Auditory Perception

• Experience opportunities for listening to stories and nursery rhymes.

• Learn to listen, follow directions, and discriminate between sounds.

Visual Discrimination

• Be able to recognize colors, shapes, sizes.

• Begin to understand left-right and top-bottom eye movement.

• Begin to discriminate letters and objects and will be able to transfer to paper.

Oral Language Development

• Participate in discussions.

• Use finger plays, rhymes, and songs to learn rote memorization.

• Compose and expand simple stories.

• Speak in clear and complete sentences.

Introduction to Pre-Writing and Writing

• Use free drawing and painting with a variety of tools.

• Use manipulatives such as beads, pegs, puzzles, and Legos.

• Use clay, paste, scissors, pencils, and crayons.

• Repeat basic strokes l/0.

• Print first name and last name using manuscript

• Experience opportunities for tracing, weaving, lacing, etc.

Introduction to Reading

• Enjoy stories for fun.

• Retell stories in sequence.

• Develop an interest in the printed word through labeling and names.

• Begin to recognize some alphabet letters and sounds.

Other Languages

• Experience opportunities for exposure to other languages: Spanish, Sign Language, etc.

• Be able to understand/recite parts of the body, days of the week, colors, numbers (count from 1-10), and simple phrases in Spanish. 

The Math Readiness curriculum includes:

• Recognize numbers 1-10, count objects 1-10 & 11-20.

• Rote count 1-30.

• Understand the concepts of few-many, more-less and how many.

• Introduction to the concepts of money, identify coins (penny, nickel, dime, quarter).

• Introduction to time (calendar, clocks, sequence) and the concepts of yesterday, today, tomorrow, last night, etc.

• Introduction to measurement (capacity, compare sizes, temperatures, and weights).

• Sort and classify by size, color, and shape.

• Learn shapes (circle, square, rectangle, triangle, oval, ½ circle, octagon, diamond, and heart).

• Introduction to positions (over-under, before-after, between, beside, up-down, first, last, middle, and top-bottom).

• Identify all primary and secondary colors. 

The students participate in religion lessons, as well as faith experiences throughout the day and a Catechesis of the Good Shepherd each week.

The Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, also known as Atrium, is a religious formation program that originated in Rome in 1954. It is inspired by Montessori principles of education, and is based on the conviction that God and the child have a unique relationship with one another, particularly before the age of six.

Atrium provides children their own place to foster the growth of that relationship. The growth of the relationship is assisted by catechists, but is directed by the Spirit of God within the child. The catechists role is to prepare the environment, to make presentations, and pose questions that evoke a response from the children, rather than giving information and providing answers.

The themes presented in the Atrium are taken from the Holy Bible and the liturgy. They focus on the life of Christ, His teachings, the sacraments, and the signs symbols, gestures and prayers of the Mass. In the Atrium, a theme is presented to the child. The child is then given time and space to reflect on the Word and the mysteries of our faith, using Montessori principles of self discovery. The child is free to choose an activity with age appropriate materials that help lead the child to a point of reflection where their work actually becomes prayer.

The program provides an opportunity for a child to:

1. Develop an awareness of his/her place in God’s world.
2. Develop a sense of wonder and appreciation for the gifts of Creation.
3. Come to know himself/herself as a child of God lovingly made in His image.
4. Listen to the parables of the Kingdom of God and begin to wonder at their meaning:

Parable of the Mustard Seed Mark 4:30-32
Parable of the Pearl of Great Price  Matthew 13:45-46

5. Come to an awareness that Jesus is God and He knows each by name as proclaimed in the Holy Bible
6. Understand that the Holy Bible is God’s word to us.
7. Know that Mary is the Mother of Jesus.
8. Be introduced to Jesus as a historical figure born in the Land of Israel.

Additionally, the child will begin to celebrate the Christian Mystery 
1. Be introduced to the liturgical seasons and colors.
2. Participate in the seasons of Advent, Lent, Ordinary Time, Christmas, and Easter.
3. Discover that he/she is a member of God’s family, called by name through the gifts received in the Sacrament of Baptism.
4. Be introduced to the Baptismal gifts of the water, word, light, white garment.
5. Be introduced to the sacred articles used at Mass: altar, altar cloth, chalice, paten, crucifix, and candles.
6. Be introduced to the Eucharist as the gift of Himself that Jesus shared at the Last Supper.
7. Experience the Liturgy as a celebration of God’s family where Jesus calls us to be with Him.

