Learning
through exploration,
discovery,
and
awareness of
God’s creation.

Saint Thomas More Happiness Preschool operates under the auspices of Saint Thomas More Roman Catholic Church.

The enrollment policy is non-sectarian, however preference is given to active, participating parishioners. Classes for three and four year olds are offered from September to May. The program is five day morning only and offers lunch bunch and a two week summer experience which brings us into mid-June.

Teachers are experienced and dedicated professionals who attend many workshops per year to stay current in the ever growing field of Early Childhood Development.

Enrollment options are as follows:

• Three Year Olds (Child must be three by Dec. 31st and potty trained)
  • Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, 9:00-11:45 am
  • Monday through Friday, 9:00-11:45 am
• Four Year Olds
  • Monday through Friday, 9:00-11:45 am
• Older Four Year Olds
  • Monday through Friday, 9:00-1:00 pm

Staff

Teachers are chosen for their training, educational background and experience in working with young children. The Saint Thomas More Happiness Preschool is fully licensed by the State of Connecticut.

Program

The children’s classroom is divided into learning centers in order to enable the children to move freely and choose their own activities. At certain times during the day the teachers will direct the children in meetings, arts and crafts, music and literature. Our playground is specifically designed for preschoolers and is situated in a large sand box. Each class has outdoor play every day, weather permitting.

In the event of rain or extremely cold temperatures our spacious gymnasium becomes our indoor play center, with gym mats, basketball, and various other preschool friendly toys to offer a wide selection of indoor play choices.

Curriculum

The Saint Thomas More Happiness Preschool works in close conjunction with the State of Connecticut’s Preschool Curricular Goals and Benchmarks. 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 their 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. Allowing 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 Preschool’s 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 God’s 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. Music and Gym and Yoga are implemented once per week.

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.