CURRICULUM
At Bethany Lutheran, your child will learn “pre-skills” which lay the groundwork for the future. Our play-based curriculum, Mother Goose Time, is a themed curriculum that aligns with the Illinois Early Learning Standards and the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). Through playing, singing, and learning, your preschooler will gain skills that will ultimately help them learn to read, write, build their math and science skills, and become successful students. Also, our preschoolers learn “school readiness” skills, which help them understand the routines of school, how to work in groups, and how to be students.
Bethany’s Early Childhood classrooms are organized by centers or areas that are divided by different subjects and types of play. In our classrooms, you will find a reading area, arts and crafts center, sensory table, building and math toys, and an area for pretend play. As preschoolers move through the classroom and manipulate toys, puzzles, and shapes, they are developing skills from the different domains of learning (social/emotional, physical, language & literacy, math & reasoning, social studies development and creative development). The school day is structured with time for free play as well as teacher directed instruction.
During class we utilize the Handwriting Without Tears curriculum for learning upper case letters and numbers, and then move onto lower case letters. We follow the Heggerty Phonemic Awareness for teaching children to isolate sounds, blend and segment sounds, and manipulate sounds in spoken words. These daily activities allow students to develop essential reading and writing skills. We also use One in Christ to learn one Bible Story per week during our Jesus Time.
DAILY SCHEDULES
Each and every day, we have time to play outside (or in our beautiful gymnasium in the case of inclement weather), Jesus Time, time for free play, guided instruction, small group activities to build on academic skills, a time for crafts, snacks, and in the extended day, lunch and a rest time. We are busy and the day goes by quickly!
DRESS
Please send your child to school in clothes he/she is free to play in. Some of our play is messy and sometimes it requires running and climbing. Please take this into consideration when choosing clothes for your child. All children should wear non-skid shoes. Party shoes, cowboy boots, crocs, and some sandals can cause accidents during large motor play. We go outside every day. Be sure your child has clothes suited for the weather. Also, please label all of your child’s belongings. It can be tricky when we have boots, jackets, mittens, or backpacks that are the same. Please leave an extra change of clothes including underwear and socks in a gallon size ziplock bag in your child’s backpack. Although children should be potty trained, accidents do occur.
CLASS-TIMES
Class begins at 8:40 am. Please have your child to class on time. Early childhood doors are unlocked from 8:20 am until 8:45 am. Please be sure to take your child to the bathroom and have them wash their hands when you first bring them in the morning.
CUBBIES
Each student is assigned a cubbie in the hallway. Please hang backpacks and outerwear there. All children need to bring a full size backpack every day--lots of things will be coming home. It is helpful if you place all of the notes and projects found in your child’s cubbie at the start of the day in his/her backpack when you arrive every morning.
PARENT HELPERS
One of the ways you share in your child’s school experience is by being a parent helper. This is not required, but we love when parents are able to share in the joys of learning! We want to partner with you in your child’s education, and a parent volunteer is the perfect way to accomplish this. Maybe you’d like to come in on your child’s birthday, or for our Happy Birthday Jesus party. Either way, we welcome you to our school. We have very specific rules in place to keep all children safe, and so all parents must sign a document acknowledging that they’ve read the Volunteer Handbook and will abide by these regulations.
PARTIES
We have a few parties during the year, including a birthday party for Jesus in December and a Valentine‘s Day party in February. Room parents are in charge of organizing the parties, but all parents are invited to attend.