District 69 Pre-K

Gold Circle of Quality

Our Pre-K program is recognized by the State of Illinois as one of the highest quality early childhood programs in the state.

See our Gold Circle Award

Our Philosophy

The Pre-K program supports the development of the whole child and provides opportunities for learning which facilitate each child’s cognitive, emotional, social, and motor development.

We believe that children learn best through hands-on play based experiences and exploration. We believe that a secure and nurturing classroom creates a positive learning environment, which will stimulate each child’s growth and development.

Pre-K Curriculum & Assessment

Our play-based program is designed to nurture all aspects of your child’s development. Through a balance of structure and choice, your child will experience different areas of learning, including literacy/language, writing, math, science, and art. Equally important is the social emotional learning incorporated into every aspect of our preschool program. Imaginative play is encouraged, and children are guided in developing important skills such as making friends, sharing, communicating their needs, and identifying and responding to their feelings.

 

Pre-K uses Creative Curriculum as the core developmental curriculum and Second Step as our core social-emotional curriculum. Fundations is a supplemental curriculum implemented the second half of the school year to expose students to phonics instruction prior to entering kindergarten. Foundations, a schoolwide positive behavior support system, and strategies to support our English Language Learners, are also integrated into our everyday instruction. These instructional practices follow the guidelines of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and align to the Illinois Early Learning and Development Standards. 

TeachingStrategies GOLD® is an authentic, ongoing observational system for assessing children. It is based on 38 objectives for development and learning that include predictors of school success and are based on school readiness standards. Teachers and staff observe your child during everyday activities and document what they see and hear by taking notes, collecting samples of your child’s drawings and writing, taking photos, or video clips. The examples and evidence of what your child knows and can do are kept in an online portfolio that will be shared with parents/caregivers. This online portfolio is a secure place where only parents/caregivers, teachers, and administrators can access. The data collected as part of the portfolio is compared to research-based, widely held expectations for same-age peers. In addition, students are assessed using the Early Literacy (picture naming and rhyming) and Early Numeracy (counting with meaning) measures from Individual Growth and Development Indicators (IGDIs).