The District 45 Early Childhood Program teaches the District’s youngest students the foundational skills necessary to be successful learners throughout their academic careers.

Our Preschool Program provides a continuum of services for students with special needs, and also provides preschool programming for children considered to be at-risk for learning due to financial or environmental factors present in their lives.
All of our classroom teachers are certified in early childhood and special education and have their English Language Learner certification. The program is also supported by a principal, school psychologist, social workers, parent coordinator, speech/language pathologist, occupational therapist and physical therapist.

District 45 utilizes The Creative Curriculum for Preschool (5th Edition) in our Early Childhood program. This curriculum focuses on the following areas of child development: physical, cognitive, social/emotional and language. Guidelines and standards have been developed indicating the content children should be exposed to by certain age levels.

• The Creative Curriculum for Preschool guides teachers in how to teach content from the following areas in ways that respect the development of preschool-age students.
• Literacy: vocabulary and language, phonological awareness, letters, words, print, comprehension, books, and other texts
• Mathematics: numbers, patterns and relationships, geometry and spatial awareness, measurement, and data collection, organization, and representation
• Science: the physical properties of objects, living things, and the earth and the environment
• Social Studies: how people live, work, get along with others, shape, and are shaped by their surroundings
• The Arts: dance, music, dramatic play, drawing, and painting
• Technology: tools and their basic operations and uses
• Process Skills: observing and exploring; problem-solving; and connecting, organizing, communicating, and representing information