What is our Preschool All About?

Our program strives to develop a child’s independence and is aimed at encouraging children’s creative abilities.  Through the use of carefully planned projects and activities we strive to develop listening skills, lengthen attention spans and foster social development. We use a variety of themes to help ‘spark’ the interest of all children and to keep learning fun.  Some of the “special days” we celebrate are: Sesame Street Week, Color Days,  Halloween and Christmas programs, Pow-Wow presentation, Valentine Party, Pajama Day, International Week and Meal, Safety Week, Nursery Rhyme week, Dental Health Day, Beach Day and End of the Year Celebration and Graduation….just to name a few.  Cooking experiences are offered once a month.  Children and parents attend the Apple Orchard in September and the farm in May. Projects in school prepare children for these fun field trips.

Daily sessions include projects, free play, and activities that develop large and small motor skills.  Projects are intended to help develop readiness skills in a variety of ways. Activities are changed daily to keep children’s interest and give them choices. Snack is served to the children daily. Add to that…. prayer, music, and literacy development and each day has been filled with lots to do.

Dramatic play is encouraged in the housekeeping area and through the use of puppets and dress-up clothes. Blocks, trucks, water and sand tables are some of the children’s favorite activities.  Science, math, social studies, language skills, story time or games may also be offered.

Daily prayer is used at the beginning of each class and before snack. Discussions of Jesus take place as situations occur. We continually discuss the importance of getting along with one another and sharing as Jesus would want us to. Weekly newsletters are sent home to parents that correspond with the readings at church. Lessons in these newsletters are also discussed in the classroom.

Our program is designed to prepare children academically for Kindergarten. Projects develop skills needed for pre-reading and pre-math development. Communication between teachers and parents allow us to track children’s progress and set expectations.

Learning through Block Play
Block play offers children the opportunity to explore math concepts. How many blocks will they need to build a tower as tall as their friend’s? Children learn about balance as they try to support large blocks with smaller ones and gain skill in classifying as they group their blocks according to size and shape.

Learning with Art Materials 
Pre-reading skills are developed as children work with art materials and make many choices. They visually discriminate between colors as they draw and paint, between shapes as they make collages and work with cut-outs, and between textures as they work with different kinds of materials.This ability to visually discriminate, is a skill children need in the early stages of reading in order to discriminate between letter forms.

Children are exercising the small muscles in their hands and fingers as they work with crayons, scissors, and paintbrushes. These fine motor skills prepare children to hold and control pencils when later forming letters and words.This is a great way to develop pre-writing skills.

 Art materials provide children with a safe way of expressing thoughts and feelings that they may not be prepared to verbalize and gives them the opportunity to use self-expression.

Learning with Picture Books
Pre-reading skills are developed as children experience picture books. Children begin to understand that the symbols we recognize as letters have meaning. They become familiar with the way letters are grouped together to form words, phrases, and sentences. As teachers share picture books with the children, they discover that sentences are read in a left-to-right pattern and that illustrations, as well as words, can be ‘read’ for meaning.

Children develop language skills as they talk about the contents of picture books. They are stimulated to use language to describe the people and events involved in the story. They learn to use language to retell a story in sequence and often describe their own experiences that may be related to those in the picture books.

Learning through Water Play
Basic science concepts are explored as children work at the water table. They are learning many things about the properties of water…it can be poured, absorbed, and measured. Children also have fun discovering the properties of objects:  do they sink or float in the water?

An understanding of basic math concepts begin to develop as preschoolers participate in water play. They may count the number of times it takes to fill up a container or measure the different amounts of water held by different containers.

Water play has a soothing effect on many children. The softness and movement of the water along with the repetitious activity of filling and pouring, help children to relax and relieves tension.

Learning through Outdoor Play
Just spend a little time at the park or playground where young children gather and listen to the chatter! As children climb, swing, run and slide, they are talking, using language to create rules, and singing rhymes to outdoor games. Outdoor play provides children with an easy opportunity to exercise their language skills. Children learn important lessons in sharing, negotiating, and creating rules and order as they play outdoors.

Learning through Dramatic Play
Dramatic play involves the use of different kind of props. Children develop an appreciation for the reading process as they interact with dramatic play props. Exposure to these different kinds of props helps children to understand how important reading is in their daily lives.

Dramatic play offers children safe avenues to explore their fears, angers, and anxieties. By role-playing and pretending they are given the opportunity to work through many of the issues they confront in their own lives.

Our preschool sessions have been planned with these goals in mind:

• The child will be helped to get along with others.
• The child will be introduced to many activities that develop large and small motor skills.
• The child will be helped to develop and widen speaking and listening language skills.
• Personal & Social Growth
  • make and carry out simple plans
  • learn to respect rights and properties of others
  • express their creativity
  • adjust well to new situations
  • develop a positive attitude about themselves and others
  • develop his/her independence
  • answer roll call
  • carry on a conversation
• Motor Skills
  • Activities:
    • jumping
    • hopping
    • all children attend a gym class once a week to help
    • small motor skills are developed with a variety of
      • writing/tracing
      • table activities
      • projects
      • playdough
    • taking pride in work
    • listening skills
    • accepting responsibility
• Readiness Skills
  • participating in group activities
  • identifying the 4 basic shapes
  • counting skills ; rote and object
  • knowing phone number
  • letter recognition; capital and small
  • visits to primary library to check out a book and listen to a story

          Your child will be given the opportunity to use a variety of materials, to express himself/herself with them, and to work and share with others.