Preschool

Preparation is the key to a more thriving educational experience. Our Pre-School Program is developed to be child-centered and allows your child to be prepared for their Kindergarten Education.

Our Pre-School Program offers the following features:

• Learning through play
• Daily group involvement
• Unleashing their creativity
• Promoting awareness
• Basic counting and numbers
• Knowing sounds and shapes

A child’s feeling of independence and social interaction with others is what the preschool classroom is all about. Our program revolves around the children learning to help themselves and getting along with others. During the course of the day, children are encouraged to make choices for themselves, cooperate with others as well as listen and follow directions. During the course of the program the classroom teachers lead the children in small and large group activities, such as movement, read-a-loud stories, circle time and art activities. The children are encouraged to make friends, share and communicate with their classmates. The children are also prompted to use the bathroom on their own, although assistance is given if necessary.

In preparation for Pre-K, preschoolers work on their hand eye coordination, fine motor skills, colors, shapes and numbers. Teacher have multiple opportunities to work individualize as well as work as a group.

The children are now establishing a more definite sense of themselves in relation to to others. They are becoming more verbal and autonomous, and the value of group play comes into clear focus. To assist in this discovery process, classrooms are divided into different centers so that each child can explore a variety of opportunities for learning. We believe that much of what preschool children learn will come from active play.
Your preschooler’s day will consist of indoor playtime, outside playtime, teacher directed activities, naptime and mealtimes. We will cover skills and concepts with preschoolers, so they are well prepared for kindergarten. The following will be incorporated into our curriculum for preschool:

Unit Areas

• Circle Time, Socialization Readiness
• Academic Enrichment, Reading Readiness, Number Concepts, Pre-Writing Skills
• Music and Rhymes
• Movement in Dance and Exercise
• Small Muscle Play (Puzzles, Books)
• Large Muscle Play
• Arts and Crafts
• Story Time
• Creative and Dramatic Play

Items You Will Need

• At least two extra outfits – Including pants or shorts, shirts, and socks
• At least one blanket – To be taken home on Fridays to be washed
• At least two crib sheets – To be taken home on Fridays to be washed
• child safe scissors
• 12-24 pack crayons
• pencil box
• water bottle
• Googly eyes
• Play dough
• stick glue
• backpack
• 2 inch mat
• Several family pictures
• Colored pencils
• Markers (pack of 6)
• Dry-erase markers (pack of 3)
• 1 ream of copy pape

Developmental Milestones for Preschoolers (3-4 Year Olds)
As we discussed on the developmental milestones main page, children develop in specific ways but at their own pace. Some of your young preschoolers may still be developing their older toddler skills or already be developing their PreK skills!

The list below, although not exhaustive, shows the key abilities and processes that can be reasonably expect from a 3-4 year old in seven developmental areas.

Social Development

• Enjoys singing and doing fingerplays with others.
• Greets familiar people.
• Engages in simple group games.
• Helps with clean-up activities.
• Takes turns.
• Gives attention to stories for 10 minutes.
• Plays interactive games.
• Plays with peers with minimal conflict.
• Interacts with peers in socially appropriate manner most of the time.
• Interacts with adults in a cooperative, socially approprite manner most of the time.
• Asks permission to use items belonging to others with minimal reminders.

Cognitive Development

• Draws faces.
• Makes random marks on paper.
• Makes controlled scribbles on paper.
• Makes basic shapes.
• Combines circles and/or squares with crossed lines.
• Makes suns, animals, trees, flowers.
• Can sort by two different colors.
• Understands three prepositions (from, about, with, etc.)
• Recalls familiar objects.
• Counts to five by rote.
• Classifies objects by categories.
• Can match identical pictures.
• Can select the different object from combination of 2 alike and 1 different.
• Counts 3 objects.
• Can match 2 colors.
• Knows own gender.

Emotional Development

• Able to recover from anger or temper tantrum and be cooperative.
• Separates from parent without reluctance.
• Verbalizes emotions he or she is feeling.
• Expresses displeasure with words rather than physical aggression.
• Maintains an appropriate, stable temperament most of the time.
• Beginning to differentiate between fact and fantasy.
• Recognizes emotions in others.

Physical Development: Large/Gross Motor Skills

• Jumps over obstacles when running.
• Jumps down from object 6″ to 8″ off the ground.
• Catches a 6 to 8 inch ball using arms.
• Balances on one foot for 4-5 seconds.
• Hops on one foot at least 2 times.
• Walks up and down stairs unassisted, alternating feet.
• Throws a ball over-handed and under-handed.

Physical Development: Small/Fine Motor Skills

• Draws or copies vertical and horizontal lines.
• Draw or copies a complete circle.
• Builds with blocks and other building toys.
• Strings 1″ beads.
• Cuts paper into two pieces with scissors.
• Draws or copies two lines that cross.
• Puts together 9-piece (or larger) puzzles.

Communication and Language Development

• Gives own firs and last name and age.
• When given a choice, names preferred object or activity.
• Begins asking purposeful questions.
• Uses complete sentences consistently.
• Tells of a simple experience.
• Sings a simple song.
• Asks a variety of questions using “who”, “what”, “where”, etc.
• Tells a story using pictures.

Creativity Development

• Assigns roles or takes assigned roles in pretend play.
• Takes on characteristics and actions of role play.
• Uses particular props during pretend play.
• Can pretend using imaginary objects.
• Uses language for creating and sustaining plots.
• Uses elaborate themes, ideas, details.

REMINDER
As with all milestones, remember that there can be a 6 to 8 month window with typical development. This means that children may exhibit skills 6 to 8 months before or after the age the skills are listed under.

Through our Pre-School Program, we can help your child to be prepared for a more systematic school system. For more information, call us at 941-807-1605.