I am Mrs. Moira Cruz, and I am the lead teacher of the Early Fives class at St. Finbar School.  Ms. Dora Morales is the Early Fives Aide.  The Early Fives is a Pre-Kindergarten class started in the 2005-2006 school year at St. Finbar.  The class consists of approximately 12 to 18 students, and the program is 5 full days a week.  

In the classroom, I have created Learning Centers around the classroom.  They consist of Language Arts Center, Math Center, Puzzle Center, Science Center, Religion Center, Book Center, Writing Center, Dramatic Center, Building Center, and Fine Motor Skills Center.  The curriculum includes recognizing, writing, and counting numbers 0-10; recognizing and writing uppercase and lowercase letters of the alphabet; Letter of the Week program; scissor skills, recognizing and writing names; shapes; colors; Share Time; Fine Motor Skill development; Religion; and Arts & Crafts.

We use the “Stories of God’s Love” program and “Seeds” (weekly Gospel focus) for Religion lessons.  We use “God’s Rules” to reinforce acceptable social behavior.  Teaching the children social skills, ways to interact successfully and ways to communicate appropriately is an integral part of our Curriculum.  We pride ourselves on being well-behaved, responsible for our own actions and good “Friends of Jesus”.

 I have also added Guided Reading and Phonological Awareness to the Early Fives curriculum.  I have created a Letter of the Week program, where the students are immersed into learning a letter of the alphabet for a week.  The students complete projects and activities throughout the week in which they utilize multiple intelligences, such as Visual/Spatial, Verbal/Linguistic, Logical/Mathematical, Bodily/Kinesthetic, Musical/Rhythmic, Interpersonal, and Intrapersonal. We also use the “Happily Ever After” Program to teach print/literature awareness, listening skills, comprehension and to consolidate letter recognition. 

I also schedule Kidspace Workshops, Firefighter visits, Police Officer visits, etc. to teach the students Science and Social Studies material. This year the children have embarked on a number of fieldtrips outside of school.  These include Pierce College Farm and Pumpkin Patch, the local library and Fire Station, Pet Co, and Los Angeles Zoo.

Mrs. Lease teaches the Early Fives students Music twice a week.  They participate in the Christmas Program and International Day.  Coach Bernice teaches the class P.E. twice a week.  The students also attend Liturgical Music with Mr. Wooldridge, and attend whole school Mass once a month beginning in January of the academic year.

The Early Fives curriculum provides a well balanced, stimulating and happy environment for children to work, play, learn and grow!