Preschool Roundtable Q & A
MCES Preschool Teachers, Administration & a Parent come together to answer your most important questions about our Preschool Programs. To join us for the 2020-2021 School Year or to ask additional questions, please contact Mrs. Kimberly Reynolds, our Director of Early Childhood at kreynolds@monroecatholicschools.com! 
Monroe Catholic Elementary Schools: High Quality Catholic Preschool Program
3 year / 4 year old Preschool Options 
5 days - full day;  Class: 7:45 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
3 days - full day;  Class: 7:45 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. 
5 days - half day;  Class: 7:45 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.

Additionally, MCES provides 3 year/4 year old Preschool latchkey BEFORE OR AFTER the full-day preschool class, through our preschool age latchkey program.  The preschool latchkey program is only available to students who are enrolled in our full-day Preschool program. 

 Social and Emotional Development - Early Learning Expectations:
  1. Children develop and exhibit a healthy sense of self.
  2. Children show increasing ability to regulate how they express their emotions.
  3. Children develop healthy relationships with other children and adults.

 Intellectual Development - Early Learning Expectations:
  1. Children explore with increasing understanding the physical characteristics and relationships of objects and happenings in their environment.
  2. Children represent what they understand about the world through actions, objects, and words.
  3. Children gain, organize, and use information in increasingly complex way.  
  4. Children move from solving problems through trial and error to beginning to use varied strategies, resources, and techniques to test out possibilities and find solutions. 
Language and Early Literacy Development - Early Learning Expectations:
  1. Children begin to understand written language read to them from a variety of meaningful materials, use reading-like behaviors, and make progress towards becoming conventional readers.
  2. Children begin to develop writing skills to communicate and express themselves effectively for a variety of purposes.
  3. Children develop abilities to express themselves clearly and communicate ideas to others. 
  4. Children grow in their capacity to use effective listening skills and understand what is said to them.
  5. Children begin to develop strategies that assist them in viewing a variety of multimedia materials effectively/critically.
  6. Children develop positive attitudes about themselves as literate beings; as readers, writers, speakers, and listeners.
  7. Children begin to understand that communication is diverse and that people communicate in a variety of ways.

 Creative Development - Early Learning Expectations:
  1. Children show how they feel, what they think, and what they are learning through experiences in the visual arts.
  2. Children show how they feel, what they think, and what they are learning through listening, participating in, and creating instrumental and vocal music experiences. 
  3. Children show how they feel, what they think, and what they are learning through movement experiences. 
  4. Children show how they feel, what they think, and what they are learning through dramatic play. 
  5. Children develop rich and rewarding aesthetic lives. 

Physical Development - Early Learning Expectations:
  1. Children increase their ability to understand and control their bodies and learn that regular physical activity can enhance their overall physical, social, and mental health.
  2. Children experience growth in gross motor development and use large muscles to improve a variety of gross motor skills in both structured and unstructured settings.
  3. Children experience growth in fine motor development and use small muscles to improve a variety of fine motor skills both in structured and unstructured settings.
  4. Children participate in activities that encourage self-motivation, emphasize cooperation, and minimize competition.

Health, Safety, and Nutrition - Early Learning Expectations:
  1. Children begin to have knowledge about and make age-appropriate healthy choices in daily life.
  2. Children recognize that they have a role in preventing accidents or potential emergencies.
  3. Children become aware of and begin to develop nutritional habits that contribute to good health. 

Early Learning in Mathematics - Early Learning Expectations:
  1. Children begin to develop processes and strategies for solving mathematical problems.
  2. Children begin to develop skills of comparing and classifying objects, relationships and events in their environment.
  3. Children begin to develop the ability to seek out and to recognize patterns in everyday life.
  4. Children begin to develop skills of sorting and organizing information and using information to make predictions and solve new problems.
  5. Children explore and discover simple ways to measure.
  6. Children can translate a problem or activity into a new form (e.g., a picture, diagram, model, symbol, or words) by applying emerging skills in representing, discussing, reading, writing, and listening.
  7. Children begin to develop an understanding of numbers and explore simple mathematical processes (operations) using concrete materials.
  8. Children build their visual thinking skills through explorations with shape and the spaces in their classrooms and neighborhoods.

Early Learning in Science - Early Learning Expectations:
  1. Children develop positive attitudes and gain knowledge about science through observation and active play. 
  2. Children show a beginning awareness of scientific knowledge related to living and nonliving things.
  3. Children show a beginning awareness of scientific knowledge related to the earth.

Early Learning in the Social Studies - Early Learning Expectations:
  1. Children begin to understand and interpret their relationship and place within their own environment.
  2. Children begin to recognize that many different influences shape people’s thinking and behavior.
  3. Children show growth in their understanding of the concept of time and begin to realize that they are a part of a history, which includes people, places, events, and stories about the present and the past.
  4. Children begin to learn about the reasons for rules and laws, the importance of a democratic process, and the responsibilities of being a member of a classroom, a family, and a community.
  5. Children increase their understanding about how basic economic concepts relate to their lives.
  6. Children increase their understanding of the relationship between people and their environment and begin to recognize the importance of taking care of the resources in their environment.

Early Skills in Using Technology - Early Learning Expectations:
  1. Children explore and use various types of technology tools.
  2. Children can name various components of computer systems and use various input devices.
  3. Children work cooperatively with others while using technology tools.
  4. Children demonstrate responsible handling of technology equipment.