Research shows that quality early childhood education has positive and lasting benefits for young children. Strong foundations for learning are established and children are encouraged to develop to their full potential.

Our quality Catholic Preschool Program provides experiences that stimulate and unify a child’s spiritual, physical, social, emotional, and intellectual growth.  The school day for Pre-Kindergarten students begins at 8:25 am and lasts until 2:40 pm.  Much learning and lots of fun are packed into each day!

Religion: Religion is an integral part of our Preschool Program.  Our goal is to develop a positive relationship with God/Jesus.  We nurture and enrich the faith and spiritual lives of children with lessons that connect to the child’s everyday life. Children will listen to bibles stories, learn prayers and engage in activities with prayer partners.
 

Personal/Social Development: We focus on cooperative play, expected behaviors, sharing, following directions, initiating conversations and play situations. 

Gross and Fine Motor Skills: We help develop hand-eye coordination and use rhythm and movement.  Our coloring, cutting and pasting projects, our center times with play dough, and our other projects help children to practice fine motor skills.

Language Development: We focus on listening, speaking, thinking, and encouraging your child to transfer their thoughts into words.

Pre-K Math

In coordination with the PA Standards, and Archdiocese of Philadelphia Guidelines, we introduce;  

• Counting and recognizing numbers to 20

• Recognizing colors & shapes (two- & three-dimensional)

• One-to-one correspondence of objects

• Sorting by various attributes: color, shape, size

• Patterns: AB, AABB, ABC

• Addition and subtraction stories with numbers

• Old and New Testament Bible stories

• Recognize God created families to love one another

• Recognize plants, animals, and human beings as God's creations 

Pre-K Enrichment Activities

Social Skills

• Problem-solving skills in social situations 

• Work in groups or with a partner on a variety of projects 

• Share classroom materials with the group 

• Practice use of manners

• Communicate his/her needs 

• Take care of his/her own basic needs: clean up, roll up nap pad, fasten clothing, use tissue as needed, etc. 

• State personal information: first and last name, age, school name

With guidance and support, our ELA program offers Pre-K students the opportunity and experiences to build skills in the following areas:

• Exposure to alphabet: with upper case and lower case letters and their sounds

• Recognize, spell, and print first name 

• Hold a pencil, marker, crayon correctly 

• Read a variety of stories 

• Learn simple nursery rhymes and finger plays 

• Recognize rhyming words

• Respond with movement or clapping to a regular beat in song or poem

• Concepts of print: left to right direction, holding a book right-side-up, page numbers 

• Build new vocabulary and listening skills
  

A quality Catholic Kindergarten Program promotes the spiritual, emotional, intellectual, physical, and social growth of young children. Personal/Social Development is a primary goal for the kindergarten child.  A positive self-concept is essential to successful learning.  The more a child understands himself/herself, the better equipped the child is to relate to other children and adults.

Social development includes cooperative work and play, sharing toys and responsibilities, following directions, initiating conversations and developing positive relationships with classmates and teachers. Personal development includes caring for one’s own belongings and respecting the property of others.

 Kindergarten Math

• Addition and subtraction- fluently to 5, intro to 10

•  5 + 2 = _____     7 – 2 = _____     5 + _____ = 7 (to 10)

• Numbers and value of 0 to 20

• Begin to build place value 1 to 19

• Count to 100 by 1s and 10s from a given number

• Concrete – pair object with number (in a row, find 5th object)

• Greater than, less than, or equal to

• Introduce numbers 11 to 19 

• Length and weight – (tall, short, taller, tallest) heavy vs. light

• Shapes– square, circle, triangle, rectangle, hexagon, cube, cone, cylinder, sphere (2 or 3 dimensional)

• Identify coins

Kindergarten ELA

The following is implemented through the use of Fountas & Pinnell: Guided & Shared Reading in addition to Fountas & Pinnell Phonics, Spelling, & Word Study Program.

Reading:

• To recognize the difference between a story & poem.

• To identify the author & illustrator.

• To name the author & illustrator of fiction and informational texts. 

