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Preschool and Kindergarten » Preschool Program

Preschool Program

St. Michael the Archangel School's preschool is a school-year program that runs from September through May.
  • Three-year-old preschool is in session three days: Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. The half-day morning program is from 8:10 AM - 11:00 AM. This preschool program is offered for children who will be three years old by September 1 in the year that they are enrolled. Students must be fully potty trained before beginning.
  • Four-year-old preschool is in session five days a week, Monday through Friday. Both half-day morning (8:10 AM - 11 AM) and full-day (8:10 AM - 2:50 PM) programs are available. This preschool program is offered for children who will be four years old by September 1 in the year that they are enrolled. Students must be fully potty trained before beginning. 
 
An Extended Day Program is also offered for full-day students. The morning Extended Day Program will be available for all four-year-old preschool students. The afternoon Extended Day Program is available only for full-day students.
 
St. Michael Catholic School prepares our preschool students for kindergarten readiness. The goals of our classrooms are to achieve the following:
 
  • Provide a safe and loving atmosphere in which the child can separate from home to school and advocate for his/her own needs while in school.
  • Develop a knowledge of self, others, and the child’s environment.
  • Promote independence and responsibility in the classroom.
  • Encourage choice-making, cooperation, and consideration.
  • Provide different activities and materials that will stimulate each child’s growth in all areas: Language, Math, Reading, Writing, Religion, Large and Fine Motor Skills, Fine Arts, Construction, and Dramatic Play.
 

Three-Year-Old Curriculum

The three-year-old preschool curriculum emphasizes socialization through play and promotes independent development. We offer a wide variety of opportunities for children to develop fine and gross motor skills and abilities through hands-on activities, circle time, centers, whole-group instruction, and one-on-one activities with the teacher and aide. Students will learn the importance of cooperation, taking turns, and listening. We also focus on introducing color sorting, shape identification, name recognition, capital letters and letter sounds, number recognition, and counting 1-10.

Mat Man is a character approach to drawing that helps preschoolers develop cognitive and drawing skills. Mat Man teaches skills step by step using sight, sound, and touch to help them learn and remember. Mat Man uses multisensory activities and strategies, such as hands-on learning, singing and drawing to teach readiness skills like:
 
  • Body awareness
  • Counting
  • Building
  • Socializing and sharing
  • Drawing and pre-writing
  • Size recognition 
  • Placement
  • Sequence skills
 
We utilize Scholastic's My Big World magazine,which gives us an interactive look into:
 
  • Language Development
  • Science
  • Social and Emotional Learning
  • Social Studies
  • Math
 
The religion curriculum is God Made Everything. The program offers a whole-child approach that helps children grow in relationship with God through lessons, music, fingerplays, drawing, quiet time-time prayer, and reflection activities suited to the developmental needs of early learners. The program will introduce and explore seasons, holy days, and holidays. We will use colors, shapes, and numbers Big Book to make additional cross-curricular connections while teaching essential faith concepts. The children will make the Sign of the Cross, learn Grace Before Meals and recite simple prayers.
 

Four-Year-Old Curriculum

The four-year-old preschool curriculum is Get Set for School, an award-winning Pre-K curriculum. It is developmentally appropriate and designed to enable all children to thrive and build a strong foundation for kindergarten. Get Set for School includes three complete programs: Readiness & Writing, Language & Literacy, and Numbers & Math. The religion curriculum is Seeds – What the Church Believes and Teaches.
 
Get Set for School Curriculum
 
Get Set for School is an award–winning Pre-K curriculum. It is developmentally appropriate and designed so that all children can thrive and build a strong foundation for kindergarten. Get Set for School curriculum includes three complete programs:
 
  • Readiness & Writing
  • Language & Literacy
  • Numbers & Math
 
Readiness & Writing
 
This program incorporates child-friendly teaching strategies, such as using music and movement, to bring lessons to life, and multisensory manipulatives to build fine and gross motor skills. The readiness and writing lessons teach body awareness, cooperation, taking turns, listening, crayon grip, drawing, building, letter and number recognition, and capital letter and number formation.
 
Physical development and social/behavioral skills are particularly important in Pre-K. Children need to develop both fine and gross motor skills to be able to write. All of these skills are critical to age-appropriate emotional and social development and future academic performance.
 
Language & Literacy
 
This program actively teaches syllables, names and sounds of letters, words linked to content, new words, spoken language, how to respond to simple questions, and how to have discussions and share ideas.
 
The program focuses on building rich vocabulary so that children can learn a word’s meaning and begin to understand the network of concepts that goes with it. Children also learn the difference between drawing and writing, associate books with reading, read environmental print, and ultimately, learn the many benefits of early reading and writing. Children also learn to identify letter symbols, both capital and lowercase, by letter names. They learn how these “symbols” work together to form printed words and how printed words relate to spoken language.

 

Mat Man is a character approach to drawing that helps preschoolers develop cognitive and drawing skills.  Mat Man uses multisensory activities and strategies, such as hands-on learning, singing and drawing to teach readiness skills like:

 

  • Body awareness
  • Counting
  • Building
  • Socializing and sharing
  • Drawing and pre-writing
  • Size recognition 
  • Placement
  • Sequence skills

 

Numbers & Math

 This program uses playful manipulatives, music, and rhymes. It teaches counting, comparisons, spatial awareness, patterning, sequencing, matching, sorting, problem-solving, and even Pre-K geometry skills.

 

The program helps students build number sense right from the start. Students play with real objects and test their ideas so that math becomes meaningful to them. Children also develop oral language that helps them learn about and express math concepts.

 

Overall, these potentially complex subjects will be broken down into simpler tasks that build upon what children already know. In this way, they can master skills one step at a time as they build lifelong learning habits.

 

Scholastic My Big World magazine gives us an interactive look into:

  • Language Development
  • Science
  • Social and Emotional Learning
  • Social Studies
  • Math
 

Preschool 4 Religion Curriculum - Stories of God’s Love:

  • Teaches children appropriate Scripture stories that tell them of God’s love and connects these stories to the children’s lives.
  • Weaves prayer experiences into every lesson.
  • Creates a home school connection by offering weekly family enrichment.
 

This religion readiness program offers a whole-child approach that helps children grow in relationship with God through lessons, music, fingerplays, drawing, quiet time-time prayer, and reflection activities suited to the developmental needs of early learners. The program will introduce and explore seasons, holy days, and holidays. The children will also learn how to make the Sign of the Cross, Grace Before Meals and be introduced to The Hail Mary, Our Father and other simple prayers.