Early Childhood

The Early Childhood Program assists children who are three and four by the start of the school year. The Pre-K3 program is for three year olds and the Pre-K4 program is for four and five year old students. This innovative Early Childhood Program builds a base for all future learning. It gives children the right start and greatly heightens their opportunities to succeed throughout their educational career.

Balanced Literacy allows teachers to introduce children to the foundations of writing and reading. This approach involves shared reading experiences; mini-lessons about key reading skills; whole and small group discussions; exposure to high quality books; and the reading of books at each student’s own level. Writing in early childhood encompasses a range of skills from simple marks on a paper, drawing, learning how to form letters, adding letters and words to drawings, and eventually writing sentences to communicate ideas.

Pre-kindergarten students explore mathematical concepts that focus on developing number sense 1-10. Counting objects using one to one correspondence 1 through 10, developing and continuing patterns, sequencing, and categorizing skills are additional skill areas that are introduced in pre-kindergarten mathematics. Students also practice numeral formation for numbers 1-10.

The ability to make friends, collaborate, resolve conflicts, manage emotions like excitement, sadness, and anger are all part of a young child’s development. At school, teachers work with children to recognize emotions in themselves and others, manage disappointment, gain self-control, learn to enter play and care for others

The Cognitive Development area focuses to help children create simple patterns and arrange objects according to size, perform simple addition and subtraction, use knowledge and personal experiences to predict outcomes of scientific experiments and explore a variety of cultures by identifying ways people are alike and different.

In the early childhood art program, students are given a basic education that centers on the foundations of art, from color and shape to texture and dimension. Students will be able to craft detailed works of art using various materials like paint and modeling clay, move to a tempo, beat, or a style of music. Follow multi-step directions as stated in a song, like hopping or clapping and participate in a variety of musical experiences.

The pre-kindergarten religion program strives to develop a positive self-concept for each child. This is accomplished through awareness that God has made each child unique or special. This pre-kindergarten religious program is designed to support parents in educating their children about their Catholic faith. The children will also attend monthly Masses at the Parish.

The purpose of the fine and gross motor skills program is an important means of assessing development in the early school years. Games, activities, arts and crafts, playground equipment and coloring play an important role in encouraging emergent self-confidence and academic success.