Pre-K 4

List of 11 items.

• Art

  Children’s creativity and understanding of artistic techniques are enhanced through the exploration of color, shape, line, pattern, and design using various art mediums such as drawing, painting, collage, and 3D materials. During the course of the year, students study artists and recreate elements of their work.

• Character Education

  Social and emotional skills are taught through the Loving Guidance - Conscious Discipline approach by Dr. Becky Bailey. During daily Morning Meeting and activities, students learn about school routines and rituals as well as practice sharing, collaborating, listening, and interpersonal problem-solving skills. Kind manners, virtues, and positive mindsets are taught through literature, songs, poems, buddy activities, service learning, character education assemblies, cooperative learning projects, and “teachable moments”.

• Global Studies

  Students compare and contrast family customs; identify school community members and their roles; and learn more about themselves, each other, and the school community. 

• Language Arts

  Language Arts activities are designed to instill a love for reading and writing and establish the foundational literacy skills needed to succeed in later grades. Through guided read alouds, students are introduced to a variety of genres and begin to identify the characteristics of fiction and nonfiction text, make predictions, identify cause and effect connections, and sequence stories. Emphasis is placed on letter recognition, beginning sounds A-Z, word families, rhyming, alliteration, compound words, verbs, adjectives, CVC blending, oral modeling, and tracking words left to right. Prewriting skills include dictating stories, noticing capitals at the beginning of a sentence, punctuation, labeling pictures, writing one’s own name, and capital and lowercase letters A-Z.

• Library

  Early Learning students visit the library once per cycle with a teacher from their classroom for a story where they move their bodies and get excited about books. At this age, we instill a love of reading into our Sharks and expose them to basic literacy skills. Pre-K students are able to check books out for classroom use.

• Math

  Math investigations are presented within an exploratory curriculum and students learn new concepts through guided instruction and within calendar, weather, and attendance activities. Emphasis is placed on recognizing numbers: 0-30, quantity, shapes and sizes, as well as patterning and sorting, 1:1 correspondence, part/part/whole, sequencing and counting, comparing and estimating, problem solving, position words, ordinal numbers, matching numbers, and simple addition.

• Music

  Students learn to play rhythm instruments to a beat; hop, skip, march, gallop, slide, jump to music; develop non-locomotor movements; interpret music through dramatic play; explore classical and folk music; and sing songs about self, family, friends, and holidays.

• Physical Education

  Pre-K 4 students participate in water acclimation activities and baseline swimming instruction as they learn pool safety skills. Throughout the year, they develop personal space understanding, hand-eye coordination, foundational sport-specific movements, flexibility, and balance. Fitness and large group aerobic games introduce students to basic striking, catching, and throwing techniques.

• Science

  A multi-sensory, hands-on approach develops students’ scientific inquiry skills as they delve into states of matter (liquid and solid), magnets, the five senses, sinking and floating, planting seeds, and simple chemical reactions.

• Spanish

  Students develop Spanish vocabulary through songs, movement, puppets, bilingual books, and games. Emphasis is placed on greetings, numbers, colors, shapes, weather, parts of the body, days of the week, fruit, zoo animals, and holidays in other countries.

• Technology

  Foundational coding skills are practiced through kinesthetic activities and games. Students also practice key curriculum concepts through developmentally appropriate slideshows and educational video clips.