Curriculum

In keeping with the Diocesan Schools standards, the preschool curriculum is based upon the philosophy of The Creative Curriculum. This is a hands-on approach to learning where the classroom is designed to promote learning through exploration. Learning centers are set up, and materials are provided to foster the growth and education of each child at their own developmental pace. A combination of teacher-directed and child-selected activities are offered within a daily framework and schedule to ensure that your child’s self-esteem is fostered on a daily basis in a risk-free nurturing environment.

Using an integrated thematic approach, weekly themes and daily activities are provided to help foster a Catholic identity, social and emotional development, physical development, cognitive skills, and creativity. In preparation for more formal education, language development, reading readiness, math concepts, and problem solving skills are explored, built upon, and developed to meet the developmental level of each child. We will also be utilizing the Handwriting Without Tears program and Scholastic's Weekly Readers in our 4 year old classrooms to better prepare them for kindergarten. In addition, our 4 year old classes will be using MacMillan/McGraw-Hill's Treasures curriculum for Language Arts. All classes will be introduced to Spanish (via conversation, songs, picture books, and visual/manipulative aids) on a weekly basis. Music, Art, and Physical Education are also incorporated into our program on a daily basis.

Basic Catholic values are intertwined with our program throughout each day. All classes begin and end with prayer, both traditional Catholic prayers as well as personal prayers. In addition, children three years of age and older, are provided with a weekly take-home religious newsletter, Seeds, which pertains to the Liturgy of the week in a format that is age-appropriate. We would also like to invite you to attend our monthly Courtyard Prayers with your child, in which we will gather as a faith based community to show our thanks to God for all of his blessings. The dates can be found in your monthly calendar. In addition, our students will visit OLJ church for prayer, religious teachings, and Eucharistic Adoration.

Stewardship is Discipleship will be another component of your child’s spiritual education. In this program, we hope to assist you in educating your child on the importance of what it really means to be a disciple of God, and to serve and love one another. We will strive to help your child become aware of his/her unique place in God's heart, by teaching life-long skills based on respect, appreciation for multi-cultural diversity, and civic responsibility. With your assistance, we will make available opportunities for your child to practice stewardship within Our Lady of Joy Parish, his/her family, and our faith-based community.

Activities Although we do not go on field trips, we do believe that it is important to expose children to a variety of interesting learning experiences. We accomplish this by bringing in resources from our community, such as Stargazing for Everyone (a life-size planetarium), the Arizona Science Center, and the local Fire Department to name a few. We also have numerous family functions where we meet as a faith-based community such as a Pizza Party, Beautification Week, Thanksgiving Feast, Christmas Program with a Birthday Party for Jesus, Golf Fundraiser, Breakfast with Dad, Muffin's with Mom(along with a special Coronation for Mary ceremony,) and an end of the year Spring Fling.