriculum. An emphasis on physical activity promotes the development of healthy habits and improves gross motor skills.

  • Our youngest learners spend time not only with their classmates but interacting with our older students as well. Building authentic community from the very beginning is part of the fabric of our school.

  • Advent's Junior Pre-Kindergarten program is a full day (8 a.m. - 3 p.m.). We do offer half-day participation for our "Early Birds" at a discounted rate. After-school care is available from 3 p.m. until 6 p.m. for interested families.

    Our JPK program follows our traditional school calendar. Students have holidays scheduled throughout the year. We do offer a 12-month enrollment/care option for families who are looking for more full time care. Our bundle package includes enrollment in our school program, after school care program, our summer ADVENTure camp, and select holiday camps. For more information, visit our Admission page.

Pre-Kindergarten

We guide our Pre-Kindergarten students to develop social skills and approach learning with excitement and wonder.

  • Students begin their math journey through counting, number names, and written numbers. Our younger students also begin classifying, sorting, and grouping objects into categories leading to the early stages of addition and subtraction. Students are introduced to concepts of the calendar, time, measurement and money as they start to build a strong mathematical foundation.

  • Our goal is to build confident readers and writers! By the end of the year, PreK students master the building blocks of our language by learning the letters and sounds of the alphabet, both in reading and writing. They are introduced to spelling using sight words and word families as well as a systemic and explicit phonics curriculum. Our students are introduced to literature and begin to identify sequence of events and tone in stories. In Pre-K, Advent students work on the mechanics of handwriting and explore the physical structures through which we convey language.

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  • Our PreK students spend time with their third grade buddies each week in addition to participating in large group activities that help shape our community.

  • Our PreK program is a full day program (8 a.m. - 3 p.m.).

    Our PreK program follows our traditional school calendar. Students have holidays scheduled throughout the year. We do offer a 12-month enrollment/care option for families who are looking for more full time care. Our bundle package includes enrollment in our school program, after school care program, our summer ADVENTure camp, and select holiday camps. For more information, visit our Admission page.

Kindergarten

In Kindergarten, students receive the building blocks for success in reading, math, arts, and sciences in a fun and age-appropriate way.

  • Students build mastery of the concepts introduced in the Pre-Kindergarten program including counting, addition and subtraction, geometry, data, and measurement. Students study positions, patterns, classifications, symmetry, solid shapes, time, money, measurement, and greater numbers. In Kindergarten, students are beginning to gain independence in their ability to apply mathematical concepts to every day life.

  • Kindergarten students build on the skills developed in Pre-K to become more fluent readers. In conjunction with the phonics curriculum and sight words, by the end of the year students read words with blended sounds, expanding their ability to decode texts. Using readers, students build comprehension skills, like sequence of events and conflict/resolution. And in holding with a value that is important at Advent, our Kindergarten teachers begin to develop empathy in our young readers by drawing attention to character change in stories. Students are also introduced to the concepts of fiction and non-fiction texts. In writing, Kindergarten students learn the conventions of sentence form, heading to first grade with the ability to write sentences with capitalization, punctuation, spacing between words and expressing a clear thought.

  • Students are introduced to the science program in the second semester. Students work collaboratively to exercise their natural curiosity about the world around them.Students focus on investigation and exploration through every day science lessons that incorporate Lego-building robots.

  • In culture students first learn their place in the world. We then "travel" together to other countries to learn about traditions and celebrations in places around the world.

  • Our kindergarten program is a full day (8 a.m. - 3 p.m.).

    Our kindergarten program follows our traditional school calendar. Students have holidays scheduled throughout the year. We do offer a 12-month enrollment/care option for families who are looking for more full time care. Our bundle package includes enrollment in our school program, after school care program, our summer ADVENTure camp, and select holiday camps. For more information, visit our Admission page.

Academic Highlights

Art

Through guided instruction, students work on fine motor skills, hand eye coordination, pencil control, and placement in addition to social and emotional development in the areas patience, focus, self confidence, decision making, and imagination. Students also continue learning the elements of art - line, color, shape, texture and how life in art consists of these elements.

Music

Early childhood music study begins with an exploration of unpitched percussion instruments, families of the orchestra, learning basic rhythmic patterns through echoing, learning how to write and identify musical notes, and learning basic musical concepts such as high and low, loud and soft, and basic musical expression.

French

JPK-K students are introduced to the French language and culture through song and performance. Students learn how to respond to greetings and follow simple teacher-directed commands. Students also learn to recognize French alphabet sounds. Students are exposed to a variety of French vocabulary and are also introduced to different French holiday traditions.

Library

Our school library is available for all students. JPK, PreK, and Kindergarten students have the opportunity to visit the library during the week. Our librarian selects stories to encourage active listening and explores the magical world of literature with our students!

P.E.

All early childhood students participate in physical activity during the academic day. Our outdoor playground is designed for younger students with ample space to run, throw balls, and scale the climbing structures. We also have both an indoor and outdoor rooftop gym.

Early Childhood Field Trips

We’ve established field trips as an integral part of our curriculum to allow students to experience learning in real-life settings. Understanding more about the world (and city and state!) around them empowers our students to more deeply understand and apply the concepts they are learning about in the classroom. Our location in the heart of downtown plays a critical role in our ability to expose students in a safe but meaningful way to the amazing resources we have right at our doorstep

  • Petting Farm
    Firetruck Visit
    Old Baker Farm
    Downtown Trick or Treating
    Breakfast with Santa
    Easter Egg Hunt at Triangle Park

  • Fire Station One
    Children’s Theatre
    Old Baker Farm
    Downtown Trick or Treating
    Breakfast with Santa
    McWane Science Center

  • Children’s Theatre
    Tuscaloosa Barnyard
    Downtown Trick or Treating
    Tuscaloosa Hands on Museum
    Breakfast with Santa
    Birmingham Zoo
    McWane Science Center