Early Childhood (PK/Kinder) Teacher

Early Childhood (PK/Kinder) Teacher

Starting Date – August 2026

Overview
St. Luke’s Episcopal School is a co-educational PK3–8th grade school in San Antonio, TX, dedicated to providing an exceptional academic foundation within an Episcopal framework. Guided by the St. Luke’s Way, we cultivate intellectual curiosity, moral character, and a commitment to service, ensuring that students develop as engaged learners and compassionate leaders.

Position Summary
St. Luke’s Episcopal School seeks a caring, enthusiastic, and experienced candidate to join our lower school faculty. This is a self-contained classroom position, responsible for teaching all core academic subjects, including reading, writing, math, social studies, and science. The ideal candidate will be passionate about early childhood education, committed to nurturing the whole child, and dedicated to fostering a warm, engaging classroom community that supports academic, social, and emotional growth.

Key Responsibilities

Design Transformative Early Learning Experiences

• Deliver high-quality, research-based instruction in early literacy and mathematics through a balanced approach that integrates structured teaching with purposeful, play-based learning.
• Implement explicit, systematic phonics instruction grounded in the UFLI framework to build strong foundational skills in phonemic awareness, decoding, and early writing.
• Deliver mathematics instruction using the Singapore Math approach, emphasizing deep conceptual understanding, number sense, and problem-solving through the Concrete–Pictorial–Abstract (CPA) progression.
• Cultivate curious, confident learners by blending direct instruction with hands-on exploration, inquiry, and play.
• Develop students’ academic language by encouraging rich conversations, storytelling, and opportunities to explain their thinking across content areas.
• Design engaging, developmentally appropriate lessons that include whole-group instruction, small-group guided learning, literacy and math centers, and purposeful play experiences.

Ensure Growth and Mastery for Every Learner

• Differentiate instruction to meet the diverse developmental and academic needs of young learners, ensuring each child experiences both challenge and success.
• Use ongoing formative assessments and observations to guide instruction, identify student needs, and provide targeted support or enrichment.
• Prioritize skill mastery in both literacy and numeracy to ensure a strong foundation for future learning.
• Collaborate with colleagues, specialists, and families to support the whole child, including academic, social, and emotional development.

Connect Learning Through Inquiry and Exploration

• Integrate social studies and science through thematic, inquiry-based learning that encourages curiosity and real-world connections.
• Create opportunities for students to explore, question, and make meaning through play, projects, and hands-on experiences.
   Help students see connections among literacy, math, and the world around them in meaningful, age-appropriate ways.

Cultivate a Joyful and Nurturing Classroom Community

• Build a classroom culture grounded in safety, belonging, and respect where every child feels known and valued.
• Use proactive, relationship-centered practices to support social-emotional development, including self-regulation, collaboration, and problem-solving. Experience with Restorative Classroom practices is preferred.
• Design a warm, engaging learning environment that reflects student voice, encourages independence, and celebrates growth and creativity.

At St. Luke’s

At St. Luke’s, our early childhood program is intentionally designed as a seamless journey from PK through Kindergarten, with each year thoughtfully building upon the next. Our PK classrooms lay the foundation by nurturing curiosity, language development, independence, and a love of learning through play-based, hands-on experiences.

Kindergarten is where that strong foundation meets growing purpose. Through a thoughtful balance of structured instruction and joyful discovery, our teachers build on PK experiences to develop confident readers, thinkers, and problem-solvers. Skills introduced in PK—such as oral language, early literacy awareness, number sense, and social independence—are deepened and expanded in Kindergarten with intentional, research-based instruction.

Together, PK and Kindergarten create a cohesive, developmentally aligned experience where our youngest learners grow in skill, character, and confidence—equipped with the curiosity and foundational tools that will guide them for years to come.

St. Luke’s teachers recognize parents as essential partners in their child’s growth. Teachers:

• Communicate proactively and professionally with families.
• Share clear, digestible feedback supported by meaningful data and student artifacts.
• Maintain accurate academic records and provide regular progress updates.
• Demonstrate confidentiality, professionalism, and care in all interactions.

Teachers at St. Luke’s are lifelong learners and community contributors. They:

• Participate in professional development, both in-house and externally, to refine instructional practice.
• Contribute to curriculum development and vertical alignment efforts.
• Serve on faculty committees and support student activities.
• Model professionalism, initiative, and a growth mindset.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree required; Master’s Degree preferred.
• Elementary teaching experience preferred, particularly in literacy instruction.
• Demonstrated understanding of best practices in literacy development.
• Experience in independent schools is a plus.

Interested candidates should email their cover letter and resume to disabelle@sles-sa.org.