THREES - FOURS - PRE-K

Moving onward and upward with their early childhood education and development, our Three’s class not only reinforces colors, shapes, numbers and letters, but adds the aspect of the calendar. Children practice the days of the week, months of the year, and discuss holidays and weather. They learn to recognize their first and last names written, as well as those of their friends, and with assistance they are able to trace, write letters and begin to write their first name! Much time is spent cultivating their motor skills through activities that involve cutting, gluing, buttoning, snapping, lacing beads with string, putting on and taking off shoes, socks and jackets and much more.

Since at this age children have moved from parallel play to preferring interactive play, the classroom is filled with toys that encourage creativity, stimulate dramatic/imaginative play, and influence positive peer relationships. Therefore, strong friendships are made at this age, vocabulary and communication skills are elevated, and a sense of community develops within the classroom. 

This class is designed for four-year-old’s who will start working  toward pre-k in order to get them ready for Kindergarden in the upcoming fall. It builds upon the components of the Three’s class but since children at this age are even more independent and have a longer attention span, we are able to pack much more into our Preschool time. Circle Time includes aspects of the calendar (i.e. days of the week/months of the year, and how to sound them out and spell them, the date, holidays etc.), seasons, weather, counting to 40, songs, The Pledge of Allegiance, and flash cards that reinforce letter, color, number and shape recognition. Arts and Crafts, books and songs are all selected according to the letter, number, and theme of the week.

Specific activities are designed to help the children develop their gross motor skills (dancing, musical chairs, leap frog, ball tossing games, dramatic play, outside time), as well as their fine motor skills (puzzles, printing their names, cutting, coloring, tracing, doing worksheets). A great importance is put on social and emotional development and the children learn to share, work and play with others, use good manners, take turns, listen, and communicate appropriately both verbally and non-verbally. 

At this level our classroom starts to resemble more of a traditional class. Our goal is to have the children fully prepared for the transition to Kindergarten in the fall. We focus on developing self-control and building positive social skills, as well as teaching responsibility for oneself and respect for people and things.

The Pre-K curriculum is also built around a letter and theme of the week, and we continue to build upon what has been taught throughout our entire program. Through Circle Time, Curriculum Worksheets, and Art Projects, we move from only being able to identify letters, numbers and shapes, to being able to recreate them on paper both in and out of context. This is an exciting time for the children, as pre-reading skills are taught and they are fine tuning their motor skills. Books with rhymes and repetition are read to assist with prediction skills, and hands-on manipulative are used to teach counting, sorting, recognition of patterns, addition and subtraction.