Preschool Curriculum
Preschool children will experience learning through hands-on exploratory experiences, play experiences, and teacher directed large and small group experiences. Each day will include activities to emphasize language development, school readiness skills, social, emotional and spiritual development, concept development, and the development of fine and gross motor skills. Four Year Old /Young Five Year Old classes expand on these skills and further develop Kindergarten readiness skills.
 
 
Social / Emotional Development
Children will receive instruction in and practice the following social skills.
  • Using words to express a thought or need individually and in a group setting
  • Functioning in large and small group settings
  • Listening and following directions in large and small group settings.
  • The process of friendship
  • Sharing
  • Waiting for a turn
  • Waiting for the teacher’s attention
  • Recognizing and responding to authority figures
  • Accepting consequences of unacceptable behaviors
  • Listening to a story in a group setting without being distracted
  • Recognizing and accepting differences in children’s abilities, likes and dislikes, cultures, etc.
  • Dramatic play – acting out familiar roles
  • Reacting to frustration without physical aggressiveness
  • Taking care of their own bathroom needs
Spiritual Development / Bible
  • Children will be introduced to Bible stories from the Old and New Testaments.
  • Children will be introduced to the Biblical accounts of Christmas and Easter.
  • Children will be introduced to the following Bible concepts:
    • The Bible is God’s special book for us and contains all the important things
    • He wants us to know and to do.
    • The Bible is true.
    • God created the world in six days.
    • God loves and cares for us wherever we are.
    • God’s promises are true and can be counted on.
    • God’s miracles show His power.
    • God has a plan for us.
    • Jesus is God’s Son.
    • Jesus died and rose again to pay the penalty for our sin.
  • Children will learn songs relating to the Bible stories and God’s love and character.
  • Children will practice Christian Character Traits such as kindness, truthfulness, patience, self-control, gentleness, and joyfulness.
  • Children will learn Bible verses.
Intellectual Development / Pre-Reading (3 Year Old Classes)
  • Children will listen to stories in large and small groups as well as individually.
  • Children will practice independently listening to and following stories using picture books and pre-recorded tapes.
  • Children will be introduced to rhyme and the rhythm of language through songs, fingerplays, nursery rhymes, poems, and stories.
  • Children will learn songs and fingerplays relating to nursery rhymes, concepts, seasons, holidays and beginning alphabet awareness.
  • Children will re-tell stories in their own words and create their own stories.
  • Children will take part in dramatic play, acting out familiar roles with dress-up clothes.
  • Children will practice recognizing their name using capital and lower case letters.
  • Children will have the opportunity to practice writing their name at their own developmental level.
  • Children will explore letter recognition and phonetic sounds.
Intellectual Development / Pre-Reading (4 Year Old / Young 5 Year Old Classes)
  • Children will take part in and expand on pre-reading activities listed above for the three-year-old classes.
  • Children will sing and say the alphabet.
  • Children will learn songs, fingerplays, and poems relating to the alphabet.
  • Children will explore left to right progression.
  • Children will learn to identify both capital and lower case letters of the alphabet.
  • Children will be introduced to the phonetic sound of each letter of the alphabet.
  • Children will listen for and identify sounds in the initial position of words
  • Children will explore storytelling and story writing.
Intellectual Development / Pre-Math (3 Year Old Classes)
  • Children will count to 10 and beyond by rote.
  • Children will explore number identification.
  • Children will count up to 5 objects using one to one correspondence.
  • Children will sort items by size, color, or other properties.
  • Children will measure sizes and amounts through sand and water play.
  • Children will learn simple shapes (circle, square, triangle, rectangle, and diamond, oval).
  • Children will identify colors.
  • Children will be introduced to number sequence (What comes first, next, last).
  • Children will be introduced to the concepts of
    • full and empty
    • big and small
    • first and last
    • inside and outside
    • front and back
    • up and down
    • same and different
Intellectual Development / Pre-Math (4 Year Old / Young Five Year Old Classes)
  • Children will take part in and expand on the pre-math activities listed above for the three-year-old classes.
  • Children will count to 30 and beyond by rote.
  • Children will learn to identify the numbers 1-10.
  • Children will count up to 10 objects using one to one correspondence.
  • Children will be introduced to simple patterns (a-b-a-b-, etc.).
Intellectual Development / Computer
  • Children will be given the opportunity to practice eye/hand coordination, fine motor skills, and pre-reading and math skills using a variety of computer programs individually and in small groups.
Intellectual Development / Science and Social Studies
  • Children will be introduced to a wide variety of themes such as transportation, animals in the winter, seasons, holidays, nursery rhymes, colors, shapes, teddy bears, insects, pets, farm animals, and dinosaurs, all about me.
Physical Development / Fine Motor Skills
  • Children will learn the proper grip of scissors and practice cutting successfully along lines.
  • Children will practice writing their first name using crayons, markers, and pencils.
  • Children will practice coloring within lines.
  • Children will practice squeezing and controlling a glue bottle.
  • Children will practice fine motor movements and eye-hand coordination through a wide variety of manipulative activities.
    • playdough and other moldable materials
    • puzzles
    • legos
    • putting pegs in holes
    • stringing beads
    • tracing around patterns
    • tracing dots
    • sorting objects
    • sand and water play
    • picking up small objects
    • painting
    • computer/mouse related activities
    • copying letters onto their own paper (4-year-old classes)
Physical Development / Gross Motor Skills
Children will practice the following skills using a variety of equipment (balance beam, climber, slide, mats, teeter totter, rocking boat, hopscotch mat, parachute, balls, and outdoor playscape)
  • Jumping, hopping, and skipping
  • Balance on a balance beam
  • Hand and foot coordination on a ladder
  • Climbing up and down stairs using a railing
  • Using leg muscles and coordination in pushing up on a teeter totter
  • Climbing in and out
  • Hand coordination in pushing up and down
  • Walking on a line and in a line
  • Kicking and rolling a ball
  • Catching and throwing a large ball to another child or into a container
  • Creative body movements in response to music