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Grace Lutheran Preschool and Kindergarten
We are an agency dedicated to assisting families in the education of their children by providing a relaxed and loving atmosphere where each child may grow spiritually, intellectually, emotionally, socially and physically. We believe the school experience should be a parent-teacher partnership, and we provide a wide variety of programs and activities that encourage your participation in the growth and development of your child.
Our philosophy is to offer love and acceptance to each and every child. We believe in focusing on the whole child as we enhance your child's spiritual and physical development, social and emotional.
When we say "Welcome to Grace Lutheran School," we are welcoming your family. During the year, we provide activities for your whole family to come and enjoy such as pot luck dinners, Christmas family party,. All school sings in worship services, our annual Community Fest in August, done with our church. Our classroom teachers invite you to volunteer in the classroom for special activities, holiday parties, to read to the children, and to drive on field trips. We also join our Sunday Kids Club (Sunday school) at our church for activities including Parent's Day Out (Christmas), Trunk or Treat (Halloween), Easter Egg Hunt, and Vacation Bible School (summer).
We also extend a welcome to Grace Lutheran Church. We are part of the ministry at Grace whether or not you have your own church home. I invite you to come and join us any Sunday for worship service. Our congregation, led by senior pastor Paul Cutler, is dedicated to loving, learning, and sharing the Word of God.
Our Religious Curriculum provides:
The most important part of our curriculum is bringing Jesus into the classroom. This is how we reinforce our belief in values and morals as we teach. We believe that this is the right time to reinforce caring for each other, working together, and treating each other with respect.
Daily Devotions - The VIP of the day sets an altar for the morning devotion, children sing, pray and share a "thought" about God.
Daily Bible Time - Forum includes a specific Bible Story, along with songs, prayers, and extended activities relevant to the bible story and the concept being taught.
Monthly Chapel Services - our Pastor who shares a short message that relates to their life and also the concepts being taught in the classroom leads this service. Our chapel offerings each month are donated to a service project the children are taught about. These include monetary donations given to charitable organizations as well as items such as food to the food pantry, or winter clothing for the homeless.
We also sponsor a Hop-a-Thon for either Leukemia or Muscular Dystrophy. This is held in conjunction with our celebration of Lutheran Schools Week. At this time the children gather together for a worship service.
Preschool Curriculum
Specific curriculum goals are outlined for each age group, and addressed through playtime and circle time activities. These include:
Lambs (3 year olds) Social Skills of communication, cooperation, and listening, personal skills such as dressing and packing up independently, academic skills pertaining to numeral recognition, counting, color and shape identification, and sorting and patterning, to name a few. Each week has a theme relating to the season, holiday, or academic goal. These themes are enriched in the classroom through music, songs, fingerplays, instruments, literature, stories, flannelboards, chalktalks, sensory, water, sand play-doh, art, fingerpaints, puppets, hats, give projects, crayon melting, record player art, to name just a few. We also add prop box centers to our classroom to provide opportunity for dramatic play such as fire-station, flower shop, grocery store, pet hospital, farm, beach, Christmas workshops, to name a few.
Butterflies and Pre-K (4 year olds) Upper and lower case letter and sound recognition, numeral recognition 1-20, counting beyond 20, graphing, sorting, patterning, and writing of numerals and letters, plus skills in tracing, matching, and sequencing. The children experience activities that help develop visual and auditory memory skills. Social skills for this age focus on independent problem solving, listening and following directions, staying on task, and working independently. In addition to themes being brought into the classroom, this class is rich with pre-kindergarten activities and also adds theme-related field trips to enhance the program.
Kindergarten (5 year olds) The Kindergarten curriculum is based on the Illinois State Learning Standards, so your child will be prepared for entrance into any of the schools he or she has the option of attending after graduating from Kindergarten.
Our literacy program is based on the 4 Blocks Reading Program. This program allows for every student to move forward academically no matter what stage of development they are currently at. It is structured around not only what children need to learn, but also around how children learn. Thus, the reading, writing, and phonics activities are multilevel activities.
Our math program is based upon the Everyday Mathematics Program from the University of Chicago. This program stresses developing readiness through hands-on activities, sharing ideas through discussion, establishing links between past experiences and explorations of new concepts, daily routines, and ongoing review throughout the year.
Themes will be used in out Kindergarten curriculum. Using themes allows us to teach skills and concepts in an integrated way. More importantly, new information can be introduced in a way that is meaningful to your child.
Grace Lutheran School is a Christian school and the staff believe in strong Christian values. Our religious curriculum provides for Daily Devotions, formal Bible time twice a week, and a monthly Chapel Service. Our chapel offerings each month are donated to a service project that the children are taught about. These include monetary donations given to charitable organizations as well as items for the food pantry and/or winter clothing for the homeless. We also sponsor a Hop-a-Thon for Leukemia and muscular dystrophy.
Our goals for your child:
- encouraging self-discovery and self-reliance
- encouraging your child to verbalize their feelings and develop their individual creativity
- Provide a caring, loving, and safe environment for your child to learn and grow
- provide opportunities to problem solve
- encourage your child to develop a sense of self and security
We love working with children and it shows!
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Grace Lutheran School
Grace Lutheran School is a fully certified Christian School and received National Lutheran School Accreditation in August of 1997. It is an auxiliary enterprise of Grace Lutheran Church and is licensed by, and under the jurisdiction of, the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.
Claire Peters, Director
(630) 289-3996 ext. 203
SavedByHim4Him@yahoo.com
Mission Statement
The mission of Grace Lutheran School is to speak, show and share the Gospel of Jesus Christ to all, and to equip and assist families in the growth of their children spiritually, academically, physically, socially, and emotionally so they become disciples for Christ.
Classes Offered
Lambs (3 year olds)
Butterflies (4 year olds)
Pre-Kindergarten (older 4 year olds)
Kindergarten (5 year olds)
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