iii. pre-kindergarten program
Pre-Kindergarten Program LANGUAGE AND EARLY LITERACY DEVELOPMENT Through developmentally appropriate activities our program is designed to provide a solid foundation for language and literacy development in preschool children. The six pre-reading skills that we address are vocabulary, print awareness, letter knowledge, phonological awareness, print motivation, and narrative skills. In a print-rich environment, activities and instructional materials are provided for use in developing children’s language, cognitive, and early reading skills. Development of expressive and receptive language, including vocabulary, the contextual use of speech, syntax, and comprehension abilities, are fostered in the classrom. Conversational opportunities through Circle Time, Story Time, Learning Centers, and Transition Time activities promote vocabulary acquisition. Through direct instruction and a variety of multi-sensory activities, children learn the letters of the alphabet and their sounds. They are actively engaged in linguistic awareness games, such as songs, nursey rhymes, and rhythmic activities to help them develop phonemic awareness. Children enjoy listening to and discussing storybooks. Teachers’ daily reading aloud to children helps children develop an awareness of story structure, and facilitates oral language and vocabulary development. They begin to understand that print carries a message. Exposure to a variety of books develops background knowledge, as well as comprehension and book-use skills. Instructional Materials • • • • • • • • • • •
Alphabet activity mats “Phonemic Awareness in Young Children,” by Adams, Foorman, Lundberg, and Beeler Phonemic Awareness Match-a-Sound “Sounds Abounds,” by Catts and Vartiainen “HELP 1 Exercises for Language Processing,” by Lazzari and Peters “Handwriting Without Tears,” by Olson and Knagston “I Can,” McGraw-Hill Trade books Big books Various skill-based games Teacher-created materials
2013-2014 Lower School Program Guide
MATH Young children learn by doing. Hands-on, concrete experiences give children opportunities to experiment with and internalize basic math concepts. Working with manipulatives helps children move from the concrete to the pictorial to the abstract. The use of manipulatives is an integral part of the students’ mathematical development in the PreK classroom. Young children learn mathematics from their manipulation of objects and their discovery of relationships and patterns in their environments. As children build with blocks in the block corner, math is happening naturally. They are learning about classification, size and shape, symmetry, mapping, depth, width, height and length, number, part/whole relationships (fractions), measurement, volume, and area. The concepts that are integrated into the program include spatial relationships; classification; patterning; numbers to 30; one-to-one correspondence; counting/comparing; writing numbers 0-20; ordinal numbers; addition and subtraction – adding/subtracting concepts; fractions – part/whole, half; measurement – customery length/weight/capacity; graphs – pictorial graphing and interpreting; geometry – identifying/ comparing shapes, symmetry; time – calendar; problem solving – mental math, estimating, patterning/ sequencing, sorting/classifying. By creating an environment that allows children to participate in many activities we encourage the development of mathematical concepts. At circle time the children are actively engaged in class discussion. How many friends are here today? How many boys are here today? How many girls are here today? How many days have we been in school? If today is the May 15, what day will be next? Weather charts provide many opportunities for thinking mathematically. We count the number of sunny days, rainy days, cold days, warm days in the month. Did we have more rainy days or sunny days? The children learn to interpret graphs as we create other graphs of information, such as eye color, hair color, birth dates, and favorite kinds of apples.
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iii. pre-kindergarten program
The children play with pattern blocks and explore these shapes and their relationships. For example, they discover that a regular hexagon could be divided into two regular trapezoids. In order to further develop geometric understanding, the children work with spaces on geoboards and construct various shapes, and repeat and rearrange them. They create and duplicate patterns with beads, tiles, leaves, shapes, and numerous other materials. The children use a multiple of instruments to measure weight, volume, height, and temperature. Math is presented in a developmental sequence that allows children a natural transition from one concept to another.
Physical Science • Playing with Water – Children can explore floating and sinking with a variety of objects. • Painting with Tempera paints – Children observe how paint drips and runs, and how colors mix. • Playing with Blocks – Children learn about gravity, balance, and support as they build structures. • Experimenting with different weights in different positions on balance scales • Experimenting with sound using different materials • Exploring magnets –Children test which magnets will or will not be attracted by magnets. • Cooking – Children observe changes in matter (melting, expanding). • Weighing objects • Manipulating clay
Instructional Materials • • •
Math Manipulatives Singapore Math Curriculum Teacher Created Materials
SCIENCE Children are innately curious about the world in which they live, and our Science Program gives them insight into understanding the world around them. During these early years, children’s natural curiosity leads them to explore the environment by observing and manipulating common objects and materials – soil, rocks, leaves, trees, flowers, rain, snow, clouds, rainbows, sun, moon, and stars. Science for the Pre-Kindergarten child can be defined as opportunities for exploring, observing, discovering, predicting, and questioning. With guidance Teachers provide opportunities to continue children’s explorations in focused settings with other children. The activities are designed to engage children in questioning, predicting, attempting, exploring, creating, communicating, analyzing, reflecting and inferring. Our Pre-Kindergarten program focuses on life science, physical science and earth science.
2013-2014 Lower School Program Guide
Earth Science • Observing rain and snow; watching snow melt or water freezing or evaporating • Exploring the wind with kites, pinwheels, bubbles • Learning about air through experiments • Observing the changes in weather from day to day, season to season, and recording them on a chart Life Science • Observing the life cycles of insects that undergo significant metamorphic changes, such as butterflies • Studying plants – Children observe seeds before they are planted. Then plant them, and observe the changes as the plant grows, and learn the name and purposes of parts of plants and seeds. • Exploring our five senses: Sight, Sound, Taste, Smell, and Touch. These are the senses we use to explore the world around us. Instructional Materials • • •
Instant science trays Storybooks Teacher-created materials
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iii. pre-kindergarten program
ocial studies – socialization: s from self to others During the year, the children gain a new awareness of themselves as part of a larger group. They refine and develop their social skills by learning how to interact appropriately with their classmates at play and work. Activities foster a new appreciation for their families and personal relationships during a unit on families, which culminates with a “PreK Family Picnic.” Field trips to nearby places, such as a farm and a fire station, help the children gain a better understanding of people working in their community. Celebrating various holidays throughout the year, sampling different ethnic foods, or learning specific holiday songs help to develop a new appreciation for national, cultural, and religious diversity in their surrounding world. Instructional Materials • • •
Storybooks Teacher-created materials Campus and community environment
2013-2014 Lower School Program Guide
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