Pre-School Curriculum

Our pre-school program provides for the individual and group needs of each child so that they may develop their talents to the fullest potential. Through directed group sessions and free unstructured play, each child becomes more familiar with school, more self-confident, and more excited about learning. While developing these skills, we begin to build a foundation for each child’s life-long academic journey. Standards set forth in the Archdiocese of Chicago’s curriculum are introduced throughout the year.

Pre-School Curriculum Goals

• Cognitive: The children will increase their knowledge base of facts and develop problem-solving skills; the children will experience many forms of written and verbal communication.
• Emotional: The children will increase their self-esteem and become more independent.
• Social: The children will interact with each other one-on-one and in small group settings.
• Physical: The children will improve their fine motor skills and gross motor skills.
• Diversity: The children will learn to accept similarities and differences in others.

Social Studies

• Social skills
• School routines
• Family and friends
• Seasons
• Holiday
• Community

Science

• Curiosity/Wonder
• Observation/Exploration
• Compare/Contrast
• Physical/Life Science

Jolly Phonics

Jolly Phonics is a phonics program used to teach students the 42 main sounds of English. It is a nine week program that is started in January.  In pre-school, we use Jolly Phonics to focus on learning the letter sounds, learning letter formation, and identifying sounds in words. For each sound, there is an action which helps students remember the sound the letter makes.

Investigator Club

The investigator club teaches basic readiness skills in literacy, math, science, social studies, oral language, fine arts, and music.  There are seven topics that will be investigated.  The topics include going to school, building things, the body, animals, water, plants and growing things, and weather.  To help investigate, the students will be using their five senses, asking questions, and using the scientific method to answer questions.