Heritage Preschool

Educating the whole child

Pre-Kindergarten Program

Introduction & Overview
As your child’s teachers, our goal is to provide a structured and secure learning environment with plenty of hands-on activities. These activities will include individual, small group and large group situations which will meet the specific needs and interests of each child.

Units are developed weekly or biweekly and contain a combination of Mathematics, Reading, Science, Literature, Songs and Memorization and are all taught from a Biblically based Christian perspective.

INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT
Phonemic awareness: A letter of the alphabet is introduced each week, focusing on phonemic awareness - letter recognition, phonetic sound and introduction to application of sound. Mid-March the “Word Man” arrives encouraging students to read the words posted throughout the room and to spell them.

Story time: A story is read to them daily – this assures a development of comprehension, a love of reading, listening, and concentration on details.

Music: A new song is taught each week, and usually it is unit or theme related. This encourages music appreciation and develops memorization ability.

Academic Instruction: We begin with 8-10 minutes of thematic teaching, building to 15 minutes in January and 20+ minutes by the end of May. This fosters attentiveness, builds attention span and cognitive development of theme/unit being taught. All instruction is age and developmentally appropriate and focuses on the "joy of learning".

Numbers: Starting in September we daily use mental math, as we discuss the days of the week, and sing our "days of the week" song. In January, we will have a stronger emphasis on numbers, focusing on number recognition, as we discuss the months of the year and learn a song about the 12 months. We will also teach an introduction to patterning, sequencing, and seriation.

PreK geography: We will focus on several continents, the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and some countries. Our emphasis will be that each country has its own flag and its own language that is different from English. We will also focus on recognizing our country on a map, as well as gaining some knowledge of our state and a few others.

Science: We will discuss the following at an age appropriate level –

• Lifecycle of the butterfly, bird, frog, and tree
• Benefits of the sun and the moon, and an introduction to space
• Our need of the 5 senses and their use and applications
• Water – its use for man, animals and plants
• Safety and sports – sink and float; absorbent and non-absorbent

SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL
Work time (centers): The goal during this time is the development of cooperative play, which is an advanced level of play for this age. Play also fosters expression of needs and problems. By role modeling appropriate communication, even the very young child can learn to express their wants and needs appropriately.

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT
Outdoor time: Our goal is a minimum of 15 minutes of outdoors daily, except in the case of inclement weather.

Group activity: This is incorporated into the theme/unit, and a variety of methods will be used to slowly develop fine motor skills and gradually increase their difficulty.

Manipulatives: During center time we make use of an abundance and variety of manipulatives that help develop fine motor skills, as well as the intellect.

Snack time: The time for snack will be just before outdoor playtime. After the 2nd week of school, the child is expected to independently prepare and clean up his/her snack. We are available to help with difficult packages and juice boxes, etc. This is also a great time for socialization with other children and the teachers.

Music & Movement: Weekly we have Music & Movement which fosters gross motor development and helps to develop listening skills.

SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT
Chapel: Weekly the children will have chapel where they will sing songs and learn a Bible story with the children from the preschooler class.

An overarching atmosphere in the classroom, that God is sovereign over all and He loves each one.

WEEKLY SCHEDULE
Each day we follow the same schedule: Opening exercises, Work time (centers), story and group time, snack, and outdoor time. The length of time in each area is adjusted as needed to fit in Chapel, Music & Movement and other special activities, but each day the routine is the same. This helps students to know the passage of their time at school.

Weekly each student receives:
Computer time available, on non-special days
Music & Movement - 30 minutes. (It would be best for all students to wear pants and sneakers.)
Chapel time - 10 minutes singing & 10 minutes Bible story time on Knowing God and His Love for us.
Wrap up of academics learned through week, focusing on completed memorization of song, poem, and recollection of facts learned.

FYI:
November– Personal P/T Conference
March/April – A detailed written report & evaluation
May – Year-end Concert and Diploma Presentation