Your child's light will shine bright at

St. Louis Preschool

Why Choose St. Louis Preschool?

More Than Just a Class

At St. Louis Preschool, we are more than just a class, we are a school family. St. Louis Preschool is a warm and loving place where every child is welcome, every child belongs, and our teachers are dedicated to helping each individual child reach their highest potential! Children learn best through play and hands-on experiences. St. Louis Preschool prides itself in educating the whole child: academically, spiritually, physically, socially, and emotionally.

Specials

Our Early Learners and Pre-K students enjoy special opportunities that expand their learning beyond the classroom.

Each week, students participate in Spanish with our St. Louis Spanish teacher, where they practice calendar routines, vocabulary, songs, and language skills while developing an appreciation for different cultures and communication.

Students also participate in gym, where they build gross motor skills, coordination, balance, strength, and confidence through movement activities.

In STEM class, children explore hands-on learning through science, technology, engineering, and math concepts while developing curiosity, problem-solving skills, creativity, and critical thinking.

Buddy Program

One of the things that makes St. Louis Preschool special is the meaningful connections our students build. Through our Buddy Program, Pre-K students are paired with a 4th grade buddy who becomes part of our classroom family. Buddies visit each month to read with students, help with projects, and share friendship, encouragement, and positive role modeling. This special partnership allows both our preschoolers and older students to learn, grow, and build lasting connections together.

Learning Centers

Children learn best through play, exploration, and hands-on experiences. At St. Louis Preschool, our learning centers are intentionally designed to support independence, creativity, problem-solving, and skill development. Centers are refreshed weekly to connect with our letters, themes, and classroom learning, giving children opportunities to explore, ask questions, and deepen their understanding.

Dramatic Play: Encourages imagination, creativity, empathy, communication, cooperation, and problem-solving through pretend play.

Block Center: Builds skills in shapes, spatial awareness, engineering, cause and effect, hand-eye coordination, and problem-solving.

Library Center: Develops early literacy skills through book handling, storytelling, print awareness, vocabulary, and comprehension.

Art Center: Strengthens fine motor skills while encouraging creativity, self-expression, and exploration of colors, textures, and designs.

Sensory Center: Supports learning through hands-on exploration while developing fine motor skills, observation, classification, and creative thinking.

Fine Motor/Writing Center: Builds hand strength, coordination, writing readiness, focus, persistence, and self-help skills.

ABC/Literacy Center: Reinforces letter recognition, sounds, vocabulary, and early reading skills through teacher-guided activities.

Math/Manipulatives Center: Strengthens counting, shapes, patterns, number sense, and problem-solving through hands-on practice.

Science Center: Encourages curiosity through observation, prediction, experimentation, vocabulary development, and discovery.

Small Groups

Literacy: Children learn uppercase and lowercase letters, letter sounds, sight words, rhyming, early reading skills, vocabulary, handwriting, and fine motor development through teacher-guided instruction.

Math: Students build number sense by counting, estimating, using one-to-one correspondence, exploring patterns, measurement, shapes, size comparison, and number writing.

Social-Emotional: Through teacher-guided lessons, children develop cooperation, sharing, turn-taking, self-advocacy, emotional awareness, and problem-solving skills while building positive relationships with peers.

Self-Regulation Practices

At St. Louis Preschool, we intentionally nurture children's social and emotional growth. Students learn to cooperate, take turns, share, advocate for themselves, identify and manage their emotions, and solve problems with peers. We use calming strategies, including breathing techniques, to help children regulate their emotions and prepare for learning.

Through classroom jobs, our "I Can Be Like Christ" expectations song, Kindness Coins, and daily routines, children build responsibility, confidence, kindness, and a strong sense of belonging within our classroom community.

Friendzy

Our Friendzy program provides a Biblical social-emotional and academic framework that helps children develop respect, confidence, problem-solving, communication, and friendship skills. Students learn to manage emotions, show empathy, build positive relationships, and make responsible decisions.

In our classroom, Friendzy includes:

Interactive read-alouds with dramatic play
Motor skill-building activities and games
Sign language
Friendzy memory verse songs
An animal mascot for each unit

Curriculum

Early Learning Matters (ELM Curriculum)

St. Louis Preschool uses the Early Learning Matters (ELM) Curriculum, an evidence-informed program designed to support the growth and development of children from birth to age five. ELM builds school readiness and lifelong learning skills through developmentally appropriate teaching strategies, combining teacher-guided instruction with child-led exploration. The curriculum aligns with the Indiana Early Learning Foundations and focuses on key early childhood foundation skills.

Science of Reading

At St. Louis Preschool, we use the Science of Reading approach to build a strong foundation in literacy. Children learn one letter each day through hands-on, visual, and auditory experiences using pictures, tactile materials, poems, and stories. The alphabet is reviewed daily, allowing children to connect letters with their sounds and build confidence in early reading and spelling.

Letter learning is integrated throughout religion, science, math, social studies, centers, and even snack time. As Pre-K students progress, they begin blending sounds to read simple CVC words, learn high-frequency sight words, and develop fine motor and handwriting skills, including writing their names, numbers, letters, and words to prepare for kindergarten.

✝️ Religion

At St. Louis Preschool, faith is woven into our daily learning through Friendzy and the Catholic Icing curriculum. Each lesson includes Bible stories, Scripture verses, and opportunities to learn about the saints and how we can follow their example.

We also use My First Hands-On Bible to engage young children ages 3–6 through interactive Bible stories, activities, prayers, illustrations, and Jesus Connection moments. These hands-on experiences help children build a strong foundation of faith while making meaningful connections to God’s Word.

Communications

Communication is an important part of the St. Louis Preschool community. Teachers partner with families by sharing weekly newsletters highlighting classroom learning, photos, and upcoming events through our communication platform. Emails and reminders are sent as needed, and parent-teacher conferences provide opportunities to discuss each child's growth and progress.

Expanding our World

We love helping our preschoolers explore the world around them! Our downtown location provides unique opportunities for walking field trips that extend learning beyond the classroom. Throughout the year, students visit places such as the fire station, police station, library, historical society, and other community locations. Each trip is thoughtfully planned to enrich our curriculum, inspire curiosity, and create meaningful, hands-on learning experiences.

Kindergarten Readiness

At St. Louis Preschool, we prepare children for a successful transition to kindergarten by building essential academic, social, and classroom skills. We work closely with our kindergarten teachers and follow Indiana Early Learning Foundations to ensure students are confident, prepared, and ready for their next step in learning.

Parent Testimonials

Click here to find our what families are saying about St. Louis Preschool

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