Preschool Program

By completion of the Preschool program the children will learn the following skills...

Three to Four Years

Emotional Development

•  Identify and deal with feelings and emotions appropriate to developmental level
•  Develop curiosity and the need to explore and investigate anything new
•  Execute routine independent of caregiver's direction, most of the time
•  Sometimes a leader, sometimes a follower
•  Work alone, in small groups and in large groups as occasion requires
  

Social Development

•  Begin to understand relationships and responsibilities of others
•  Begin to understand differences among people and families
•  Participate in a group and learn the give and take of play
•  Enjoy being with other children
•  Begin to understand that self and others change
•  Understand that parental figures care for home and family
•  Work and play cooperatively with other children and adults

Physical Development

•  Perform simple motor skills (hopping, jumping and walking)
•  Perform simple gymnastics with supervision
•  Use equipment like swings and other resources for large muscle development
•  Start developing eye-hand coordination
•  Catch a large ball from a distance of 5-8 feet
•  Throw a ball from a distance of 4-6 feet
•  Roll a large ball to target
•  Practice ball skills
•  Practice simple motor skills in games and activities
•  Balance on one foot for 5 seconds and hop 4 times on each foot

Fine Motor

•  Use fine motor coordination skills (cutting, pasting and stringing small beads)
•  Use fine motor skills that enable the child to grasp and use a crayon appropriately
•  Copying a circle, diagonal lines, vertical lines and horizontal lines
•  Paint with a large paintbrush on a large piece of paper
•  Assemble a 6-10 piece puzzle
•  Develop hand-eye coordination
•  Push pegs into a pegboard
•  Lace following a sequence of holes
•  Use crayon or pencil with control within a defined area
•  Connect a dotted outline to make a shape
•  Reproduce simple shapes
•  Follow a series of dot-to-dot numerals to form an object
•  Use scissors with control to cut along a straight line and a curved line
•  Use fine motor skills to string on ten small beads
•  Develop finger strength and dexterity

Cognitive Development

Concept Development

•  Understand a few opposites (in/out, up/down, open/closed, stop/go)
•  Understand some directional words (in, out, over, under, on, off, top)
•  Recognize and name concrete objects in the environment
•  Do basic classifying tasks (shape, size or color)
•  Pay attention and concentrate on a task for at least ten minutes
•  Demonstrate use of basic cause and effect reasoning, some of the time
•  Describe a simple object using color, size, composition, shape and use
•  Identify and name a circle, triangle, square, rectangle and diamond
•   Recognize and name primary colors (red, yellow and blue)

Oral and Written Language

•  Participate in simple discussion
•  Initiate a conversation on a familiar topic or event
•  Listen and follow a series of two oral directions
•  Speak in four to six word sentences
•  Ask simple questions (who, what, where and why)
•  Identify common sounds
•  Give personal information (full name, gender and age)
•  Participate in group discussions
•  Describe a picture with three statements
•  Auditory recognition of words that begin with the same letter
•  Associate a letter with its sound in spoken words

Reading Readiness

•  Recognize and repeat simple rhymes, songs and finger plays of 4 lines
•  Describe an action being represented by a picture in a story
•  Listen to short stories and simple poems
•  Identify what is missing from a picture
•  Express an interest in learning and in the printed word
•  Assemble pictures by time sequence to tell a story
•  Predict what will happen next in a story
•  Compose an original story by dictation
•  Retell a short story in their own words
•  Identify most upper case and lower case letters

Science

•  Demonstrate an accurate sense of touch, smell and taste
•  Point to, identify and tell the function of the parts of the body
•  Have a basic understanding of health and good foods and their importance
•  Understand that each animal needs its own kind of food and shelter
•  Identify and observe some basic needs of plant life
•  Learn about the animal kingdom
•  Understand and respect plant and animal life and their importance
•  Understand the balance of nature
•  Describe foods by taste

Math

•  Rote count from 1 to 20
•  Understand original positions first through fifth
•  Recognize most numerals from 1 to 20
•  Begin to understand concepts of adding and taking away
•  Identify a set as a collection of objects that have a common property
•  Establish one-to-one correspondence by matching members of equal sets
•  Understand that each number is one more than the preceding number
•  Understand some fractions

Art, Music and Movement

•  Show an increasing curiosity and sense of adventure
•  Use an art medium to communicate a story or idea
•  Draw a human figure with major body parts
•  Participate in socio-dramatic play verbally or non-verbally
•  Develop rhythm and body coordination
•  Retell story through art, creative drama and music