PREK I Program

3 year-old class

The PK1 program facilitates the emotional, social, cognitive and physical growth of children three years of age. Daily child-centered activities support the individual development of each child’s emotional growth, social and self help skills, as well as the academic areas of language arts, math, science and social studies. Teachers watch, listen, and ask questions that promote thought by the child. Children are taught how to think, not what to think. The classroom environment is designed to stimulate learning through active exploration and interaction with other children, adults and classroom materials.

Children learn through play! Cooperative activities and dramatic play enhance physical and social development, as children begin to give meaning to their experiences, to take responsibility for their own learning, use words to begin to express their feelings, and to become more sensitive to the feelings of others. Through play and active exploration, children begin to develop a love of books, language and reading. They work on developing fine motor and pre-writing skills. Children are beginning to construct important mathematical ideas and are developing ideas of science and social studies. In Pre-Kindergarten I, the children and teachers are always ready for new experiences, having fun and developing our natural curiosities and love of learning!

Language Arts

Children are immersed in an environment where oral and written communications are valued. Vocabularies grow as children acquire understanding of new words through their experiences. Early phonemic awareness is fostered through a variety of activities which utilize books, stories, rhymes, playing games with words and alliteration. Key concepts thoughtfully and purposefully focused on include:

• building vocabulary
• development of oral language skills
• phonemic awareness
• awareness of print
• letter sounds and letters
• comprehension
• love of books
• development of pre-writing skills

Math

Children learn math through real situations and developmentally appropriate games and activities where reasoning and problem solving are central to understanding. Key concepts covered are:

• number sense
• counting
• one-to-one correspondence
• sorting
• comparing
• measurement
• shapes
• patterning
• ordering
• mathematical language development within natural context

Children are encouraged to observe, question, collect information, communicate ideas, make connections and representation.

Science

The process of science is learned through active engagement in the world around them. Opportunities are provided for hypothesizing, predicting, observing, collecting data and formulating ideas and conclusions. The curriculum provides a balance among the three disciplines of life science, physical science and earth science.

Social Studies

Through exploration of family, school and community, children are able to organize and generate personal knowledge of how people live, work and get along with others. They also learn how to solve problems, individually and collectively, and how people shape and are shaped by their surroundings.