We believe early childhood to be the foundation in which children become familiar and comfortable with education. With that in mind, we begin the early learning experience with exploration, play, and hands-on experiences. We utilize the St. Joseph School’s garden and playground to instill social development while learning those skills through active play, investigation, creativity, and curiosity. We direct students to identify their own learning styles in which they will flourish. We use themes of study for students to make real-world connections in their learning activities. Preschool students also become familiar with the alphabet, colors, shapes, and numbers.
Our students practice reverence through learning to pray respectfully and by attending Mass. We teach our students about the Catholic faith through our religion program: Stories of God’s Love: Ages 3 and 4.
Our Pre-K3 and Junior Kindergarten students interact with the older children and receive help from our very successful buddy program. The curriculum is based on the principles of respect, responsibility, and community through adventure and discovery in a supportive and enriching environment. Our certified teachers implement fun and innovative learning lessons because we want our students to have a love of learning and to enjoy coming to school.
Our Junior Kindergarten program offers a high quality, developmentally age appropriate program with its main emphasis on social and emotional development. We build on the foundations established within our Pre-K3 program. We are a play-based program, believing that play is very important in the development of our youngest learners.
Our program offers an environment in which young children have an opportunity to become familiar with a school setting; and through this supportive environment, they can build confidence in themselves as well as in group situations in whole class and small group activity based learning centers. Daily small group activities offer opportunities for differentiated instructions and help students identify their own learning style to help them flourish in learning and living.
Age appropriate learning continues through a variety of settings including peer interaction, exploration/investigation, creativity and curiosity building on opportunities to work on pre-readiness and problem solving skills.
Each day our program starts with joining the school in prayer and pledge. Our Junior Kindergarten program via Catechesis of the Good Shepherd program begins to build and assist children in their faith and personal relationship with God. It also helps them participate more fully in Mass which they will begin to attend early on in the school year. Children will learn the sign of the cross, the Our Father, Hail Mary, and Angel of God over the course of the school year.
Junior Kindergarten curriculum works throughout the full school year towards the benchmarks below which all include a multi-sensory approach during whole group and small groups:
Language/Literacy: The children learn relationships between letters and sounds, writing their names, colors & shapes, improve fine motor skills, and nursery rhymes in formation with Handwriting Without Tears.
Mathematics: The children identify written numerals, build their number sense, sequence events, pattern recognition, and sorting.
Independence: The children learn the rules and routine of how to be part of a group while providing them with opportunities to form friendships and settle differences. They are encouraged to take more responsibility as loading their folder and practice self care skills to gain confidence in other settings.
Religion: Our students grow a closer relationship with God through Bible stories, weekly Mass, learning the Sign of the Cross and prayers and through our religion series, Stories of God’s Love Ages 4 and 5.
Science: We encourage our curious learners to explore, make observations, and investigate. The children identify body parts and our five senses.
P.E. is taught to the children each week. They learn healthy and safe behaviors and demonstrate fine and gross motor skills with purpose.
Art: Children use a variety of art-making materials to create directed and free art. They are engaged in self-directed play with materials and creative making.