Program Information

We develop fine motor skills with numerous pre-writing activities such as stringing beads, playing with play doh, coloring, zippering; stacking blocks, buttoning; cutting with scissors, and drawing.    Lessons address alphabet knowledge, letter/number recognition and formation, counting, drawing, shapes, and colors. Handwriting Without Tears curriculum is used to get our preschooler started writing their letters and numbers.

We take a child centered approach to learning!  We begin with teaching “concepts of print” as a solid foundation of early literacy.    At Christ the King we understand there are five components of reading: Phonemic Awareness; Phonics; Vocabulary; Fluency; Comprehension.  We immerse our students in exploring books, writing, and drawing to develop their emergent reading skills.  Our students track print and begin to blend sounds by using a multi-sensory approach.  To get ready for kindergarten, we use Reading the Alphabet curriculum in our preschool 4’s classrooms.

Sounds are the building blocks of words and the most fundamental part of learning to read!  We use Heggerty Phonemic Awareness to teach our youngest learners to manipulate sounds in words.  In addition, we use nursery rhymes and language play to increase their language awareness.  

We learn letter sounds, letter formation, blending, and segmenting sounds in words through word play and actions.  We use the Jolly Phonics curriculum to support our multi-sensory approach to learning!  Learning phonics should be fun and meaningful.  We read environmental print and learn that words are made of letters, which stand for sounds we say when we say words.  Putting letters together in different ways, make different words! 

Learning vocabulary is a critical factor in the development of reading skills.  Vocabulary has said to be the best predictor of good reading comprehension.  Vocabulary instruction should be robust, rigorous, and powerful!    Exposure to words through vocabulary rich classrooms promotes conscious vocabulary growth.  Our teachers pose thoughtful guiding questions and immerse students in rich language of authentic texts in the context of reading and listening through read-alouds.

We emphasize good text comprehension by monitoring our youngest student’s comprehension. We have our littlest ones answer questions about stories, demonstrate knowledge of story structure, and draw on prior knowledge to retell stories.  In addition we teach them to use mental imagery.  These early comprehension strategies are first steps to encourage students to develop into strong  and active readers.

We practice writing numbers 1-30, review shapes and colors.  Our goal is for the children to recognize number patterns and be able to count to 30+ and identify 1-30 out of order by the end of preschool.  Our cooperative learning structures for Math include math manipulatives, puzzles, blocks, and calendar activities with songs and rhymes.

At Christ the King School, our focus is on Bible stories and Catholic teachings and beliefs.  We learn songs, prayers, and also discuss saints.  Preschool attends our all school Spirit Day prayer assemblies and occasionally attend Mass.

Students play in co-operative learning centers each day.  Positive peer play interactions demonstrate positive learning behaviors at Christ the King School!  While playing together, students learn to problem solve, make good choices, and use creativity.  At Christ the King School we do our very best to address each child’s cognitive, social, emotional and physical development and value intellectual and social development.

We have a dedicated playground just for our preschool friends!  We also make sure our students have time to climb, skip, hop, jump and even catch a ball in our Physical Education classes. We channel their energy into movement, so they are on-track with physical development. Our gross motor activities promote physical development important to self-confidence and health benefits for their future.

Preschool children attend Spanish, Library, Music and P.E. classes.  (Must be enrolled in our 5 day a week program to attend all special classes).

We celebrate holidays, birthdays, and have a special birthday party for Baby Jesus in December! Celebrations are also planned to coordinate with classroom lessons and themes.  Preschoolers also attend school assemblies, programs, and have fun participating in Catholic Schools Week. Our PreK-4 program has a Graduation Celebration  with family and friends!

Throughout the school year students enjoy field trips.  Some places students may visit are a pumpkin patches, apple orchards, farms, Ergadoozy, fire stations, Mini O’Beirne Holiday Store and Sangamon Auditorium.