SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING
Using Responsive Classroom strategies, Early Childhood (EC) students learn how to be part of a group, express and manage feelings, increase awareness of the feelings of others, play cooperatively, build relationships with peers and teachers, accept limits, and take responsibility for their actions. Students participate and lead daily Morning Meeting, greet each other, and end the day with a Closing Circle.
Beginners curriculum
- Literacy Development
Beginners learn literacy skills by using the calendar, morning message, poems, rhymes, and storybooks to explore letter and word recognition and early comprehension skills. - Mathematics
Beginners develop number sense through a variety of math skills including counting, number recognition, number representation, shape and pattern recognition, directionality, sorting, and graphing. - Science
Beginners learn science by exploring the natural world using our 33-acre campus. While hiking our trails, they observe using their senses and begin to describe and investigate phenomena.
- Social Studies
Beginners explore social studies through discussions and stories about different families and holidays. Various cultures are explored throughout the year and we welcome students and family members to share their own cultural holidays. - Gross and Fine Motor Development
Beginners strengthen gross motor skills during PE class twice a week and during playground activities. They strengthen fine motor skills through a variety of mediums including playdough, puzzles, markers, crayons, paint, and scissors. They learn how to grasp and hold a pencil to write letters and draw shapes. - Music and Movement
Movement is incorporated in many activities throughout the day including during Morning Greeting and Calendar Meetings as well as during PE and music classes.
Pre-K Curriculum
Our program incorporates purposeful play and theme-related activities that center around the following areas of development:
- Literacy
Pre-K students use the Fundations curriculum to build pre-reading skills (phonemic awareness) and recognize sight words. They begin to expand their vocabulary through shared stories and develop critical thinking skills such as asking questions and problem solving during class lessons, discussions, and stories. - Mathematics
Pre-K students develop number sense through daily calendar activities (days of the week, month, year), graphing opportunities (vocabulary: more, less, most, least), making simple and complex patterns, sorting, and measuring. They explore mathematical concepts using math manipulatives. - Social Studies
Pre-K students explore social studies through themes that are designed to expose the students to a variety of cultures, lifestyles, family groups, and communities to increase their understanding of the world and their place in it.
- Science
Pre-K students learn science through various topics including lifeforms in the arctic, rainforest, and ocean. They participate in science experiments that develop their curiosity and critical thinking skills. They conduct daily weather observations and discussions and participate in regular nature walks on the 33-acre campus. Foundational science skills such as observation, hypothesis, cause and effect, data collection, and sharing results are embedded into the curriculum. - Art
Pre-K art is embedded in their daily experience. Students have access to a variety of art materials for free choice during Centers as well as the opportunity to participate in art projects that are curriculum-related. - Physical Education
Pre-K students attend scheduled P.E. classes and have recess daily, providing consistent opportunities to engage in physical activities that help develop their gross motor development as well as support their social-emotional growth.
