Classrooms

• Pre-School

• Child Care

• Kindergarten

• First Grade

• Second Grade

• Third Grade

• Fourth Grade

• Fifth Grade

• Sixth Grade

• Library

• Music

• Physical Ed

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Updated: 7/22/2008

Holy Spirit 4 Year Preschool

Philosophy:  The primary focus of our 4 Year Preschool Program is to help children develop a strong sense of self-esteem and feelings of independence and competence through developmentally appropriate hands on, activity based strategies from research based programs. In addition to this curriculum, the preschoolers are offered P.E. and Music.  We will also send home a weekly newsletter to keep parents informed of classroom activities. Much of the teaching is accomplished through games and play.  Play is a natural way for children to learn social skills, problem solving skills, and discover new concepts through hands on learning in the following areas:  

• Religion
• Pre-Literacy
• Beginning Reading
• Math
• Social / Emotional Development
• Art
• Sensory Skills
• Science
• Cooking
• Field Trips

 One of the most important aspects of our preschool program is Religion.  We focus on the teachings of the Catholic Church.  For example, we learn about the Holy Trinity, the unconditional love of God, Jesus as our friend, the Holy Family, and some introductory prayers.  The children learn to recognize the church building, the contents, and some Catholic traditions and practices.  All the centers and lessons are associated with the weekly religious lesson.  The children learn to treat others with respect and dignity and to love each other as Jesus loves us.  The lessons are reinforced by reading daily Bible stories.

To gain Pre-Literacy skills, the children will be read to at least ten minutes per day, have access to books and books on tape, and perform book related activities.  Many items in the classroom are labeled to help with word and name recognition.  Writing skills and hand-eye coordination are introduced.

All of the children will have time on the Waterford Reading Computer Program.  This program is a great way to learn Beginning Reading through stories and songs, letter sounds and recognition, and segmenting and blending of letters to make words.

The children learn beginning Math skills through patterning, math games, counting and sorting, and number recognition.

A large area of growth for preschoolers is their Social/Emotional skills.  Children gain these skills through sharing, waiting, treating others with respect, and make believe play.  In the Dramatic Play Center, the children experience various real life settings such as the house center, doctor’s office, restaurant, post office, and grocery store.  The children can interact with each other while gaining valuable life skills. 

Children love to express themselves through Art and in our preschool program, they are allowed to experiment with different art mediums.  The children make candles from scratch, for example, and use their creativity to make gifts for others.

Our preschoolers get to explore things around them through different Sensory experiences.   It’s important for children to be able to learn about substances by touching such things as corn meal, flour, water, sand, worms and dirt, ice, snow, gelatin, and a variety of other items from the world around them. 

Science experiments such as raising butterflies from caterpillars, observing worms in dirt, growing flowers from seeds, making volcanoes with baking soda and vinegar, and learning about and observing weather are wonderful educational experiences for our preschoolers to participate in.

The children will learn beginning Cooking skills such as measuring, sifting, stirring and nutrition.  They gain self esteem by seeing a project through to the end and learn beginning math skills.

The children go on various Field Trips to help them learn about their world.  These outings relate to various class lessons such as going to the Police Department and Fire Station when they are studying safety, and going to the Zoo and a farm when they are studying God’s creatures.