St. John's Lutheran School opens with changes

Thu, Sep 4, 2008    to del.icio.us

In its 62nd year, St. John's Lutheran School has some new things to celebrate as the school year gets under way.

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The school will get a computer lab with 16 new computers this week for the 65 students enrolled at the private day school.

School Administrator Laura Harvey said the new lab will be used for video streaming to extend curriculum, word processing and research.

"We've been fundraising all summer," Harvey said.

Also new this year, Young 5s and kindergarten enrichment programs are now a part of the school's K-8 offerings.

Young 5s is a separate program from the regular kindergarten class to target those students who might not be ready for the demands of kindergarten, but are ready to begin experiencing school. The kindergarten enrichment program, aka K-Club, takes place in the afternoon to extend and enrich the kindergarten curriculum.

"We think it's going to be really successful," Harvey said about the new kindergarten programs. "It's a big need in the community and an answer to a need in our school building."

Harvey said Young 5 programs, like those offered in Grand Haven and Spring Lake schools, are growing more popular with parents.

And, besides a new kitchen and school office, two new teachers from the Grand Haven Area Public Schools come to St. John's as part of a school share program. Grand Haven teacher Dave Smart visits the school each day to teach physical education and art teacher Bethany Reid teaches at St. John's each Friday.

"We're so glad to have them here," Harvey said.

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Future plans for the school include continued improvement of its technology programs, like adding more electronic, interactive whiteboards to classrooms, Harvey said.

On the Net:

www.sjlcs.org