Our preschool program approaches learning through developmentally appropriate play based activities. Meaning that we learn through playing! Each month brings a new theme that incorporates math, literacy, writing, sensory and motor activities into our daily learning. We also use curriculum's such as Lively Letters to teach uppercase letters and their corresponding sounds, Bridges in Mathematics for developing math concepts, and Learning Without Tears to work on our fine motor skills and learn how to correctly write our letters.
Literacy
Lively Letters is used in our PM classroom to help children learn their uppercase letters and sounds. The letters are taught from the easiest sound for a child to make(P) to the hardest sound(C). Every 4 weeks, or 4 letters, we take a week to review what we have previously learned. This allows us to determine if children need more practice on some letters as opposed to others.
For more detailed information check out the Lively Letters Homepage Here
Math
Bridges in Mathematics is used on a daily basis in our program. Every child visits a math center where we use hands-on learning through manipulatives, games, and tools such as scales, to explore math concepts. We learn about patterns, number correspondence, size and weight in addition to increasing our rote counting skills.
For more detailed information check out the Bridges for PK Homepage Here
Writing
Learning Without Tears, formerly Handwriting Without Tears, guides our ability to teach our students to ultimately write their name. We first work on developing hand strength and grasp by manipulating items like play dough, pinching our crayon with our working fingers and then moving into tracing both vertical and horizontal lines. Our students then move into letter formations such as learning to always start at the top and then use a big/little curve or a big/little line to write their chosen letter. We work on using title case in the classroom which means students will learn how to write their name using an uppercase letter followed by lowercase.
For more detailed information check out the Learning Without Tears Homepage Here