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Philosophy:
At St. Francis of Assisi Preschool we will present a developmentally appropriate program that allows children to learn at their own pace through hands on activities. Our program will develop the whole child in an atmosphere of encouragement, affection, and creativity. Our preschool will set the foundation for Catholic learning with a curriculum that is centered on Catholic values. We will emphasize these values through singing, stories, and prayer before snack-time. It is our mission to help children learn and respect themselves and others, to celebrate diversity and uniqueness. We believe that by allowing children to make choices, and by giving them the opportunity to learn through experimentation, we will help them develop a life long enthusiasm for learning.

Curriculum:
We recognize that children have their own learning styles and so it is with teacher guidance that we encourage children to progress at their own pace. Our curriculum will develop the whole child by including physical, cognitive, language, social, emotional, creative, and spiritual development. We will use the church calendar as a guide for our activities, incorporating family, self, and community. Our activities in the classroom will gear children for Kindergarten readiness into the Catholic school system by incorporating Letter and Number recognition, simple phonics, shapes, etc. Throughout the year we will incorporate religious holidays into our program by working on long-term projects that will be enjoyed by the entire church community. Our children will also participate in church celebrations with baking projects. By participating in these activities and bringing the preschool community together with the larger church community we are teaching our children the importance of being part of a community and the importance of working together as a team.

Class Organization:
Our class will be organized into several learning areas including:

Blocks: Blocks are an important tool for cognitive development. They encourage problem solving, math principles, and cooperation.

Language: The language center will focus on letter recognition, and the ability to tell a story with a beginning, middle, and end.

Manipulative: This includes puzzles, sorting activities, lace boards, and other activities that focus on the fine motor skills/problem solving.

Dramatic Play: This area may look like just a play area to parents, and it is. Play is an important part of the learning process. Children work through life experiences through dramatic play.

Art: Our art area will consist of planned daily projects, long term projects, and plenty of creative materials for the children to delve into and create masterpieces of their own.

Group area: Our group time will include things such as music, movement, story telling, science experiments, finger play, and sharing. This is a time for children to be heard by the group and to participate in group activities.

Outdoor play area: Many gross motor skills such as running, jumping, balancing, skipping, etc can only be mastered outdoors. Our outdoor play area will encourage the use of these skills and also include sand and water play and plenty of creative play.