About/Our Story
The Story of St. Josephs Preschool
Once upon a time, more than a decade ago, A preschool began, where children flourish and grow
This preschool was admired both far and wide, an exceptional school, St. Joseph’s pride
The children were happy! They had fun every day, they learned about God, their faith grew as they’d pray.
The parents were grateful for a safe loving school, with teachers so caring, ’twas truly a jewel
Monday through Friday the parish center’s alive, with children all learning, they blossom, they thrive
This preschool’s for children age 3 and age 4, their first taste of school offers learning galore
With gym and a playground the fun never ends, each day’s an adventure with all of their friends.
They learn manners, letters, colors and science, they’re taught shapes and numbers and self reliance
With God ever present, to nurture real clarity, they learn the virtues of kindness, patience and charity.
When they moved on to school they were well prepared, their teachers all marveled, no others compared
As the children grow older they’ll long reminisce, of their first school experience, it’s fun and it’s bliss
Not just for parishioners, we welcome one and all, any time, any season: winter, spring or fall!
Our Philosphy
There is no greater gift from God than our precious children. We consider it an honor to be given the opportunity to assist children to grow and mature both personally and spiritually. We believe that our primary goal as educators is to provide an environment where children will feel safe and are encouraged to explore and learn naturally, without fear of failure. Learning is a process of exploration, trial and error, and the ability to look at problems from more than one direction. By teaching children how to discover, we will equip them with skills for life long learning. We will strive to create learners who possess confidence and love of knowledge.
Our Program
The focus of St. Joseph’s Preschool is child centered. We will provide an environment that will facilitate the child’s development on spiritual, physical, intellectual and emotional levels. We will strive to:
- Assist the child in developing a positive self image and self-confidence
- Foster the child’s thirst for knowledge and the joy of learning
- Encourage respect for multi-cultural diversity
- Provide the opportunity to develop the social skills needed to assimilate into peer groups
- Provide ample opportunities for both structured and open-ended learning experiences, facilitated through a wide array of hands-on and manipulative materials
- Maintain small size classes with appropriate adult-to-child ratio
- Prepare the child for future success in school
Curriculum Outline
GENERAL CURRICULUM
The academic program that the preschool follows is:
New York State Prekindergarten Foundations for the Common Core
http://www.p12.nysed.gov/ciai/common_core_standards/pdfdocs/nyslsprek.pdf
The Preschool will provide play based learning experiences to meet the individual developmental, social and intellectual needs of the children.
The curriculum will include skills and concepts taught in a sequential manner. Children will be presented with beginning concepts and will be guided to advancing these concepts to a more complex level. Their conceptual ability will be nurtured to progress from the concrete to the abstract. We understand that each of the children will be operating at a different developmental and interest level. We will structure the lessons to begin at the level where they can function comfortably and help them to advance to higher levels of thinking.
RELIGIOUS ED CURRICULUM
The Religious Education program that we follow is Seeds (Preschool) Pflaum Gospel Weeklies Faith Formation Program http://cart.pflaum.com/home.php
“For preschoolers, the Sunday Gospel message creates the foundation for them to begin a lifetime of learning about their faith. Concepts are introduced simply and powerfully, Jesus becomes immediate and real, make-and-do projects match preschoolers’ skills, and parent notes in English and Spanish get families involved.”
