Preschool
St. Helen’s Preschool believes that children learn through discovery in an interactive classroom. Our five star, Step up to Quality program strives to target math, science, social studies, language arts, social and emotional standards while turning the learning into a memorable experience. Our approach to maximize learning and growth is to serve as a team with our students, their families, and teachers. We believe in a strong home-to-school connection. In our program, communication is essential. Our highly qualified staff has daily communications, utilizes Class Dojo, weekly newsletters, and enrichment projects sent home. Staff also conferences with families twice a school year to discuss goals and student performance. Lessons are built around each child’s individual learning needs and the curriculum is built to prepare students to be confident in their skills for Kindergarten.
Our pre-k gives students the independence to discover how to manipulate their own learning while also integrating structure. Our learning centers include dramatic play, sensory, building center, writing center, art center, discovery of science center, math center, tabletop manipulatives, puzzles, gross motor space, and library. The daily schedule includes a provided breakfast, morning circle time, recess, small group lessons, large group lessons, read alouds, individual and partner reading, provided lunch, nap time, and a provided snack time. Specials such as gym, library, and group therapy are weekly.
St. Helen offers several different schedules for our preschool program:
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3 full day (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 7:50am to 2:50 pm)
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5 half day (7:50 am to 11 am)
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5 full day (7:50 am to 2:50 pm)
St Helen’s Preschool’s ratio of teacher to child is 1 to 10. Each class has 20 students with two staff members.
While academia is critical to our program, religion is equally of value. As a school, we use the curriculum, SEEDS, outlined by the Archdiocese of Cincinnati's Graded Course of Study. It includes topics such as the following:
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God is the Creator of the World
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Jesus helps us to know God's Love
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Identifying the Bible as a Special Book that we treat respectfully
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The Holy Family
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Liturgical gestures such as the of the sign of the cross
Daily prayer is in our schedule. We open the day with prayer and pray before meals. Students also share prayer requests.
Our program is diverse, which offers an inclusive and unique experience for all! Preschool celebrates diversity through adding cultural learning in our curriculum such as “around the world clothing.” We play and sing music in different languages as well. We celebrate holidays from around the world such as dia de los muertos and Persian New Year. In addition, we also celebrate Black History Month and Hispanic Heritage month. Students open their Thanksgiving feast with a full thematic unit on different Native American cultures. Students also participate in a “peace march” for MLK. We believe in the power of celebration.
Ms. Kelsie Rivera
Lead Preschool Teacher/Administrator
Ms. Diana Wolfe
Lead Preschool Teacher
Updated on September 17, 2023
