Our four year olds are MORE than ready for anything Kindergarten has in store for them.
Pre-K4 Program
A four year old is smooth talking, agile, and an observant seeker of adventure. They are kind of a know-it-all....as in they want to know it all. They have more questions in them than anyone has answers. Four year olds are perceptive enough to sense this can frustrate you, but please don't overlook their inquisitiveness. They are capable and need to be challenged.
Our nature and arts focus help develop appropriate relationships with peers, use language to express feelings, and resolve conflicts in an appropriate manner, and be highly independent. The PK4 program is a five-day program using the Common Core Standards and referencing the Creative Curriculum. This program’s teacher to student ratio is approximately 1:10. A Master Teacher is present, as well as two student-staff assistants.
Program Goals
- Develop a sense of self by offering to help another in need, demonstrating conflict resolution, asserting oneself verbally, taking actions to avoid conflict, showing trust in adults and demonstrating a knowledge of trustworthy and untrustworthy adults.
- Develop gross motor skills through running, jumping, climbing with ease, balancing, throwing/catching balls, develop self-expression through body language and working cooperatively on a physical task.
- Develop fine motor skills by grasping and manipulating small items, holding scissors and cutting in a straight line, creating recognizable shapes, manipulating materials intentionally, and refining hand-eye coordination.
- Develop cognitive skills by demonstrating problem solving skills, observing and examining items, engaging in elaborate role play, recognizing/creating/decoding patterns, introducing the concept of time, identifying written numbers and their significance in mathematics, seeking new information, demonstrating use of comparative words, using drawings or building to represent something specific, and counting to twenty.
- Develop language skills by developing a joy of reading, initiating or elaborating on conversation, recognizing letters by name and sound, understanding the structure of conversation, answering open-ended questions, communicating with complete sentences, recognizing that print has meaning, expressing complex ideas and questions, and using sound to create new words.
- Develop a sense of self-care/responsibility by introducing the concept of options, keeping track of personal belongings, participating in clean-up and group activities, moving through routines with few reminders, and demonstrating an understanding of classroom rules without guidance.
- Develop social behaviors by working cooperatively in groups with peers, maintaining a friendship, recognizing feelings and needs in others, engaging in negotiation to reach a solution, suggesting a solution to a problem, defending a peer’s rights, seeking adult assistance when necessary, and accepting compromise.