3-Year-Old Program

​In our 3-Year-Old Program, your child is our priority as we want him/her to love school, feel secure, grow as an individual and have fun! We are proud to provide you and your child with a class that is hands-on and age-appropriate and focuses on building independence, imagination, creativity, and socialization.

Three-year-olds are inquisitive, exploratory, and full of energy. Our class is designed to enhance these unique traits. Each session follows a similar routine in order for your child to feel at ease in the classroom. Our day begins with manipulative toys, which are designed to develop your child's fine motor skills or a brain starter which will introduce them to the letter or number we are working on that week. That is followed by Circle Time, which encompasses music and movement as well as whole group games, large number lines, alphabet matching, finger play, calendar, weather and other activities that help children expand motor and language skills. Circle Time is also a great opportunity to listen and pay attention to our teachers and friends as we share stories and express our feelings. Our Peace Builder program is part of our daily circle time where we recite our Peace Builder Pledge and talk about what it means to be a Peace Builder which encompasses qualities like being a good friend, having empathy, telling the truth, using kind words and making good choices. Every month, we have a school-wide Peace Builder activity that the children participate in, and we talk about how, even at a young age, each one of us can make a difference.

A letter of the week is introduced through hands-on, age-appropriate projects and through our "Handwriting Without Tears" program, which allows children to form letters through play and prepares their hands for writing. Projects are an important part of our learning and allow teachers to work one-on-one with each student to help them achieve their maximum potential. Projects may be letter related or of any other nature but are always the children's own work and every creation has a learning objective, whether it is something simple like learning how to hold scissors and cut properly or more advanced like working on counting or addition skills.

Each month, we introduce new and exciting themes into the classroom and incorporate fun dramatic play centers. One example of a popular dramatic play area is the grocery store where the children can play independently and take on roles such as the "grocer" who stocks the shelves, "the customer" who fills a shopping cart and purchases items or the "cashier" who rings up orders and accepts and returns payment. Dramatic play centers allow the children to work in a small group and develop a variety of skills including socialization, role-playing, literacy, math, problem-solving and negotiation. Other fun centers where we can work on these skills include the class library, art & drawing, blocks, science exploration, kitchen, dress-up, sand/water table, transportation and others. Some of the centers allow the children to work independently and others are teacher-directed.

Outdoor play is an important part of our curriculum too. We make great use of our playground where you can often find our class outside exploring, digging for "treasures" and just having fun! We also explore further out on the property and make use of the hill and trails that are available behind the barn. A favorite of the children is when we read the "3 Billy Goats Gruff" and then head down the hill to the trail where we can cross our own bridge! Our barn is another great place to travel to; we are sure to take advantage of "barn week" once a month when the barn is set up with activities and projects that we can enjoy there.

Our monthly calendar and daily message board enable families to keep updated on what is going on in class and are a good source for starting a conversation with your child about school. A home-school connection is vital for the children to be successful, so we work hard to keep this line of communication open at all times and offer many activities throughout the year for parents to get involved.

We pride ourselves on working as a team with our parents to make this a positive, happy and memorable experience. Your child will leave our class with a love of learning and a new-found confidence in their preschool skills.