• To identify the parts of a book: front cover, back cover, title page, top & bottom, page by page, and to follow left to right. 

• To name the author & illustrator of fiction and informational texts. 

• To retell stories in sequence- beginning, middle, and end.

• To identify characters, setting, and key events of a story.

• Explore fiction and nonfiction.

• To compare two characters using a graphic organizer. 

• To read emergent reader texts with purpose and understanding.

Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study

• To ask questions about unknown words.

• To understand that words are separated by spaces in print.

• To develop phonological awareness, especially with rhyming.

• To recognize and print all upper & lower case letters.

• To recognize all colors and color words.

• To recite and produce rhyming words.

• To use words: who, what, where, when, and why.

• To name and identify periods, question marks, and exclamation points.

• To ask questions to get information.

• To produce, write and expand sentences.

• To demonstrate phonemic awareness by isolating and pronouncing the initial, middle, and final sounds in a CVC words.

• To spell simple words phonetically using knowledge of sound-letter relationships.

• To identify syllables in a word

• To demonstrate understanding of common nouns, verbs, and adjectives 

• To read and recognize high frequency words.

Kindergarten Religion

Social Skills

• Communicate his/her needs and feelings verbally in a socially-appropriate manner, and understand/recognizing the feelings of others

• Work and play independently or in a small group 

• Practice making decisions, explore new things

• Verbally share information and ideas
  

• Practice listening attentively to the children and to the teacher 

• Respect personal and school materials

• Creative Arts
  Participate in weekly Specials - Art, Physical Education, Library, Music, Technology, and S.T.E.A.M.

• Create art projects using a variety of materials

• Participate in conversations centered around art and color

• Expand creative thinking skills 

   

Our First Grade program encompasses all the areas that teach, guide, and support children to grow and thrive as Catholic students in the 21st Century.  The program focuses on academics, social skills, and Catholic values.  Every child is valued and appreciated as lifelong learners and children of God.

Grade 1 Math

• Addition and subtraction facts and strategies within 20

• Adding and subtracting 2-digit numbers

• Measurement and length: order, compare, measure with ruler using inches

• Place value to 120: ones, tens hundred, expanded form, ordering, comparing numbers

• Graphs: reading and making, tally graphs, and picture graphs

• Geometry: with two or three dimensional shapes

• Beginning of fractions 

• Time: telling time to hour and half hour, time patterns

• Money: counting with pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, one dollar

• Problem solving: 1- to 3-step problems

  
  

  Grade 1 ELA
  Grammar

• Four types of sentences

• Punctuation and capitalization

• Parts of speech: nouns (proper, common, possessive),  verbs, pronouns, adjectives, contractions, and synonyms
  
  Writing

• Sentence writing (1-3) and introductory paragraphs

• Personal Narratives

• Friendly letters

• Research reports 
   

  The following is implemented through the use of Fountas & Pinnell: Guided & Shared Reading in addition to Fountas & Pinnell Phonics, Spelling, & Word Study Program.

  
  Reading

• Comprehension and fluency

• Retelling stories: with characters, setting, major events and details

• Both fiction and non-fiction

• Use of illustrations to answer questions and retell stories

• Compare and contrast

• Main idea of text

• Use of headings and table of contents to locate facts.

• Read various types of prose and poetry

• High frequency words 
  
  Phonics

• Common digraphs

• Decode one- and two-syllable words

• Read words with inflection endings

• Letter sound relationships: beginning consonant, ending consonant, vowels

• Compound words 
  Grade 1 Religion

• The Blessed Trinity -God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit

• Creation of the world and people

• Respect God, others, and self

• Feast Days of Mary and Titles of Mary

• Liturgical Year

• Saints

• Prayers: Sign of Cross, Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be, Grace before and after meals, Morning Offering, Angel of God, Introduction of Rosary

• Sacramentals

• Families are special

• Sacraments of Initiation

• Life of Jesus

   

  Grade 1 Enrichment Activities

  Social Skills

• Participate in collaborative conversations

• Ask questions 

• Group work-(pair learning, guided reading)

• Class jobs (build responsibility)

• Oral speaking presentations 

• Encourage active listening

   

  Creative Arts

• Weekly S.T.E.A.M. class

• Weekly Art class

• Weekly Physical Education class

• Weekly Music class

• Weekly Technology class

• Weekly Library class

• After-school clubs throughout the year 

Our Second Grade program guides children through the learning process to increase their knowledge and to become more independent.  The program includes academics, social skills, and the Catholic Faith.  Children work in groups as well as individually to strengthen skills they need to achieve their goals and to further expand their relationship with God.

