Carmel Preschool at St. Peter's UCC Church

We offer a quality educational experience for young children ages 2 to 5 years old.

St. Peter’s Preschool program embraces the philosophy that children learn best through play. We are focused on providing a developmental curriculum that is consistent with the highest standards of early childhood education. We believe our role as teachers is to provide a fun and safe learning environment with the child’s growth and development in mind so that the foundation of learning is established.

The foundation of learning is accomplished by:

Participation in activities to develop gross and fine motor skills
Offering many opportunities for children to express themselves creatively through music, art and dramatic play
Allowing preschool children to explore and interact with their environment
Encouraging children to interact and cooperate with other children and teachers

Thank you for your interest in St. Peter’s Preschool. To schedule a tour, please contact Lori Jannsen, Preschool Director at preschooldirector@stpeterscarmel.org or 317-846-6860. Tours are scheduled Monday-Friday between 9:30-11:00 AM.

St. Peter's Preschool is Peanut-Free.

Goals:

Reading and Writing

Enjoys listening to stories, rhymes and finger plays

Introduction to letters in name

Introduction to the concepts of print

Responds to and hears sounds through rhythmic activities and movement

Begins to understand the meaning of new words

Begin to distinguish print from pictures

Begin to follow simple directions

Communication

Begins to attend to speakers, stories, poems and songs

Begins to speak clearly and understandably to express ideas, feeling and needs

Begin to follow simple oral directions

Demonstrates awareness of the outcomes of one’s own choices

Math

Introduction to colors

Introduction to identifying and naming numerals

Introduction to two dimensional shapes

Art and Music

Participates in group singing

Participates in art activities

Social and Emotional

Separates easily from parents

Obtain things they want in socially acceptable ways

Demonstrate cooperative behaviors

Interact and respond to guidance and assistance in socially accepted ways

Demonstrate an understanding of the specific roles and responsibilities within a group. (e.g., picking up toys)

Goals:

Reading

Recognize and name some letters

Identify matching sounds

Identify own name in print

Demonstrate or orally communicate position and directional words. (inside, outside, over, under…)

Name common objects

Hold books right side up, know that people read pages from front to back, top to bottom and read words from left to right

Responds to oral reading by commenting or questioning

Participates in shared reading of repetitious or predictable text

Writing

Play at writing from top to bottom, horizontal rows as format

Print letters of own name and other meaningful words with assistance

Goals:

Reading

Identify matching sounds and recognize rhymes in familiar stories, poems, songs and words

Begin to recognize sounds of letters and the sound in words

Recognize and name upper and lower case letters in addition to those in their name

Recognize familiar words in environmental print

Demonstrate or orally communicate position and directional words (inside, outside, in front of and behind)

Recognizes likes and differences in objects and pictures

Holds books upright, know that people read from front to back, top to bottom and left to right

Predict what might happen next during reading of the text

Answer questions to demonstrate comprehension

Respond to oral reading by commenting or questioning

Communication

Attend to speakers, stories, poems and songs

Follow simple oral directions

Speak clearly and understandably to express ideas, feelings and needs

Initiate conversations without interruptions

Knows parents’ names, address and phone number

Math

Count to 20 in the context of daily activities

Identify and name numerals 0-10

Identify penny, nickel, dime and quarter

Identify, name, create and describe common two-dimensional shapes. (circles, triangles, rectangles and squares)

Understands the concepts (size, heavy, light, over, under, etc.)

Writing

Generate ideas for a story or shred writing with assistance

Play at writing from top to bottom, horizontal rows as format

Print letter of own name and other meaningful words with assistance

Social and Emotional

Demonstrates self-confidence and willingly tries new things.Follows classroom rules and routines

Transitions between activities

Demonstrates cooperative behaviors, such as taking turns, sharing, comforting and compromising

Stays on task

Respects authority

Uses self-control

Fine Motor

Uses mature pencil grip

Draws a person (includes: head, trunk, arms, legs, eyes, mouth, nose, hands and feet)

Works puzzles

Uses scissors to cut straight and curved lines

Gross Motor

Can stand on one foot for 5 seconds

Hops on right and left foot

Walks on balance beam heel to toe

Catches a ball

Climbs alternating feet

Music and Art

Participates during group singing

Responds to rhythmic activities

Can identify colors

Participates in art activities

Kindergarten readiness is the key to our Older 4/5-year-old program. Students will continue to master the core content needed to be emergent in literacy, develop number sense and other basic skills. These young learners will also be exposed to additional conceptual ideas expanding their knowledge through group learning and guided experimentation. These indicators describe the knowledge and skills that serve as the foundation for meaningful early learning experiences. They are aligned with the Carmel Clay Schools Kindergarten Standards and describe essential concepts and skills for young learners.

Read teachers' bios

St Peter's preschool teachers and assistants have a natural love and affinity for early childhood education. Every teacher in the 3-Year-Old Program and 4-5 Year-Old Program has a bachelor's degree in elementary or early childhood education. Our Parent's Time Out teachers (two-year-olds) have over 13 years of experience teaching this age group.

All of our teachers and assistants are devoted to St. Peter's Preschool philosophy, developed over 30 years ago: Children are unique individuals who deserve a loving, secure environment that promotes a sense of wonder and discovery in learning.

Amanda Harris is the teacher for one of our MW 2’s Classes.
Amanda graduated from Ball State University and is also a Certified Yoga Instructor through Yoga Alliance. After staying at home with her littles ones and dipping her toe into teaching at St. Peter’s in 2017, she realized how rewarding it is to teach younger children and is currently pursuing her master's in teaching at Marian University. Amanda and her husband Robert have two daughters who are St. Peter’s Preschool Alumni. She saw what a wonderful sense of community and support the staff at St. Peter’s added to her daughters’ lives, and she wanted to be a part of it. You may find her hosting spontaneous dance parties, building forts, and creating art projects with her girls. In her downtime, she enjoys cooking, going to art exhibits, and spending time with her family and friends.

"The teachers at St. Peter's Preschool not only give the kids a guidance of self-confidence and a social environment, but academically the kids are prepared for Kindergarten. We've been with St. Peter's for six years and my two older boys still talk about how much they miss the teachers they had. Not only did my children have wonderful teachers but we – as a family – have met other families that have become such great friends."

- Parent of two preschool alumni and a currently enrolled 4-year-old

"St. Peter's provides a positive learning atmosphere, a well-rounded curriculum and a fabulous forum for children to learn social and classroom skills. But most importantly, my daughter loves her teachers and loves going to St. Peter's every day!"

- Parent of a 5-year-old

"St. Peter's Preschool is truly a little gem and our family feels blessed to have found it. It provides my children with a fun-filled education that they will treasure for the rest of their lives, and provides me with the reassurance of knowing that I have provided the very best preschool education for my children. The preschool is in a safe and fun environment (a true home from home) and amongst teachers and staff that are genuinely talented, kind and nurturing.

I could not rate this preschool any higher. It is simply outstanding and I feel a huge debt of gratitude to St Peter's for helping my children adjust so well to life in a new country away from close friends and family. The ease with which they settled in to our new life here truly is testament to the nurturing, caring environment and high caliber of the teaching staff."

- Parent of a preschool alumni and a currently enrolled 4-year-old

Goals:

Read teachers' bios

Goals:

Goals:

Age 4 1/2 by September 1

Goals:

Our teachers love teaching this age group!

Read what parents have to say about St. Peter's Preschool

2021-2022 School Year Calendar