Pre-Kindergarten (4 – 5 year old)
Click here to view the daily Pre-Kindergarten schedule.
We believe that the best way to prepare for success in kindergarten is to provide a pre-school environment where children feel safe, happy, and inspired to learn. Providing consistent, loving care in an educationally appropriate environment enables children to take full advantage of these early learning opportunities.
Our teachers’ combination of years of experience and training in the field of early education enable them to provide a curriculum that allows the children to actively participate in choosing the ideas in which to build the curriculum around. We believe that children thrive when they have opportunities to make choices in their learning. Our teachers facilitate children’s choices within a carefully planned environment. This will enhance your child’s self-esteem when their ideas are valued by our teachers.
Pre-Kindergarten Classroom
The teachers want to instill a love of reading and expand your child’s vocabulary. We like to read to your child daily and each week we learn a new Book of the Week which allows each child to recognize new words and increase memorization skills. By providing an accepting, encouraging, and stimulating environment, we foster a strong self-image and positive attitude toward writing and reading in children .
Our writing area is stocked with plenty of paper, pencils, markers, and crayons so they are available for the children to choose whenever they want to practice writing. They may practice writing their name, make a sign for their new store, or try writing a new letter. The teachers understand that each child is at their own developmental stage of writing. Our children move from scribbling , to random alphabet letters, and then practice writing words. We believe that learning the names of alphabet letters is best done when it is meaningful to your child.
In our computer center, our children have opportunities to work independently of adults with fun software games. Since children learn by doing the software we choose, it allows your child to explore concepts, determine the pace, and the direction of their experience.
To create opportunities to learn math, our teachers use a variety of material including board games, pattern blocks, and collections of objects that give children opportunities to recognize calendar, numbers and build math skills.
We have fun learning science concepts such as playing in the mud, discovering the worms, or observing the ant hill. When we plant our garden in the summer we like to measure the plants and predict how long it takes to grow. The children bring in items from outdoors to share in our classroom discovery center for observation and learning. Our curriculum likes to stimulate a young child’s natural curiosity to explore new things and take a real interest in the science curriculum that is available in the world around them.
Our children act out roles familiar to them in our dramatic play area. Sometimes the children focus on their home experiences and pretend to cook and care for younger children. The teachers encourage make believe by setting up a grocery store, doctor’s office, bakery, or vet’s office. Through dramatic play our children learn cooperation skills, improve their language, and develop problem-solving abilities.
To encourage your child’s artistic talents, our teachers provide an assortment of art materials that children may choose from to make their own unique creations. The art center includes scissors, paint, playdough, glue, tape, magazines, and a variety of other materials from which to choose. Drawing and painting prepare our children for writing in the later years.
In our program we introduce group games like Duck, Duck, Goose to develop their large motor skills as well as their hand-eye coordination. Your child will develop social skills while taking turns and problem solving.
We like to individualize the curriculum to meet each child’s needs. Our teachers like to ask open-ended questions to give us an insight as to what the child is thinking. This allows our staff to understand what the child is thinking and her/his particular interests.
We guide children’s behavior in ways that show respect and help them feel good about themselves.
