Academics
Early Childhood
Ages Two Through KindergartenEarly Childhood
At the Primary Grade Center, our youngest students step into a world built for discovery. From age two through kindergarten, children learn best through play, exploration, and the steady guidance of teachers who understand that the earliest years shape everything that follows.
Every Early Childhood classroom pairs a certified teacher with a trained teaching assistant, so each child receives the attention, encouragement, and care that build confidence. A multi-sensory, theme-based curriculum develops the whole child: motor skills, language, social-emotional growth, and a love of learning, within a loving Catholic community that knows each child by name.
Where the youngest Crusaders learn through play, wonder, and faith.
More Than a Day, a Foundation
Families who come to us from a daycare setting often notice the difference within a single visit. Here, play has purpose. Each day unfolds with intention, building language, motor skills, and social confidence through centers, music, art, and conversation.
Routine teaches responsibility. Circle time teaches listening. Friendships teach kindness. What looks like joyful play is, in fact, the careful work of getting ready for kindergarten and for everything that follows. Children leave each day a little more capable, a little more curious, and a little more themselves.
Routine teaches responsibility. Circle time teaches listening. Friendships teach kindness. What looks like joyful play is, in fact, the careful work of getting ready for kindergarten and for everything that follows. Children leave each day a little more capable, a little more curious, and a little more themselves.
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Preschool students practice early writing and fine-motor skills with hands-on trays.
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Three Pillars
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Learning Through Play
Thematic centers, music, art, and movement build motor skills, language, and the curiosity that carries into formal learning. -
Faith and Community
Prayer, the liturgical calendar, and daily kindness teach children that they belong to one another, to their teachers, and to the Church of St. Mary. -
Readiness That Lasts
Listening, routine, responsibility, and pre-reading skills develop step by step, so every child is ready for kindergarten and the years beyond.
A Three-Time National Blue Ribbon School
The first elementary school in the Archdiocese of Chicago to earn the honor three times.
Explore our honors and recognition.
Explore our honors and recognition.
See an Early Childhood Day
A look inside Early Childhood at the School of St. Mary.
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A Path That Grows With Your Child
Each program builds on the one before it, so readiness develops naturally, from first friendships in Little Angels to a confident start in Kindergarten.
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Little Angels
2-year-old Preschool -
Shining Saints
3-year-old Preschool -
Junior Kindergarten
4-year-old Preschool -
Kindergarten
Full-Day
Early Childhood at a Glance
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Location
Primary Grade Center · 900 West Everett Road, Lake Forest -
Ages Served
Two years through kindergarten -
Schedule Options
Half-day and full-day, with morning-only and multi-day choices by program
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Extended Day
Before and after school, 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. -
Specials
Spanish, music, art, library, and physical education -
Age Cutoff
Children must reach the program age by September 1st.
A Roman Catholic School Since 1917
To Learn, To Serve, To Lead
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