Threes Program
For many of our youngest students, this is their first exposure to a classroom setting. For this reason, one of our goals is to help them become comfortable with classroom routines such as lining up, listening during circle time, taking turns talking in a group discussion, etc. This is also a wonderful chance to practice our social skills and work through disagreements and sharing conflicts with other children using appropriate language.
While all of our students are at a different place in their development, they will be met at their level to grow academically. We begin to work toward mastery of naming letters, both upper and lower case. They will practice the beginning steps of phonemic awareness such as listening and rhyming through games and song. Students will also practice math skills such as number recognition, counting with one-to-one correspondence, shapes, patterns, and calendar skills.
Students will practice their fine motor skills including cutting and pre-writing and work to master writing their first name.
For more specific information, please feel free to check out our state guidelines below.
Pre-K Program
Our Pre-K students are in their last year with us and heading to kindergarten the following year. With this in mind, our goal for this level is to support them through this big step and prepare them for elementary school both academically and socially. During the Pre-K year, the bar is slowly raised increasing expectations and independence as they are ready. We use the PA state standards for both preschool and kindergarten, as well as watching each child’s developmental level to form these expectations.
For literacy, we will meet students at their level to continue to support their early pre-reading skills. Students continue to move through the phonemic awareness sequence as they begin to separate and combine sounds within words if they are ready. They work to solidify their knowledge of letter names and incorporate the sounds associated with each letter. Students will begin to learn and practice sight words as they are ready. They will also practice proper formation of each letter. Our classroom routine begins to incorporate centers in Pre-K, which guides students to increase their ability to work independently and in a small group while staying on task and appropriately asking for help.
In math, we are again using the PA Standards and the child’s developmental level to guide us. We would like to see our students off to kindergarten with a solid knowledge of number identification through 10 and beyond. They will count with one-to-one correspondence and work to understand number concepts such as greater and less than. They will use the calendar to work with patterns. They will identify and describe shapes. For those who are ready, they will begin to combine numbers in preparation for addition.
For more specific information, please feel free to check out our state guidelines below.
Kindergarten Enrichment
The Preschool offers a Kindergarten Enrichment Program. It is for morning kindergarten students who want to come to us for an enrichment program in the afternoon up to 4 days per week.
Curriculum
Our Kindergarten Enrichment program combines hands-on learning centers, one-on-one instruction, and small group activities in language arts, math, science, music, art, and physical education.
Our class utilizes The 100 Book Challenge for daily one-on-one reading with students. We develop a word ring for each individual based on their personal progress. Students write and draw in journals to facilitate growth in writing skills and artistic expression. In math, we support the PA Standards and students actively participate in units such as measurement and data collection. We do hands-on science experiments once a week in basic physics, chemistry, and natural science concepts.
Our enrichment program seeks to support the curriculum used in Marple Newtown and other neighboring districts. We engage students in a wide variety of educational activities to provide a rich and fulfilling balance to their kindergarten day.