And, the child will 

1. Demonstrate a Christian response to others through daily opportunities to share, listen, show gratitude, apologize, forgive, cooperate, and be responsible for his/her work.
2. Become aware of personal boundaries according to the diocesan “Called to Protect” program.

And participate in Christian Prayer:

1. Understand that prayer is talking to God.
2. Participate in a variety of prayer forms: spontaneous prayer, silent prayer, songs and sign language, and dance.
3. Be introduced to the following prayers and gestures: Sign of the Cross, genuflection, Hail Mary, Psalm 23:1.

KEY SCRIPTURE REFERENCES
Psalm 23:1 The Lord is my Shepherd
Isaiah 9:1 Prophecy of Light
Isaiah 9:5-6 Prophecy of the Names
Luke 1:26-38 Annunciation
Luke 2:1-20 Birth of Christ and Adoration of the Shepherd
Matt 12:31-32 The Kingdom and the Mustard Seed
Matt 13:45-46 The Kingdom and the Pearl of Great Price
John 10:3-5, 10b-11, 14-16 The Good Shepherd
Mark 14:12-17, 22-24, 27 The Last Supper
Pentecost 2:1-11 Pentecost 

Within the Self, Family & Community curriculum, the child will:

• Develop a sense of personal and social responsibility.

• Learn manners (say please and thank you, greet others appropriately, and use proper table manners).

• Learn that  his/her actions have consequences.

• Observe and respect different cultures and traditions.

• Become aware of the need to take care of the environment.

• Be introduced to national and cultural holidays and the people and places they represent.

• Cooperate as a member working in the community.

• Be introduced to history through an introduction to important people of the past.

• Be exposed to leisure activities in the community.

• Learn that there are helpers in the community (police, firefighters, doctors, nurses, etc.).
  

Within the Computer curriculum, the child will:

• Develop a positive attitude toward computers.

• Recognize letters and numbers on the keyboard.
  

• Identify simple parts of the computer:  keyboard, CD, space bar, arrow keys, and return key.

• Gain confidence when using the computer.

• Be able to operate early learning software.

Within the Science curriculum, the child will:

• Use his/her ability to predict, observe, classify, and measure.

• Be introduced to an environment for experimentation and exploration of physical matters.
  

• Observe natural physical changes.

• Be introduced to the following learning areas:  weather and seasonal changes; sun, moon, stars, night, day; seeds and plants; animals (living and prehistoric); non-living things (shells, rocks, water, sand, and soil); care of the environment; the five senses; the human body.

Motor skills are a vital part of the young child's development and are crucial to the learning skills he/she will need in the future.  The preschool child learns with his/her body.  These motor skills are not to be overlooked in favor of cognitive skills.  Motor skills are group by gross-motor or fine-motor. 

Gross-motor skills relate to body coordination, as appropriate to the child's physical development.  Large-muscle activities of walking, running, jumping, hopping, and skipping are examples.  Arm-eye coordination is attained by throwing a large ball or bean bag, catching, and aiming at a target.  Rhythm and movement provide an outlet of creative expression and the joy of using the body in dance, games, and organized play.

Fine-motor skills (eye-hand coordination) is developed through manipulating clay, stringing beads, hammering, pasting, coloring, painting, pouring, lacing, and using scissors.  Dexterity and strength of the small muscels are developing skills that enhance reading readiness.  Use of the natural hand preference is observed and encouraged, although hand dominance is not yet achieved.  Eye-tracking is another fine-motor activity that promotes the left-to-right preogression skill required for reading readiness.

In the Pre-K curriculum, there are six goals in the area of Physical, Safety, and Hygiene:

Goal 1: The child will be given the opportunity to develop locomotion skills to strengthen the large muscles.

Goal 2:  The child will be given the opportunity to develop non-locomotion skills to strengthen the large muscles.

Goal 3:  The child will be given the opportunity to develop eye-hand and eye-foot coordination.

Goal 4:  The child will be given the opportunity to develop fine-muscle skills.

Goal 5:  The child will be given the opportunity to practice hygiene.

Goal 6:  The cild will be given the opportunity to pracice safety.

St John Bosco Catholic School
16035 S. 48th St., Phoenix, AZ 85048
480-219-4848

Copyright © 2006-2010 St. John Bosco Catholic School