Utilizing the Creative Curriculum, we continue to develop and refine our students social/emotional skills to prepare them for kindergarten.  We work with our students encouraging increasing independence around the classroom and school environment.  This includes recognizing and managing their feelings, resolving disputes with peers, maintaining friendships while developing empathy and taking more responsibility for their own self-help skills.  This is done through a play-based, child-led philosophy that includes both small and large group activities.

Language and communication development is incorporated from the start to  finish of the day, as preschool students are frequently inquisitive and ask many questions about the world around them.  We encourage students to ask questions and initiate and extend conversations both with adults and peers.  Foundations of reading are also developed by frequently exposing our students to books and reading – encouraging print and phonological awareness and developing knowledge of the alphabet.  Children work on the foundations of writing by understanding that writing conveys meaning and beginning to write letters and string them together to write words and sentences.

To address our students’ Cognitive Development we inspire their curiosity of the world around them, support flexible problem solving skills, and encourage persistence when activities are challenging.  Students are asked to explore cause and effect, develop hypotheses, utilize comparative language, develop number sense, and develop self-expression and creativity in a variety of forms.  These skills are taught in play-based, child-led ways such as pretending to eat at a restaurant – reading and comparing prices while learning about nutrition, or pretending to be a zoo keeper – developing hypotheses about the animals’ weight and then measuring and comparing the results.

Both gross and fine motor skills continue to be addressed through natural occurring learning activities.  This includes active play – to refine coordination when moving and develop throwing, kicking and catching skills, and small manipulative and pre-writing activities to develop hand-eye coordination and use of tools for writing, drawing and cutting.