PK3 Academics

The primary goal of the three year Old program is to welcome parents and children into their first school experience as well as establish a lifelong love of learning. In keeping with the mission of St. Catherine of Siena School, the Pre-K 3 program helps shape the souls and hearts of the children to know God and to see their own goodness through daily prayer, participation in school wide service projects, Bible stories and monthly Prayer Services.

Each three year old class consists of a teacher certified in Early Childhood education and an assistant. The classroom learning centers provide developmentally appropriate materials arranged to promote independence, to foster decision making, and to encourage active involvement.

The daily schedule includes active and quiet times, large group activities, small group activities, and a time to play alone or with others. There is time scheduled for outdoor play and indoor play daily, and a time for children to select their own activities and for teacher-directed activities. Children are provided opportunities to share ideas and to listen to ideas of others during Circle Time. To help them develop self-discipline, they are offered choices and opportunities to make decisions knowing what the logical consequences will be.

Some large group activities include storytelling, finger plays, music/movement activities, and exercises and games. The children also participate weekly in physical education class, music class, and library time.

The Pre-K 3 Curriculum develops social, emotional, and cognitive skills through hands-on experiences in a nurturing, child-centered environment.

Incoming students must be three years of age by August 31. Children accepted into the Early Childhood program should display the following developmentally appropriate skills/behaviors:

• Completely potty trained by the first day of school

• Follow simple directions

• Respond to instruction by the teacher

• Recognize that biting and hitting are not tolerated

Religion

Through stories, songs, daily prayers, participation in monthly prayer services, and activities, the children gain an understanding of God’s love for them and others.

Language Arts

Oral - The children learn to express themselves through exposure to an expanded vocabulary, songs, stories, poems, and finger plays.
Written -  The children explore a variety of tools to trace, write, and color.

Reading Readiness

The children develop reading readiness skills through daily story time and letter and sound recognition activities.

Math

The children develop number awareness, shape identification, color recognition, sorting, patterns, and counting skills using a variety of manipulatives.

Art

The children are given daily opportunities to explore a variety of art materials.

Science

The children are encouraged to observe their surroundings, participate in experiments, and make discoveries through an active process of inquiry and investigation.  

Social

The children are encouraged to use their words to express themselves, to take turns, and to be kind to others.  

Technology

PreK students have access to computerized stories, puzzles, and academic resources utilizing the Hatch tablet.
 

PK4 Academics

Saint Catherine of Siena pre-kindergarten is designed to create a loving, God-centered environment where children are cared for and educated with love and respect. Each child is treated as a unique being with his or her own interests, abilities, and God given talents.

Throughout the school year, your child will have exciting well-planned learning opportunities to develop social skills, fine and gross motor skills, reading readiness skills, and letter/sound recognition. Each child will develop math readiness skills such as number recognition, counting, sorting, and classifying. The student will also have opportunities to develop eye hand coordination, auditory, visual and critical thinking skills as well as a love for learning.

Each PreK-4 class consists of a teacher certified in Early Childhood Education and an assistant. The pre-kindergarten teachers at SCS use their knowledge and training in Early Childhood and the child’s natural inquisitive, explorative, and creative nature to “Learn by Doing”. This child-centered hands-on approach makes pre-kindergarten exciting and fun. Your child will experience this by participating in many activities including story time, dramatic play, arts and crafts, physical education class, music class, library time, puppetry, science exploration, participation in monthly prayer services, and field trips.

Your child will learn to...

• appreciate God’s Love for each of us.
• get along with others, be polite, fair, take turns, and follow rules.
• share with others – toys, games, snacks, and experiences.
• explore new things, ideas, and the world around them.
• express themselves with words, Playdough, crayons, music, scissors, etc.
• appreciate fiction and non-fiction literature and discover the joy of reading through viewing, listening to, and creating class books                                         
• expand their vocabulary by using new words based on experiences, conversations, songs, stories, and games.
• write by building fine motor skills through a variety of media.
• count and learn to associate a concept with a symbol.
• use good manners while eating and working with others inside and outside of the classroom.
• plan what he or she will do next, to make decisions, and accept the consequences of those decisions.
• think of and respect others – family, friends, staff, and those in need.
• understand the importance of parents and teachers working together as partners.

