"Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or troubled, the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."

- JOSHUA 1:9

Early Childhood Program

Our preschool curriculum is designed to follow the needs and interests of the children as they develop at their own pace. With a variety of experiences to develop their social skills, mathematical understanding, language arts development, motor skills, and science processes, St. Thomas teaches to the whole child. 

• Social skills addressed include developing self-regulation, that is, learning to respond appropriately in social situations.  Young children are taught how to relate to others, including their peers and teachers.  Our youngest students learn to cooperate and collaborate with others in the learning community.
• Mathematical Understanding in preschool includes exploration of measurement, developing number sense, beginning to experience number operations such as adding and subtracting, and exploring data through graphs.  
• Language Arts Development is key to future literacy skills.  We use Abeka phonics, Frog Street Press, and other sources that are woven into a strong pre-literacy foundation.  Children learn to listen for a purpose, use language to express their wants and thoughts, and begin to understand representation of sounds and words with symbols (letters).
• Motor Skill Development, both gross and fine motor skills blossom in preschool through a variety of activities in the classroom, in music class, in the motor lab, and outdoors on the playground.
• Science Processing Skills, our naturally curious preschoolers learn about physical, natural, and life sciences in their environment.  Sensory awareness encourages students to use their science processing skills. They discover on their own, and are exposed to a variety of books, objects, and models to foster their sense of wonder about God’s world.
• ​Art and Creativity - each week the children attend art class to experience and learn about the world of art. Included in the preschool art program are learning about famous artists, unique art styles, and basic beginner techniques for creating wonderful works of art. Students are encouraged to be creative as they experience a variety of projects!
• ​Music and Movement- children are introduced to music concepts where they experience music through a mixture of singing, dancing, acting and the use of percussion instruments. 

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Preschool 2's Curriculum

Schedule
Monday - Friday; as 2 days (T/TH), 3 days (MWF), or 5 day schedules
Half day 7:55-11:45AM or Full day 7:55-3:00PM
​Early morning and After school care options available

Classroom Activities and Outdoor Play
Puzzles, reading, hands on art activities, manipulatives, a playground designated just for the 2 year olds, social activities, science projects

Curriculum
Two year olds have great developmental growth including use of language, fine and gross motor acquisition, and social interactions.  Play is an important activity for this age.  Students learn to develop their attention span, to take turns, to follow instructions, and to initiate imaginative play. Pre-literacy skills through literature, music, alphabetic awareness, and center activities are important for academic development.  Numeracy skills such as counting, one-to-one correspondence, and identifying numbers starts in this class. Colors, shapes, and thematic instruction rounds out the class.

Enrichment Classes
Music, Chapel, Spanish

Preschool 3's Curriculum

Schedule
Monday - Friday; 3 days (MWF) or 5 day schedules
Half day 7:55-11:45AM or Full day 7:55-3:00PM
Early morning and After school care options available

Classroom Activities and Outdoor Play
Manipulatives such as puzzles, imaginative play through toy cars and dress up, literature, and art opportunities, science and nature experiences including growing butterflies, and extended playground time to develop gross motor skills and improve social skills.

Curriculum
This class offers a schedule of independent, small group, and large group activities.  Students in the class begin to become more independent through self-toileting, hand washing, putting materials away, and cleaning up the classroom during transitions.  The students continue to learn about literacy, numeracy, and shapes and colors through explicit lessons built around themes in the classroom.  Play-dough and scissors are a few examples of activities to promote fine motor development. Manipulatives are an important teaching tool to encourage students to develop a sense of patterning, creativity, promote inquisitiveness, and encourage observations. 

Enrichment Classes
Music, chapel, and Spanish are integrated into our full time schedule

Pre-K 4's Curriculum

Schedule
​​Monday - Friday; 3 days (MWF) or 5 day schedules
Half day 7:55-11:45AM or Full day 7:55-3:00PM
Early morning and After school care options available

Curriculum
Reading: Students utilize Frog Street Press and Abeka to continue to strengthen and learn about language, making predictions, asking questions, sharing evaluations, and retelling stories. 

Writing: Using the Handwriting without Tears, children begin working on improving their letter and number formation.

Math and Science: Counting, skip counting, force and motion, chemical reactions, nature, plant and animal parts and characteristics all make up a fun and exciting curriculum that teach to this age's natural curiosity.

Outdoor Play: Extended outdoor playtime daily to encourage children to run, play, climb, and socialize

Enrichment Classes: Music, Chapel, Library, Spanish, Computers

Gift of Time

​The GOT class provides an extra year of growth or students to prepare for kindergarten. The curriculum is similar to the kindergarten class with built in time to allow students to gain confidence and refine their skills. To read more about our Gift of Time program, please visit our Elementary Curriculum page.