Welcome to Aquin PreSchool!
Research has shown that preschool children learn best through play. At Aquin Preschool we understand this. Our job as teachers of the preschool child is to encourage children to ask questions, explore, and discover through play and experiences with engaging materials. We provide children with hands-on experiences that allow them to see how things work and help them develop knowledge about concepts.
Children learn science concepts as they play at the water table, or watch caterpillars turn into butterflies.
They learn math as they build with blocks of various sizes, or by sorting and classifying toys.
Literacy blossoms as children listen to stories and then retell the stories with puppets or the flannel board. It continues to grow as they play words games and learn poems and songs.
Social skills develop as they play in the Dramatic Play area, trying out adult roles, preparing pretend meals for each other, and learning to share material. Dress up teaches them about jobs and community helpers.
Motor skills develop as they run and play outside on the playground, string beads, play with toys, and create with play dough.
At Aquin Preschool we also nurture the spiritual side of the young child. We tell Bible Stories and sing Bible songs to learn about the wonderful story of God’s love. We talk about praying and use prayer in our everyday language. The children learn some basic Catholic prayers.
In our daily schedule we have plenty of opportunity for large and small group activities in Math and manipulatives, Literacy with writing, reading and listening, and Science exploration. We use a comprehensive preschool program called Opening the World of Learning (OWLS) that contains activities for all content areas. We enhance this with other programs that develop learning in all other areas.
Because it is hard to actually “test” little ones, we observe and collect information for each child. Then as a guide, we use the Illinois Early Learning Standards to assess this data. These standards give us examples and a framework to work with. It helps us discover what each child knows. It also helps us plan what to teach next.
We stress letter and number recognition. We work on developing pre-reading skills such as rhyming and letter sounds, listening and retelling stories; math skills such as sorting, patterning and positional words. Part of our curriculum is learning their full name, age, address, phone number, and birthday, also, counting to at least 30, and writing their own name.
Other areas we work on are: sitting still for longer periods of time, following directions, and sharing with other children. We concentrate on colors, numbers, shapes and several different themes throughout the year.
During the year we also go on Field Trips. We have taken the children to Oakdale for a Preschool Nature walk and program and to the Children’s Theater at Highland Community College. Every year we visit Parkview Nursing Center at Halloween to entertain and play bingo with some of the residents. Another Field Trip at the end of the year is to experience a day in kindergarten.
We hold classroom parties for Halloween, and Valentine’s Day. This year we portrayed Native Americans and celebrated Thanksgiving by having a feast with our Kindergarten "Pilgrims". We also celebrate Jesus’ birth with a Birthday Party for Jesus and a program for our families and friends. We have an annual Pajama Day in February. We also join in with many special days that the Elementary students engage in.
At the end of the year we hold a graduation ceremony for the children going on to Kindergarten. Then finally we with end our school year with a fun day at Bidwell Park to celebrate with our preschoolers, their siblings and parents.
