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Parental Involvement:

Parental involvement is a key in determining the success of our program. Throughout the year, we ask parents for their help in various classroom activities such as field trips, school parties, and special events. Letters are sent home one month prior to these activities and a sign-up sheet is posted on the parent bulletin board outside of each classroom. We strongly encourage parents to participate in our activities.

Emotional Skill Development:

In the classroom, teachers strive to create a supportive and nurturing environment in which each child is allowed to experience the freedom of self-expression and the joy of accomplishment. The goal of the program is for each child to leave at the end of the year with a positive and secure feeling about self and school. Skills developed include toileting skills (if not already mastered); job sharing responsibilities (daily jobs on job chart, throwing away trash, cleaning up after play), dressing skills, and learning to cope with separation anxiety.

Social Skill Development:

Successful personal and social development is critical for very young children in all aspects of their lives, including learning. The faculty at St. Paul’s Plus believe that it is a privilege to be part of a class and encourage the children to be an active part of a group-living dynamic. Our teachers provide settings for experiences that enable children to develop a positive sense of themselves. We encourage children to participate in interactive play with two or more children as well as to share and take turns. In addition, we practice ways to help others feel better when they are hurt or sad. A key component of our social curriculum is teaching threes to use appropriate words to express feelings rather than body actions (talking versus hitting). This is fostered by stressing the importance of being an active and positive member of the class.

Physical Skill Development:

At this stage, young children grow rapidly. They develop confidence and learn to control the way they move and the way they handle tools and equipment. They need to be active and move about in order to develop many of these fundamental skills. Both fine and gross motor development are emphasized in the three year-old program.

Children engage in classroom activities that allow them to strengthen and develop their fine muscle skills such as drawing, tracing, and playing with playdough. Threes are encouraged but not pushed to begin the process of writing letters and numbers. They develop eye/hand coordination by putting together various puzzles and using other manipulative items. Children gain control of materials in art projects with glue, scissors, paint, and paint brushes. Gross motor skills are developed through practicing creative movement (action songs, dancing etc). The children also refine skills through outside play and weekly sessions with Rebounders Gymnastics.

Language Arts:

The language arts program for the threes uses a multi-sensory thematic approach to learning by introducing letter recognition with the use of name tags, labeling, and letter games as well as by asking and answering simple questions. Pre-writing exposure is in the form of activities such as holding crayons and pencils and sequence and flannel board stories. Our teachers encourage children to experience the joy of language through hearing stories in a variety of forms, such as tapes, rhyming words, and finger plays. Children also receive exposure to the written word though children’s stories, labeling, and name recognition. The classroom also focuses on a “letter of the week” and enriches this learning with art, writing, and cooking projects.

The three-year-old program focuses on allowing receptive language growth through listening to, as well as reading, stories. The goal is to provide stories that have constant and continual repetition of word phrases and structures to promote receptive language skills. The children learn to follow multi-step instructions involving sequence. Children are encouraged to use “expressive” language by having a sharing time during circle time where they are encouraged to express their feelings and share them verbally with their peers. Teachers expose children to appropriate expressive language by modeling more sophisticated phrases and sentences in self-expression exercises.

Social Studies:

Social studies encourage children to explore the world around them. They begin a journey of discovery as they learn about their classroom community. Learning classroom routines, rhythms, and rules allows the children to understand how to function as a group and work cooperatively. Some of the skills covered in social studies include: learning about the community and its helpers; learning holiday customs and traditions; expanding the boundaries of their home and families to include school and their new friends; role play; and learning to help each other and accept differences.

Math:

Mathematics is a way of ordering and thinking about the world. Discovery, exploration, observation, and investigation characterize the math program in the three-year-old program at St. Paul’s Plus Preschool and Kindergarten. Activities and materials are provided that emphasize concrete experiential learning.

The math curriculum offers hands-on opportunities for exploration and manipulation and the threes enjoy many different math activities. Teachers begin by introducing the concept of number recognition and counting and helping the children to explore patterns, shapes, and sorting. The threes learn about size differences, the beginning concepts of one-to-one correspondence, and inclusion of data on picture and bar graphs.

Science:

Through science, the children develop a sense of nature and the world around them. Lessons are enriched in the classroom as the threes perform simple experiments, engage in planting experiences, study and identify different animals and their behavior, mix colors, explore heat and cold, and experience sensory table play as well as cooking activities.

Art:

Process, not product, is the basis for the three-year-old art program. Art is viewed as creative expression through the exploration of materials. Through daily art activities in the classroom, the children experience the satisfaction of creating, and they develop confidence and self-worth. Early childhood instructors understand the importance of art and strive to develop artistic appreciation everyday.

Music:

Young children gravitate naturally to music, and it is used to enhance all areas of the curriculum. By singing and engaging in rhythm activities in the classroom, the children grow in their use of language, develop math concepts, follow directions, and develop an appreciation for different types of music. The children receive additional music exposure through experiences with a certified music instructor, Miss. Ellen, who visits the children once a week.

Foreign Language:

Children are introduced to basic numbers and phrases through our world cultures curriculum as we study various countries throughout the year.

Technology:

The children have the opportunity to work individually with the computer on a daily basis. Each classroom is equipped with a complete computer system. Age appropriate software is used to reinforce concepts being presented in all areas of the curriculum.