Preschool Information

Ages and Number of Students

St. John the Baptist Catholic School offers preschool to 3-5 year olds.  We have two classrooms and are licensed for up to 42 students.  We always have at least one teacher for every ten students.  Our classrooms are mixed age rooms that include students who are one academic year and two academic years away from Kindergarten.  St. John the Baptist Catholic School mandates preschool students are supervised by trained adults at all times.  

Days offered

We are open Monday – Friday on days when school is in session.  St. John’s does not currently offer summer programming for preschool students.  Students may sign up for full day or half day options.  Our full day schedule is 8:30-3:30.  The half day schedule is 8:30-11:30.  We do not offer half day afternoons. Before school care is available starting at 7:00 and aftercare is available until 5:30.  

Daily Preschool Schedule

8:30-8:50 Students go to class as they enter
9:00-9:15 Prayer and Pledge/Morning Meeting
9:50-10:00 Clean up
10:00-10:40 Specialist and Snack
10:45-11:15 Circle Time – Phonics – Story
11:15-11:35 Recess
11:45-12:30 Lunch
12:30-1:00 Centers/Reading/Art
1:00-1:25 Clean up & Bathroom
1:25-1:45 Social Studies/Religion/Story
1:45-2:15 Rest time
2:15-2:40 Bathroom Wash Snack Pack
2:40-3:10 Recess
3:20-3:30 Dismissal

Curriculum

St. John the Baptist Catholic School Preschool Program utilizes Mother Goose Preschool Curriculum and rotate Mother Goose themes Monthly.  Mother Goose includes themes such as Safari, Garden, Dinosaurs, Human Body, Winter, Rainforest, and many more.  We also use Groves Academy curriculum for beginning reading skills.  Our religion lessons come from the Image of God series.  Your preschooler will learn age-appropriate social, emotional,  physical, intellectual, and spiritual skills.  Our preschool students get one specialist class per day.  These include Art, STEM, Physical Education, and Music.  

Social  

  • Cooperating and problem-solving with peers
  • Recognizing emotions in others  
  • Conflict resolution practice and modeling

Emotional  

  • Making personal choices  
  • Sharing ideas, thoughts, and feelings with the group 
  • Identifying and naming feelings

Physical 

  • Continue to focus on large muscle development, motor skills  and coordination 
  • Dressing independently 
  • Develop spatial awareness by movement to music  
  • Safety training

Intellectual  

  • Asking and answering open-ended questions 
  • Understanding a sequence of events 
  • Participating in read-aloud exercises 
  • Identifying numbers, patterns, counting, and estimating items  
  • Recognizing and writing letters and numbers 

Spiritual  

  • Learn prayers
  • Offer prayer intentions
  • Act out bible stories
  • Songs and activities

Routines

Teachers develop and maintain daily routines and set consistent limits to help children develop a sense of trust and promote learning.  Guidance includes encouraging children to talk about how they feel.  Teachers model language and actions to express feelings.  Teachers recognize and affirm positive behavior throughout the day.  Teachers’ response to unwanted behavior may include: ignoring the behavior, redirecting the activity, calm clear words to encourage positive ways the child can express themselves and discuss the problem.  

Activities:

St. John’s preschool students participate in a variety of activities that are (indoor and outdoor) (quiet and active) (teacher-led and child initiated.  These include

Choice Time at tables  

  • puzzles
  • play dough
  • small blocks
  • lacing cards
  • manipulatives
  • board games
  • coloring
  • work with teachers in small groups

Circle Time 

  • greeting song
  • shapes
  • stories
  • letters and phonics
  • prayer
  • buddy bag
  • calendar
  • graphing activities
  • weather
  • numbers
  • theme

Centers  

  • sensory table
  • dramatic area
  • manipulatives
  • construction blocks
  • cars & trucks
  • animals
  • dollhouse/barn
  • science trays
  • computers
  • art
  • painting
  • crafts
  • letter of the week
  • math activities
  • puzzles
  • music

Structured PE, Art, STEM, Music class

Imaginative Play

  • Bakery
  • Pizza Shop
  • Holiday Stations
  • Space Center
  • Post Office
  • Fire Station

Outside

  • Playground
  • Maple syrup
  • Kites
  • Weather
  • Bug catchers
  • Community garden
  • Harvest and planting
  • Fossils
  • Measurement

Religion

  • Nativity plays
  • Acting out bible stories

Preschool program plan.

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