Battle Lake Preschool is a 4-star Parent Aware rated School  Readiness Program.  

Welcome to the Battle Lake School Readiness program!  We are excited to meet your family and have you join ours! The Battle Lake School Readiness program focuses on the development of the whole-child.  

Using a Hands-on approach to learning, your child will have the opportunity to grow in all areas:

Social-Emotional: 

Children learn how to handle emotions in a healthy way, make friends, use manners, and be a respectful individual in our community.  Some of these skills include: 

• • Display self-control/self-regulation 

  • Understand various feelings and express feelings using words

  • Listen and pay attention

  • Take pride in self-accomplishments

  • Have positive self-image

  • Ask for help when needed

  • Establish relationships with adults and peers

  • Show an awareness of others' feelings

  • Share, take turns, make choices

Cognitive: The "Thinking" skills

A child’s ability to think, understand, communicate, remember, imagine and work out what might happen next. Some of these skills include: 

• • Sorting objects by color/shape/size

  • Sequencing events (3-step, 4-step, 6-step)

  • Classifying objects (bigger/smaller, longer/shorter, heavier/lighter, etc.)

  • Negotiating

  • Following multi-step directions (2-3 steps)

  • Predicting (what will happen next)

  • Cause & Effect

  • Understanding real vs. pretend

Adaptive/Self-help: 

These are the basic skills children need to develop to become independent and do things all by themselves!

• • Feeding self (using utensils, pouring drinks, opening milk cartons and other objects)

  • Using the bathroom independently (wiping, flushing, washing hands)

  • Getting dressed (zipping jackets, snowpants & boots on, buttoning, etc.)

  • Opening/closing backpack

Fine & Gross Motor:

Gross (large) motor: As children grow and develop they strengthen from the core out... developing arm/leg muscles allow us to eventually refine our fine motor skills. Imagine a baby laying under a mobile... first they learn to reach, eventually batting at a toy.  As they grow, they are able to hold an object using their hands.  Eventually a child learns to roll over, hold their head up, crawl, walk and so on... Gross motor development is important in the development of fine motor skills/strength.  Some of the gross motor skills include:

• • Kicking, jumping, galloping, skipping

  • Pedaling a tricycle

  • Balancing on 1-foot, hopping on 1-foot 

  • Throwing overhead, catching a ball (1st using whole arm, later using hands only)

Fine (small) motor focuses on the development of those finger muscles important for writing, etc.  These skills include:

• • Building a tower of 10+ blocks

  • Buttoning/unbuttoning, zipping

  • Cutting lines... straight, rounded, etc. Using 2-hands... one hand to grab paper, other to cut

  • Pinching, grasping, squeezing objects (opening glue bottles, building with legos, using tongs/tweezers, writing/drawing eventually using a 3-finger grip

  • Refining strength from whole arm motion to finger/wrist movement (while writing/drawing)

Literacy:

Focuses on speaking, listening, reading, writing, and communication (expressive & receptive) skills

• • Increased vocabulary

  • Using sentences of 4-6 words

  • Engages in conversations of 3+ exchanges

  • Interest in books, listens to, asks & answers questions about stories

  • Letter recognition

  • Writing name

  • Rhyming & Alliteration, Phonological awareness

  • Basic print concepts: Top to bottom, left to right, letters make words

Math:

Having basic pre-math skills before entering Kindergarten gives children the basic skills & confidence needed to continue advancing and staying on track.  Some of these skills include:

• • Rote counting

  • 1-1 correspondence

  • Recognizing simple sets of objects

  • Identifying basic colors & shapes

  • Recognize and extend basic patterns of two colors or objects

  • Measuring & Comparing

  • Sorting & Classifying objects