- We encourage the development of early reaching skills by offering children a literacy rich environment to learn, where age appropriate literacy skills are woven into every activity throughout the day. This includes letter recognition, phonological awareness (sound association), story comprehension, and vocabulary.
- Math is also included in daily activities whenever possible, teaching kids more than just memorization, and encouraging kids to understand the application of numbers in daily life. This includes number recognition, counting, early arithmetic, measuring, comparisons, matching sets, graphing, shapes, and geometry.
- Children are naturally curious about life and the way things work. Science experiments will be conducted in small and large group settings and will be incorporated into the exploration of our environment whenever possible. This includes introducing the scientific process and developing children's innate skills of observation, classification, and communication.
Fine Motor Development
- Fine motor skills include the development, coordination, and strengthening of the small muscles in the hands, includes hand/eye coordination. Activities to improve fine motor skills include beginning writing, cutting, puzzles, ties/snaps/zippers, stringing beads, and typing.
Gross Motor Development
- Gross motor skills include the development, coordination, and strengthening of the larger muscle groups. Activities to foster gross motor development include running, jumping, climbing, hopping on one foot, throwing, catching, and kicking a ball.
Spanish
- We will be learning basic Spanish vocabulary such as the numbers 1-20, the days of the week, commonly used words, objects around the house, and simple phrases.
Music, Dance, and Yoga
- Music and movement allow children to release energy, as well as work on memorization, patterning, and following directions. It also helps children to build confidence, express themselves, and grow healthy and strong. We will be incorporating simple songs, dancing, and basic yoga poses into our daily circle time.
Art
- Art allows children to creatively express themselves, and can often be a way for children to get centered, express emotions, and communicate. In addition to the many different and seasonal crafts we do as a large group there is also always an art center available to the children with plain white paper and crayons so that children may choose to draw at any time.
Computers
- We have a computer center open during free choice times with strictly restricted internet access to preschool aged websites such as Starfall.com and PBSkids.com. We also have an iPad with fun apps for kids such Teach Me Kindergarten and Preschool Monkey Lunchbox.