Mrs. Darla Sprague

Preschool

Darla grew up in Corunna, Michigan, the ninth of eleven children. Her family’s home was always full of children: siblings, friends, nieces, and nephews. After high school, Darla earned a degree in business administration before moving to the Traverse City area where she lived for 23 years. She adopted three children in a sibling group and realized that being around children and teaching them was her joy. She returned to college and earned a degree in Early Childhood Education. She worked for the Head Start Agency at various locations for over 20 years, teaching both Head Start and Early Head Start. She also taught preschool for the Byron School District. When she is not teaching, Darla can be found working in her flower gardens, hosting family dinners and tea parties, or watching one of her husband’s Senior Slow-pitch Softball games. Darla believes the foundation for learning in preschool is the development of social emotional skills in a positive learning environment. She is very excited to be teaching at St. Paul Catholic School that is known for its faith and academic achievements.

Preschool Curriculum

The preschool curriculum uses the Connect 4 Learning Curriculum. This curriculum helps children build skills in science, math, literacy, and social-emotional skills. Each day we have activities such as read-alouds, lessons to share new concepts, time to play in centers, small group teaching, and outdoor play. There are six teaching units: School and Friends, Environment, How Structures are Built, Museums, Gardening, and a review unit. Each lesson builds off the skills learned in the prior lesson. We also enhance our program with daily lessons from the Heggerty Phonological Awareness Curriculum. These lessons focus on word parts/sounds to build foundational literacy skills.