Pre Kindergarten

We are excited to provide your child with a fun, engaging, and hands-on Pre-Kindergarten experience. Our objective is to create a safe, healthy and nurturing environment where children come first and have the chance to grow developmentally, socially, physically and emotionally. We are confident that your child will leave our program with confidence, enthusiasm, and readiness for Kindergarten!

Instruction is delivered in many forms including small group experiences at centers, whole group and one-on-one. Individual instruction allows us to reach each child while teaching them the skills they need to feel confident. Having centers in the classroom is also important, as it allows the children to work in smaller groups and helps them develop their imagination and social skills. There are multiple centers offered on any given day, some of which are teacher directed and some that are independent, each one with a specific learning goal in mind. Some examples of our centers include art/painting, handwriting, science/nature, library/literacy and music appreciation. We also include a dramatic play area which changes monthly and offers exciting themes such as a flower shop, diner, campsite, medical center, pizza parlor and more!

Each month, in our Literacy program, the children work with groups of letters in non-alphabetical order as we focus on the phonetic sound rather than the letter names. This approach enables the children to learn and form simple words throughout the year. We have many activities, songs, projects, and games incorporated with each letter, allowing the children to enjoy mastering the letters and their sounds rather than just memorizing. We maintain a print-rich environment, and reading is an important and fun part of our day. With each step of our program, your child will become excited as they get closer to READING!

We learn to become "writers" using our "Handwriting Without Tears" program, which is a hands-on, fun way to motivate children to want to write while experiencing success. Your children will receive the fine motor foundation they need while learning the correct letter formation by using materials such as wooden pieces, play dough, magic slate boards, chalkboards and more. Journals are used throughout the year as a way for the children to express themselves. They begin simply as pictures and evolve throughout the school year into "kid-writing”.

Our math program is relevant to the children as we bring math concepts to life by using real world experiences. At this age, children grasp the concept of math best through hands-on activities and games. We focus on letting the children build their critical thinking skills by accentuating the math process rather than just the product. The children are actively involved in their lessons as they learn patterning, counting, measuring, sorting, investigating and more!

Science and nature are very important parts of our Pre-K curriculum. Young children are natural scientists and are eager to discover all they can about the world in which they live! We take full advantage of our nature trails and often take walks and stop to see, hear observe and draw the nature around us. You may find us outside feeding our farm animals, building caves to learn about hibernation, making bird feeders that we can then monitor and observe, or several other activities that the school grounds allow for. We are sure to take advantage of "barn week" where our barn is set up with activities and projects that we can enjoy there. Some of our favorite science projects include observing the metamorphosis of the butterfly, studying and recording results from our ladybug farm and watching the transformation of eggs hatching into chicks right in our very own classroom! Each month, we also have a real "scientist" from "What Matters for Kids" visit our classroom and conduct hands-on experiments with the children, teaching them different scientific processes each time.

Some other unique aspects of our program include our ongoing social studies units. In one of our Pre-K classes, we have the "Gingerbread Man Around the World" where the Gingerbread Man leaves the classroom at the start of the school year and journeys to many different countries, sending postcards from each one and telling us where he is and what it is like. The children then learn about each of these countries and have lots of fun activities associated with each one. Similar to this, but covering our own country, another Pre-K class hosts the program "Traveling the USA" where our friend "David the Gnome" takes a road trip around the country and gives us insight into many of the different states. The children receive letters from David with information about the state he has arrived at, and he sends them interesting things pertaining to that state, such as maple syrup from Vermont and apples from New York. The class enjoys many special activities from each place he "visits!" In all of our Pre-K classes, we offer some form of a unique exploration of Social Studies.

Music is a big part of our classroom experience, and it is incorporated each day with songs, dance, rhythm sticks and other instruments. Our Holiday Show and end of year Graduation performance are "must see" musical events! We have a music enrichment program in which guest professional musicians visit our Pre-K to introduce different musical instruments and to teach the children pitch and tone through fun songs and music.

​We also offer a Full-Day Pre-Kindergarten program that encompasses the same curriculum as the half day Pre-K but expands on ideas and themes through the added time. This class has the benefit of a SMART board to enhance learning in the classroom and offers Spanish class once a week and children's yoga every other week.

We have many fun and special days in all of our Pre-Kindergarten classes including Pre-K Together Days, Music Enrichment Guest Days, Fall Festival, the Polar Express trip, a Pajama Party, Mother's Day Tea, our annual Spring Class Trip, Fun Day and our amazing Graduation Performance!

We are confident that your child will thrive in our Pre-K program and will leave with a solid foundation, a love for learning and the confidence to carry them through their future educational endeavors.