The Tiger Cubs 3’s class is designed to help young children build interest in exploration and new experiences which is an important step on the path of life long learning. For some of our children we begin with learning how to cope with short-term separation from their parents. We intentionally focus on creating a caring, secure and social environment where young children feel comfortable enough to begin exploring the world around them. As they become more comfortable they soon begin to initiate new relationships with their classmates and the teachers. This is when the early social and emotional skills begin to more fully develop. We learn together about important friendship and play skills, how to express our feelings and how to help each other. These programs are all about enhancing self-esteem, communication and cooperation. These skills begin to set the foundation for successful life long learning.

Teachers and families working in partnership is important to ensure your child’s smooth transition into the school routine. We use several means to communicate with our families, newsletters, emails, remind messages and information posted near the classroom. Our teachers are available to connect with our families and answer your questions or just give you a quick update on your children's classroom experiences. Take time to talk to the teachers after dismissal or call to ask questions or express concerns, or update us on any changes at home that may effect your child’s day. There are opportunities for family to be involved in our classroom experiences, consider joining us for field trips, helping with celebrations, sharing a special talent with the class, or coming in to read a favorite story. Throughout the year we also schedule events for all our families to come together.

Our teachers use a theme-based approach to curriculum that is designed to assist in the development of strong social/emotional skills and facilitate introduction of early literacy and math concepts. In addition to our classroom based activities there may be field trips and visitors to our school that help to enhance the presentation and link our learning to real world experiences.

A TYPICAL DAY’S SCHEDULE

Arrival

At arrival help your child put their coat and other personal belongings in their cubby. Visit the bathroom to attempt to potty and wash hands prior to entering the classroom. The teacher will greet you both and if it is helpful to your child's transition, you are welcome to come into the classroom with your child and help them find their name and place it on the attendance board. If your child is struggling with transitions, consider helping your child select a manipulative activity to work on. Assist them for a minute or two and before you leave be sure to say good-bye and/or I’ll be back soon and I can't wait to hear about your day.

Assisted Manipulative Exploration - Small Group learning

Assisted manipulative exploration is a area where your child will be exposed to a variety of materials designed to introduce various concepts such as; sorting, math, investigation, classification, memory, problem solving, color, shape, number & letter recognition, and fine motor skills. These items will change every few weeks. Some will be related to themes and others are used to focus on specific areas of skill development. Items used here include games, puzzles, lacing cards, peg boards, matching sets, sequencing beads and many other types of manipulatives. These items encourage small group and individual learning experiences.

Clean-up & Snack

Clean up allows us to learn to transition from our play, care for our classroom and get ready for snack time. We work together to put away our toys and get our room ready for circle time. We then all go together to wash our hands and get ready for snack.

Snack time gives us a short break and a nutritious snack, it is the time when we learn about good food, socialize with our friends and practice our manners. We also work on learning to set the table, pour our own drinks and sometimes-even help to prepare the days snack.

Creative Play

Creative Play is a special time when the children can explore the various activity centers. Centers include Block Building, Dramatic Play, Science, Expressive Art, Cognitive/Manipulative Play, and Reading Area. Included in these areas of exploration are the Water & Sand tables and the Open Art Easel. Special art projects are introduced to allow us to work on pasting, drawing, cutting, painting and a variety of other fine motor skills. Some projects are freeform such as collage and others are a little more directed so we can work on following directions and understanding processes.

Creative play helps us build specific skills such as:

• Investigation (what, why, how, when?)

• Classification (same, different, similar?)

• Problem solving (what’s the next step?)

Throughout the year our teachers are observing the children to determine how their skills are progressing. These individual observations are compiled to create each child’s Developmental Goals Assessment. Rating scales help us to monitor their progress against the standards for their age group. There are many factors to look at during these assessments. It is important to remember that chronological age does not automatically determine social-emotional age, cognitive or physical development. Every child develops at a different rate in each skill area. It is not uncommon for the same child to be advanced in some skill areas, while other skills are delayed, and the majority of skills are age appropriate.

We generally meet with parents twice during the year to talk about our observations with you and to give you an opportunity to share your observations with us. Together we can work on plans to assist children in areas where there might be delays. We try to hold our second conference in late May. At this conference we will give you some ideas for projects that you and your child can share together over the summer that will reinforce the skills they learned throughout the year.

In addition to our scheduled conferences you may request a conference with the teacher at any time during the school year. If you have any concerns or are looking for information about additional or supplemental activities that you can do we will be happy to assist.

Families & Teachers make a Great Team!