You are your child's most important teacher. Young children learn academic and social skills by playing with objects and interacting with people. Classrooms have materials to help your child learn early reading, writing, math, and science skills based on his or her developmental level. Your child’s teachers will assess his or her learning needs and accomplishments throughout the year. The teachers will then plan learning activities based on these assessments.
The classroom daily schedule for pre-k children will provide large group, small group, and individual activities for your child, as well as a balance of active and quiet learning experiences during the day. The daily schedule for infants and toddlers will provide a less structured daily schedule of age appropriate activities and learning experiences.
Children will take field trips, when age appropriate, to gain new experiences. You must sign a permission form before your child can go on a field trip. If you do not sign the permission form or do not want your child to attend a field trip, he or she can spend the day in another classroom. Field trip volunteers should plan to attend field trip orientation prior to chaperoning a field trip.
Teachers work with preschool aged children to develop eight specific skill areas including: Social and Emotional Development, Approaches to Learning, Language Development, Literacy, Mathematics, Science, Creative Arts, and Physical Health and Development. Children learn these skills by participating in learning centers, outdoor learning, group time, individual activities, meals, and rest time. Teachers assess children during the program year to check their progress in these eight skill areas.
Your child will be more successful if you are involved with his learning. You can do this by reading to your child every day, working with your child's teacher to develop lesson plans, meeting with your child's teacher to set goals for your child, asking your child's teacher for activities to work on at home with your child, visiting the public library with your child, limiting TV or video game time, talking and listening to your child about his day. You might ask, “What songs did you sing today?” “What learning center did you play in?” “What did you have for lunch?” And then listen for your child’s answers.