Coquina’s Little Blessings Preschool - Pre-K Overview(Four and Five year olds)
Four and Five year olds are curious; they love to explore new things. At Little Blessings we let children explore and participate in hands-
on activities with real objects; we provide opportunities for making choices and developing problem solving skills. A sense of family and community is present among the children and teachers. Respect for others is valued and learning experiences meet each child’s developmental needs and are planned with each child’s interests in mind.
We focus on four areas of development:
LANGUAGE AND LITERACY
Literacy occurs during meaningful interactions, experiences and activities. Each classroom provides children with unique opportunities for this to occur. Each child differs in how and how fast they learn. Some children pick up sounds of language (phonological awareness) easily while others need more time and formal lessons.
We emphasize 4 components of Early Literacy:
- Comprehension (the meaning from action or speech)
- Phonological Awareness (sounds that make up words)
- Alpha knowledge (letters/sounds, oral/written language)
- Concepts about print (how it is organized L-R, how it is used for reading and writing)
MATH AND SCIENCE
Early math and science happens without dittos but through hands-on materials and activites. The activities and materials we use build on the children’s’ interest.
Sorting
Matching
Same and Different
Patterns
More & Less Values
Living & Non-Living
CONCEPTS:
Seriation: Comparing attributes, patterns
Numbers: Counting, 1-1 correspondence
Spatial: Positional Words and meaning, 3 step directions, How things fit together
Classification: Similarities and Differences
Time: Duration, Predictability, Sequencing
SOCIAL & EMOTIONAL
We create a warm and nurturing environment which helps children form trusting relationships. When a classrooms social climate is positive, children become motivated learners! Below are 5 learning areas in our social/emotional curriculum:
- Taking care of one’s own needs
- Expressing feelings in words
- Building relationships with other children and adults
- Creating and experiencing collaborative play
- Dealing with social conflict
ART / DRAMATIC ARTS
Art enhances the development of a wide range of perceptual, physical, language, cognitive and social/emotional skills. Children are exposed to a wide variety of materials. Our art activites are used to promote and enhance learning in language (labeling, illustrating) and math (patterns and sequence), etc.
In Dramatic Arts children are encouraged to act out stories based on books or songs. We use movement to music by exploring and identifying sounds, using a singing voice, melody, and simple instruments.
