Preschool
At The Academy, our Preschool program offers the developmental life skills necessary for your child to become a successful learner. Your child will be exposed to a social setting with an exploratory focus in areas such as language, math, science, sensory, dramatic play, blocks and manipulative play and art exploration. Group times are very important at this age because your child is becoming an independent person and we want your child to feel very comfortable with who they are.
Preschool is a fun and exciting time in a child’s life. Your child will absolutely love coming to school daily at The Academy. We offer two preschool classrooms serving potty-trained children ages 3 years to 4 years old. Our teachers are very dedicated and experienced in the developmental stages of these important years. They realize that each child needs to develop at their own pace and therefore offer many activities in language, math, and science, fine motor and gross motor skills. The activities are set up in learning centers which offers opportunities for your child to develop self confidence, decision making, patience and independence skills. Learning through play is one of the most important ways your child will learn and is an essential element of our curriculum.
Each class offers morning meeting time where students co-mingle and interact with the teacher and the daily lesson. This provides each student the opportunity to listen and speak and engage their classmates and teachers, building the cognitive and social skills while learning.
Preschoolers also engage in centers of time called Interest Areas. Interest areas are activities and items in the classroom that are crafted intentionally to spark creativity and imaginative work using open-ended materials. The interest areas are organized by ten defined areas inside and outside the classroom: blocks, dramatic play, toys & games, art, library, discovery, sand & water, music & movement, cooking, technology, and the outdoors. During Interest Area time, children are encouraged to join a small group activity led by an educator focusing on Math, Language & Literacy, Social/Emotional, or Physical.
The project portion of our curriculum involves in-depth studies of topics relevant to children, such as trees, buildings, clothing, and much more. These studies typically last 4-6 weeks and are driven by investigative questions. The project topic is integrated into our morning meeting, interest areas, and small group work.
- Math and Science area has games and tools that encourage counting, number recognition, and recognition of basic scientific principles, including collecting and examining "bugs", scales to determine heavy and light, determining hot and cold, etc...
- Reading and Language area has familiar and contemporary books and other letter tools that encourage letter recognition, phonetics and beginning reading skills.
- Dramatic Play area encourages creative expression through pretending and role playing with costumes, puppets and puppet shows, and 'grown-up' toys and tools like brooms, dustpans, workbenches, etc...
- Practical Life Skills area encourages teaches life skills like holding pencils and crayons correctly, how to hold silverware, washing hands, potty training, and cleaning up after yourself.
- Manipulative Play area encourages development of gross motor skills through activities like sorting and building.
Physical movement and outside play is also important to a child's development and is an integral part of our curriculum. Children play outside every day, weather permitting, in their own age-appropriate playground area. When weather is below 40 degrees or over 90 degrees, children play indoors.
As part of the Preschool curriculum your child will participate in Enrichments that enhance different areas of their learning. The three daily Enrichments include:
- physical fitness in our fully equipped gym - building gross motor skills and teamwork
- computer lab and children’s library - offering individual instruction in language, reading, comprehension and fine motor skills with computers, hands-on activities and games, and books
- creative movement room - allowing your child to express their creative side through dance, music, drama and art
By allowing preschoolers to experience these important developmental learning stages - they will become more comfortable with their own independence and begin learning tolerance, patience, rules, self confidence, decision making, and independence skills.
The Academy Early Childhood Education Center warmly invites you to explore one of our campuses to see how we create an authentic education experience that children love.
Immersing yourself in a "hands-on" experience at The Academy is the most effective way to feel confident when deciding which early childhood education program to choose for your child.
Feel free to drop by at your convenience - no appointment is necessary to tour our campus. We believe that witnessing our environment firsthand will offer valuable insights into your child's enriching journey.