Grade 2 Math

• Geometry - two- and three-dimensional shapes, faces, edges, vertices

• Adding and subtracting 3-digit numbers

• Measurement: inches, feet, yards, centimeters, meters, compare, measure with a variety of tools, add and subtract lengths

• Place value to 1000: hundreds, tens, and ones, place value in 3-digit numbers, expanded form, compare and order numbers within 1000

• Foundations of multiplication

• Data and graphical displays

• Equal shares: halves, thirds, fourths

• Time: telling time to hour and half hour, five minutes, A.M. and P.M.

• Money: counting with pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, one dollar, equal amounts, compare money, make change, add and subtract money

• Problem solving: 1- to 3-step problems

   

  Grade 2 ELA
  Grammar

• Sentences- types of sentences, capital and lowercase letters, end marks, subject, predicate, conjunctions, prepositions

• Parts of speech: nouns (proper, common, singular, plural, irregular),  verbs (action verbs, present and past tense, helping, vivid), pronouns (collective, singular and plural possessive)

• Contractions, compound words, abbreviations, initials

• Word study: synonyms, antonyms, word categories, prefixes, suffixes, root words, homophones
  
  The following is implemented through the use of Fountas & Pinnell: Guided & Shared Reading in addition to Fountas & Pinnell Phonics, Spelling, & Word Study Program.
  
  Phonics

• Common digraphs

• Decode one- and two-syllable words

• Read words with inflection endings

• Letter sound relationships: beginning and ending consonant sounds, consonant clusters, long vowels

• Spelling patterns: recognize and use phonograms with VC, VCE, VCC patterns

• High-frequency words

• Word meaning/vocabulary

• Word structure: syllables, compound words, contractions, word endings, suffixes, prefixes

• Word-solving actions: sequence of sounds and letters, break words into syllables to decode, connections between words that mean the same

   

  Reading

• Comprehension and fluency

• Ask and answer questions 

• Retell stories: describing characters, setting, major events and details

• Fiction and non-fiction

• Use illustrations to answer questions and retell stories

• Compare and contrast

• Main idea of text

• Use headings and table of contents to locate facts.

• Read various types of prose and poetry

   

  Writing

• Comparison paragraphs

• Personal narratives

• Friendly letters

• Book reports

• Research reports 

  
  

  Grade 2 Religion

• The Blessed Trinity -God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit

• Sacraments

• Respect God, others, and self

• Feast Days of Mary and Titles of Mary

• The Mass: Liturgy of the Word, Liturgy of the Eucharist 

• Liturgical Year

• Prayers: Sign of Cross, Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be, Grace before and after meals, Morning Offering, Angel of God, Act of Contrition, Act of Faith, Introduction of Rosary

• Saints

• Families are special

• Sacraments of Initiation

• Life of Jesus

   

  Grade 2 Enrichment Activities

  Social Skills

• Participate in collaborative conversations

• Group work-(pair learning, guided reading)

• Class jobs (build responsibility)

• Oral speaking presentations 

• Encourage active listening

   

  Creative Arts

• Weekly S.T.E.A.M. class

• Weekly Art class

• Weekly Physical Education class

• Weekly Music class

• Weekly Technology class

• Weekly Library class

• After-school clubs throughout the year 

In the lower grades, the Technology Curriculum focuses on the basics: learning to use the mouse; basic keyboarding; familiarity with Microsoft Office programs (Word,, Paint, Power Point); introductory use of the Google Suite and Google Classroom; and ways to safely navigate the internet. 
The students gain comfort and familiarity with computers, Chromebooks, iPads, and use technology to support their budding math and literacy skills.