“Kindergarten”

History and Profile
The Thai Christian School was founded in 1967 by the Sapan Luang Christian Church Foundation, and is located in 3.5 acres of averdant country setting. The school offers an English programme from kindergarten to high school level.

Early Childhood Education

The school teaches an Early Childhood Curriculum based on Dr. Montessori’s learning theory and additionally, from the Bible, by using Christian values and ethics, to lay down a solid moral foundation for the children. The school emphasizes an individual learning process for each child through exploring Montessori’s sensorial materials. All children practice their skills using all of the five senses. The class materials also introduce them to mathematics and languages.

Unstructured activities, such as educational games, are also offered so that the children are able to make their own individual choices, so as to improve their curiosity and confidence.
The skilled teachers prepare Montessori’s materials with the following aims.

1. Practical Life: Children in this age group learn by doing, especially the skills of speaking and writing. Their hands are their best teacher in practicing, as it connects thinking processes to their physical responses. When they can do things, they are happy and gain self-confidence. Their fine motor-skills are systematically developed as well as their thought processes.
2. Sensorial: These learning sets are fundamental learning tools to prepare children for future experiences. They equip them to be ready for future reading, writing and other skill development. They help the children to pay attention to detail in their work which enables them to differentiate and categorize new experiences, plus be able to relate it to their previous experiences.
3. Mathematics: These sets prepare the children to enjoy mathematics as they are having fun learning it. Math concepts are best learned and absorbed at younger ages. Dr. Montessori designed excellent materials for math so that children can understand the many symbols and the concepts of numbers.
4. Art: These sets help the children to freely express their emotions, feelings, creativity and imagination. They also help to develop the children’s motor-skills, and their self-esteem by allowing them the freedom of choice over the particular sets and activities. The teachers facilitate the children’s progress, by giving encouragement and give positive feedback to enhance their confidence.
5. Language: These activities help to develop the communication skills of listening; speaking; reading; and writing. The children learn and understand the different sounds and the shapes of the letters of the alphabet. A variety of writing activities develop hand muscles to help them hold a pencil correctly and thus be able to write appropriately. Both Thai and English language skills are developed concurrently. Additionally, the children are actively encouraged with the developments of reading as a habit, expression of feelings, how to convey knowledge, and the use language to seek and gain knowledge.

Movement and Rhythm Activities

These activities develop the full range of the children’s motor-skills. The children express their feelings and imagination through the basic movement of all the parts of their body and by using musical instruments to create rhythms. The children, via their perception of music, are stimulated so that their imagination and creativity grows.

Movement Activities (Physical Education and outdoors)

These activities also focus on developing the children’s motor-skills, however in this case through physical exercises and basic sports skills. The children are encouraged to participate in whatever individual physical development suits them.

Computer Skills

The children learn the basic skills on how to use a computer, such as getting used to operating the different components and understanding the basic computer functions and operations.