Parents of children entering PreK-4 are expected to attend a “Meet and Greet Day” as a way to become acquainted with the learning environment of St. Catherine of Siena School.

Incoming students must be 4 years old by September 30.

Children accepted into the Early Childhood program should display the following developmentally appropriate skills/behaviors:

• Completely potty trained by the first day of school

• Follow simple directions

• Respond to instruction by the teacher

• Recognize that biting and hitting are not tolerated

 

Kindergarten Academics

The kindergarten program at St. Catherine of Siena School recognizes the dignity and uniqueness of each child.  Each classroom maintains a small class size with one certified teacher and one full-time assistant.  Our main emphasis is to instill a love of God, of one another, and a learning which students can use throughout their lives.

Incoming students must be 5 years of age by September 30^th. Parents of children entering Kindergarten are expected to attend a “Meet and Greet Day” as a way to become acquainted with the learning environment of St. Catherine of Siena School.

Language Arts

The kindergarten reading curriculum prioritizes phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, oral vocabulary, and text comprehension in a literature based, theme driven approach.  The main resource is the Scott Foresman Reading Street Grade K reading program. This reading program includes children’s literature, leveled readers, and decodable readers.  Children read with the teacher in small, leveled reading groups.  Children interact in non-leveled social groups for literacy-based centers which provide independent practice in phonics, phonemic awareness, literary elements, oral language development, and text comprehension. In addition to sight words, students are taught word attack skills.  The success of the kindergarten program rests within child-driven, cross-curricular learning.  Therefore, children have opportunities for reading and writing throughout the kindergarten day, including science, social studies, religion, and math.

Writing

Children are taught good writing techniques through guided writing, writer’s workshop, and journaling.  They move at their own pace through color coded journals.  Students are encouraged to use inventive as well as conventional spelling in their writing.  Mini lessons introduce the steps of the writing process through teacher modeling and student interactive writing.  The culminating activity is an information book that is researched, written, and published by each child.

Math 

Children participate in child centered calendar activities which introduce, provide practice with, and review key skills and concepts on a daily basis.  This curriculum emphasizes a daily routine of whole group practice then small group hands-on exploration with manipulatives. The independent activities are customized to peak the interests of our students, to be cross curricular, and to be open ended in effort to meet each child on their level.  Each day, the kindergarten students have practice in the following areas: counting and cardinality, operations and algebraic thinking, number and operations in base ten, measurement and data, and geometry.

Religion

The kindergarten religion program includes content that is faithful to the teachings of the Catholic Church. Kindergarten students are introduced to Christian values, the lives of the saints, observance of Holy days, and seasonal holidays. They also participate in prayer services throughout the year. Children learn the ancestry of Jesus when they create a Jesse Tree class book.  Songs, prayers, and hand motions are activities that are used with the children to integrate catechesis, liturgy, prayer, and living their faith among their peers, family and community. The book used in kindergarten, titled God Loves Us, is published by Loyola Press. Each chapter includes a family page in which faith topics are reviewed and activities are suggested for family participation.

Science 

The kindergarten science curriculum is woven into the daily routine through meaningful, hands-on activities relevant to the current theme. Students are encouraged to make observations, record, organize, and analyze data, make predictions, ask questions, and draw conclusions. Each week, a student is given the opportunity to be the “Little Scientist” and lead the class in an experiment which is chosen and planned with parent assistance.

Social Studies

The kindergarten social studies curriculum helps make children aware of the world around them and how families, communities, and society work together. To accomplish this, theme related stories, music, and art are utilized. The Louisiana Cultural Heritage study familiarizes students with the unique local customs.

Enrichment:

Music – Students attend music once a week where they are introduced to a variety of songs using motor skills and movement.

Physical Education – Students attend PE twice a week where they develop their large and small motor skills.  They also learn about fitness and the importance of fair play.

Library – Students attend Library once a week where they check out books, listen to stories, and watch videos which emphasize all types of literature.

Technology - Skills and concepts introduced throughout the week in all content areas are reinforced through activities on the Smart Board in each classroom.  Other technology is utilized to create a learning environment rich in movement and music.