Preschool
The Pre-School Program encourages socialization, self-esteem, and the development of small and large motor skills. Our students grow in an interactive environment and the program is designed to fully prepare each student for success in school. The preschool calendar is organized around a weekly theme, such as dinosaurs, Halloween, community helpers and fairy tales. Each week, the students work on mastering a new letter of the alphabet.
Generally, the preschool follows a set daily schedule.
| Group Activity | 20 minutes |
| Center Time | 60 minutes |
| Movement Activities | 30 minutes |
| Snack Time | 20 minutes |
| Religion | 15 minutes |
The overall academic goal of the three- and four-year-old preschool programs is to encourage learning through critical thinking skills and hands-on activities including:
- Letter recognition (three year olds)
- Exposure to letters and their sounds (four year olds)
- Developing number recognition 1 -10 (three year olds)
- Developing number recognition 1- 20 (four year olds)
- Recognizing their first names in print (three year olds)
- Recognizing and writing their names using upper and lower case letters (four year olds)
- Sequencing by number, amount and size (three year olds)
- Graphing, estimating, sorting, classifying, and comparing (four year olds)
- Reinforcing classroom concepts through art and dramatic play
- Shapes and colors
- Introducing math and science concepts
- Practicing library skills
- Solving problems through puzzles and blocks
- Developing sensory perception.
The day is structured to achieve these goals. The students learn to be quiet and still during the morning announcements and prayers. During group time the teacher presents songs, and students recite the calendar song and talk about the weather. There is an Arts and Crafts time that includes play activities and beginning printing exercises. Snack time is followed by a large motor activity such as dancing, playing with beanbags, cutting and pasting and working with manipulatives to teach lacing and coloring skills. Our preschool students participate in religious instruction every class through an exploration of bible stories and related activities. Show and Tell time allows the students to enhance their verbal skills. Center Time is also woven into the day so that students have the opportunity to work at the learning centers of their choice and follow teacher-directed small group activities.
The preschool teacher communicates directly with parents through newsletters, personal communications, calendars, and notes. Daily activities, events, and announcements are posted on the bulletin board outside the classroom door.