Christian school continues to grow
FREDERICKTOWN – Calvary Chapel Christian School has been growing one grade at a time for the past four years, but next school year will be the school’s biggest growth spurt, as it adds fourth and fifth grade to the curriculum. Becki Cannon, the school’s principal, said parents of children who will be fifth grade next year have said they want to send their children to the school that currently offers classes from pre-school through third grade.
“We hope to go all the way through twelfth grade,” Cannon said.
That wasn’t how things started out, however. Cannon said she was thinking about starting a day care in her home when her son was little when the Rev. John Thomas of Calvary Chapel of Fredericktown asked her to think about offering the service at the church instead of in her home.
“I prayed about it and it came to me, what about a preschool? John loved it and it went from there,” Cannon said. “It truly is the Lord. I didn’t set out to be a principal. I just wanted a preschool.”
The preschool was started in the fall of 1996. The kindergarten was started in the fall of 1999 and first, second and third grades were added in each subsequent year. The preschool is located in classrooms on the first-floor of the church, but as more grades were added, more space was needed. Calvary Chapel of Fredericktown purchased a vacant house next to the church, gutted it and brought the wiring and plumbing up to current building codes.
“Eighty to 90 percent of it was done by volunteers,” Cannon said. “Everything inside is new.”
More renovations are planned for the coming months to make room for the fourth and fifth grade classrooms. The former pottery shop on the ground floor of the church building will be used for those classes, Cannon said.
“Our biggest challenge as a school is finding the capacity or the room to fit the needs of our students,” Cannon said.
Cannon said about half of the preschoolers continue at the school for kindergarten. Cannon said some who transfer to the public school system are back within a year because their parents prefer the discipline and small class-size the school offers.
The preschool is limited to 10 students per class and the elementary grades are capped at 15 students per class, though that limit has not yet been reached in most of the classes. There are currently 45 children enrolled at the school.
“You can walk into any classroom at any time and it’s very ordered. We have an open-door policy with our parents. They can come any time and peek in on their kids,” Cannon said.
Cannon said the school uses the A Beka curriculum that is Christian-based and focuses on phonics to teach children to read.
“We had several students who came here from the public schools who couldn’t read. We work with them one on one and meet their individual needs,” Cannon said.
The students read aloud in small groups with a reading assistant. The reading books use stories from the Bible, using the King James Version. First-grade students have been reading stories from the book of Exodus, reading words like “Pharaoh” and “soldier” without stumbling. Cannon said the students aren’t relying on sight words.
“Because we do the pure phonics, you can pick up a book at the store and the child can read it,” Cannon said.
First-grade students read 10 books during the school year as part of the curriculum. They also learn to write cursive. Third-grade students are expected to complete a book report.
Cannon said the school offers a complete curriculum with reading, math, science and social studies. Spanish is being added to the curriculum next year for all of the elementary students. Kindergarten and first-grade students will have an introductory class once a week, while students in grades 2-5 will have the foreign language class five days a week. Physical education is offered once a week and a hot lunch is served at the school three days a week, Cannon said.
“A lot of Christian schools have chapel once a week. We start each day with chapel and one of their regular classes is Bible study,” Cannon said.
Cannon said about half of the students come from families that do no attend Calvary Chapel, and some come from families without any church background.
“Our main goal and purpose in being here is outreach to our community through good, solid Christian education. Our first goal is to reach every family for Christ. The second goal is to provide excellent education,” Cannon said. “Every year we’ve had one or two parents who are led to the Lord through their children. We had one boy whose mother pulled him out of public school. He would go home and tell his mom all about the Lord. She began attending a parents Christian Bible study.”
Active Christianity plays a role in the classroom as well.
“If a kid feels sick in class, we stop, lay hands and pray for them,” Cannon said.
Students facing a surprise phonics quiz also paused to pray before taking the test, with one second-grader offering the prayer for his classmates. There was no moaning or panicking over the spot quiz.
Cannon attributes the spirit of calm among the students to the school’s theme Bible verse. It is painted on the entry wall of the school.
“Isaiah 54:13 says, ‘And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord and great will be the peace of thy children,'” Cannon said.
Cannon said the school’s five teachers work to discipline a child’s heart, not to serve as tyrants over the children to make them behave. The children understand the rules set before them.
“They definitely follow the rules,” Cannon said.
Students walk single file in silence from chapel to their classrooms. When a student talks out of turn, either the teacher or another student will simply place a finger to their lips, no shushing involved. It is not uncommon for a child to raise his or her hand to ask the teacher for a hug. One boy stops every day at the principal’s office for a hug.
“I just thank God that we can do that,” said Shelly Staley, who teaches the combined first and second grade.
The school is registered with the Pennsylvania Department of Education and is a member of the Association of Christian Schools International. This will be the first year that the school administers the Iowa Standard Test, which is given to third-grade students.
“I can’t wait to compare the scores,” Cannon said.
Open house will be held at the preschool on Tuesday from 6-8 p.m. Open house for the elementary school will take place the following day from 6-8 p.m.
Registration for preschool through fifth grade will begin on Wednesday at the school from 8:30 a.m. until 3:20 p.m.