Each week a new theme unit will be introduced. With that theme every class will read the same book, have the same story time activities, and the same craft. The craft will be adjusted according to each age groups abilities and readiness. We will also have a weekly nursery rhyme! Along with story time activities, a few Spanish words and Sign Language words will be introduced according to the theme that week.
In the INFANT ROOM, our goal is to keep them on their same schedule at home as best as we can. They may be more alert with the room's activities or they may be more calm and sleep throughout the day with the noise of the room. Some may be ready to learn to roll, sit, crawl or walk. We will work with each child individually. Each infant is different and adjusts to a "school" environment differently. We do promise to try and keep them on the schedule you provide!
In the TODDLER ROOM, we start sleeping on nap mats, eating at the table, learning to share and color, learning to sit for a small amount of circle time, learning to talk and repeat words and songs. The biggest goal in this classroom is sharing and learning to effectively communicate with our words. We will also work on rolling and throwing balls, catching and kicking balls, popping bubbles, dragging and pushing toys, squatting and jumping, and climbing and running. We will also work on potty training if this is something you are doing at home. They will also work on stacking blocks, using their grasp to hold a crayon, turn door knobs, paint, and using a spoon or fork.
In the TWO YEAR OLD ROOM, we are still working on using our words as well as sharing and being independent. This age group will start working on lifting and carrying objects, standing on our tip toes, walking up and down stairs, building towers, using containers to put objects in and emptying objects and make believe. We will also focus on their dominant writing hand and how to correctly hold a crayon, learning body parts, learning simple commands and instructions, and sorting. We will also focus more on shapes, colors, counting and learning the alphabet in circle time. We will also work on potty training if this is something you are doing at home.
In the THREE YEAR OLD ROOM, we will start learning how to take turns and show affection. We will continue to climb stairs, kick balls while running, play dramatic and make believe play, pedaling, and bending over. At this age, the children will master their grasp to hold a crayon or pencil. They will also work on drawing lines up and down and side to side, as well as, circular motions. We will also introduce scissors and begin the basic cutting skills. We will continue to work on following commands and learning instructions, sorting and matching objects by shape or color, completing puzzles, using clay or playdoh to make shapes, and using sentences. We will also learn how to sit in circle time for a bit longer, counting, colors, shapes, singing the alphabet, learning the first letter in their name, days of the week, months, and climate. We will also work on potty training if this is something you are doing at home.
In the FOUR YEAR OLD ROOM, we start focusing on letter and number recognition, how to write both letter and numbers correctly, and writing their name. We will help them practice kicking balls forward, throwing overhand, catching a bounced ball, skipping, marching, galloping and moving forward and backward with agility. They will start drawing shapes, drawing a person, using scissors a bit better, speaking clear enough for others to understand, understand the concept of counting, recalling parts of a story and problem solving, and learn the concept of same and different. We will also work on self-control and following multi-step directions.
In the PRE-KINDERGARTEN ROOM, we will work on all of these things throughout the school year in preparation for them starting Kindergarten. These things will be consistently talked about throughout the school day.
Social Skills - takes care of personal needs alone, understands and respects others personal property, chooses activities without help, plays and cooperates with other children, separates from family and caregivers with minimal stress, identifies and labels their own feelings, demonstrates confidence, responds to other childrens needs for help, anticipates risks and understands precautions, stands up for their rights, takes turns, participates in large and small group activities, knows and observes the rules and routines of the classroom, completes an activity, and understands and accepts consequences for wrong actions.
Creative Skills - engages in imaginative play with others, substitutes items and pretends when items or others are not there, works creatively with art materials and tools, thinks of new uses for familiar items, moves freely in response to music, uses simple musical instruments.
Language Arts - recognizes and responds to own name, understands and responds to directions, talks and listens in a large or small group, recognizes and names environmental sounds, differentiates different sounds, imitates and repeats simple rhythms, and begins to recognize some sounds that rhyme.
Speaking Skills - uses language to communicate desires, names objects rather than pointing, refers to self in the first person, gives a relevant answer when asked a question, asks simple questions using who, what, when, where and why, expresses ideas in complete sentences, uses past and tense, puts ideas and events in correct sequence, and participates in finger plays and songs.
Literacy Skills - recognizes name in print, names and recognizes colors, holds a book right-side up and begins to read at the front, develops an awareness to print (reads left to right, top to bottom and front to back), arranges picture story cards in sequential order, interprets pictures verbally, can dictate stories, identifies and matches identical items, identifies letters of the alphabet,
Mathematics - names basic geometric shapes, counts objects in a one-to-one correspondence, recognizes numbers, prints numbers, demonstrates relationships between a number of items and their numeral, compares items that are more, less or the same size, participates in measuring activities, participates in simple graphing, continues a simple pattern, and demonstrates knowledge of spatial relationships.
Science - develops an awareness for seasonal changes and weather conditions, observes plants and animals and knows about their care, names human body parts, uses their senses to explore, names facts about physical properties of objects, groups items according to their common properties, demonstrates a beginning awareness of the life cycle and participates in the scientific method with a teachers help.
Social Studies - shows curiosity about the world with their questions, gives personal information such as gender, age and name, names significant family members and begins to recognize different family structures, names hometown, identifies different school personnel, locates different places within the school building, can describe people's jobs and what they do to perform them, demonstrates an awareness of different cultures, demonstrates an awareness of technology, and demonstrates how people positively affect the environment.
Motor Skills - runs easily, stops quickly, walks up and down stairs unassisted, walks forward on a straight line or balance beam, jumps the distance of at least two feet, balances on one foot, attempts skipping, gallops, peddles and steers a tricycle, hops, crawls, rolls, bends, turns, claps and marches to music, responds appropriately to different tempos, catches a ball with two hands, tosses a ball to a partner overhand, and climbs on objects.
Fine Motor - grasps small objects with thumb and finger, uses common tools such as a hammer, mixer, spoon, fork, knife, controls a paint brush, manipulates scissors, turns objects with hands, uses an assortment of manipulative skills, completes age-appropriate puzzles, draws shapes, and uses muscles for self-help.
Thinking and Problem Solving - attempts to solve problems before asking for help, tries to find a solution when confronted with a problem, uses multiple methods when trying to get what they want, identifies like groups of objects, arranges items in graduated order, and identifies and names missing parts out of order.
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