I believe young children learn best by doing. Therefore, the young fives classroom is an active place where much of the curriculum is covered and learned in small group centers.
Reading - Letter People Program
The world of reading will be brought to life for your child with the letter people. We will work on a variety of skills including letter recognition, letter sounds, phonemic awareness, phonics and sight words. Watch for the letter people home activities that will be sent home weekly.
Math - Everyday Math Program
The Everyday "hands on" Math program was purchased by the school in 2011. Most lessons involve the children using manipulatives and concrete objects to think about math. We will work on many skills the children will need for kindergarten including; counting, number recognition, graphing, patterns, measurement, shapes, and position/spatial words.
Writing - Craft Plus and Writing by Design
The young fives writing program begins the school year writing with pictures. We work all year long at making great pictures with lots of details. As the year progresses we begin writing letters and groups of letters that correspond with the sounds in the words we are writing. By the end of the school year the students are often writing one or two complete sentence(s). Their words often aren't written "the grown up way" but they are the first steps to being a proficient writer. Please praise your child for his/her attempts at writing the same way you praised him/her for his/her first attempts at speaking just a few years ago.
Science and Engineering- Letter People Program
The young five science curriculum is integrated into the letter people program. We study topics of; weather, the five senses and properties of matter, healthy habits, health and nutrition, the different habitats of the earth, various plants and animals life cycles, and near the end of the year we conclude with an investigation of what a scientist is during which we preform many experiments.
Throughout the year we also do some engineering and computer coding challenges. We use many resources to complete these challenges including blocks, Legos, Magna Tiles, Keva Blocks, Code and Go Mouse, and Scratch Jr.
Throughout the year we also do some engineering and computer coding challenges. We use many resources to complete these challenges including blocks, Legos, Magna Tiles, Keva Blocks, Code and Go Mouse, and Scratch Jr.
Social Studies - Letter People Program and Scholastic News
The young five social studies curriculum is integrated into the letter people program and supported with Scholastic News magazine. Themes we learn about are; ourselves and our families, getting along with others, and being good citizens in our school, neighborhood communities and our world community. We also do some research about different countries and cultures when we learn about Winter Holidays Around the World.