St. Thomas More Happiness Preschool

The Saint Thomas More Happiness Preschool works in close conjunction with the State of Connecticuts Preschool Curriculum Framework. Our curriculum focuses on exposing the children to learning possibilities. Due to the fact that the preschool years have such a broad developmental range, we strive to meet the needs of each child in our program. Exposure to letter, number, shape, and color recognition allows us to keep each child learning at his or her own rate and help refine skills that will have our students Kindergarten Ready.

Socialization with peers is one of the most important skills to develop at the preschool age. Through free-play in the classroom and on our playground, the children learn to interact appropriately with their peers, often forming friendships that last well beyond their high school years and college.

Unique to the Saint Thomas More Happiness Preschool is the use of our very special Alphabet Book in our fours program. The book allows the children to learn the sounds and recognize the letter and words beginning with that letter. For those who can write the letters, we encourage them to write. For those who have yet to develop that skill, imitation is often the driving force behind learning this skill.

Also unique to the program is the older fours personal book, which eases the children into reading and writing. We also have a basic addition math book which is Saint Thomas More Happiness Preschools own creation. The children learn at their own comfort level, and are most definitely kindergarten ready by the end of the older fours experience.

Also, in the three year old and four year old classes, we discuss important facets of our religion. The children in the three year old classes learn a snack time prayer and to bless themselves. They also visit the church and discuss Christmas and Easter. We talk about correct behavior in church and receive many friendly visits from our Pastor and Parochial Vicar. In the four year old program we use a religion book, Discovering Gods World. Each lesson is implemented thematically into our curriculum and further discussed at home.

Through our research in Early Childhood Development, we have discovered that children retain more information when it is taught to them in thematic units. Therefore, we implement the weekly reader for four year olds, the religion book, and the alphabet books in thematic units.

Through discussions, play, and preschool appropriate lessons, the children learn to sit and listen, raise their hands to ask or answer a question, develop fine and gross motor muscles, interact appropriately with teachers and peers, and, most importantly, have a positive first school experience.