What is the Sacrament of Holy Communion?

The Eucharist is "the source and summit of the Christian life." The other sacraments, and indeed all ecclesiastical ministries and works of the apostolate, are bound up with the Eucharist and are oriented toward it. For in the blessed Eucharist is contained the whole spiritual good of the Church, namely Christ himself, our Pasch.

The Eucharist is the efficacious sign and sublime cause of that communion in the divine life and that unity of the People of God by which the Church is kept in being. It is the culmination both of God's action sanctifying the world in Christ and of the worship men offer to Christ and through him to the Father in the Holy Spirit.
Finally, by the Eucharistic celebration we already unite ourselves with the heavenly liturgy and anticipate eternal life, when God will be all in all."
- Catechism of the Catholic Church paragraphs 1324-1326

The process of First Holy Communion preparation at St. John Paul II uses the methodology of the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd. 
Children come weekly to journey with their catechist in our specially prepared environment, called the atrium, to grow in relationship with Jesus through works and proclamations focused on the two pillars of Scripture and Liturgy.

Preparation at St. John Paul II is typically a two year commitment, beginning in 1st grade, and ending in the spring semester of 2nd grade.