Pre-Kindergarten

Our pre-kindergarten program encourages children to learn through play and sensory exploration. We understand that many students with developmental differences resist new experiences, but we also understand how important it is to their development that they have an abundance of sensory and bilateral movement experiences. These experiences are required in order to develop a foundational understanding of their own bodies and the world around them as well as to develop efficient neural networks, which lead to efficient learning. In order to create an environment that feels safe for these students, one in which they are willing to branch out and experience things they may have otherwise resisted, we emphasize active learning in which the student is fully engaged with the activity, consistent positive reinforcement, consistent daily routines, and positive behavioral management. Please read about our developmental approach to better understand why we put so much emphasis on developing students' sensory processing and cerebellar functioning.

Components of our Pre-Kindergarten Program

  • Free exploration: Every Morning, centers are set up around the room and students have free exploration time as they come in to the classroom.
  • Occupational Therapy and Sensory Activities are integrated into the classroom throughout each day to develop sensory regulation, body awareness, visual processing, and fine and gross motor skills.
  • Planners: students write their name and calendar information in their planners each morning

Circle Time

  • Alert Program: How's your engine running - teachers check in with each student to see "how their engine is running", refering to their level of sensory arousal; they discuss and experiment with methods that can be used to get our engines "just right".
  • Calendar: The class goes over the date, days of the week, months of the year, and sequencing (today is, yesterday was, tomorrow will be)
  • Math: Rote counting up to 100; use of manipulatives to develop understanding of number concept and place value
  • Morning Exercises: the teachers lead the class in physical exercises that develop core strength, balance, bilateral coordination, the ability to cross midline, and oral motor skills. In addition to developing gross and oral motor skills, these exercises help prepare students to learn by activating the reticular activating system (RAS) in the brain stem. See our read about our developmental approach for more information.

LANGUAGE ARTS/READING READINESS

  • We use the Wilson "Fundations" Program and hands on activities that develop
    • Letter Recognition
    • Phonological awareness
    • Expressive language skills
    • Letter Formation
    • Basic reading skills
    • Basic sentence structure
    • Reading Comprehension
    • An understanding of Consonants and Vowels
    • An understanding of Digraphs and Blends

ORAL LANGUAGE

  • Our oral language program develops
    • Communication skills
      • Receptive Language
      • Ability to follow simple directions
      • Expressing needs and wants
      • Use of language to interact socially with others
      • Ability to describe people, places, things and events
      • Ability to ask and answer age-appropriate questions

MATH

  • We use Math Their Way Program which is an activity centered, child friendly math program. It is designed to help children to develop an understanding of and insight into the patterns of mathematics. The program teaches mathematical concepts through a hands on approach.

SOCIAL STUDIES & SCIENCE:

  • Our Social Studies and Science programs utilize hands-on activities, books, and discussions that develop
    • Recognition of name, phone, and address
    • Basic awareness of self, family, and community
    • General Knowledge of the world, places, events, and people
    • Animals
    • Plants
    • Knowledge of simple science concepts
    • Observation and simple science experimentation

SOCIAL SKILLS PROGRAM

  • Our social skills program utilizes social stories with discussion, acting out situations with puppets, and class discussions of social situations as they arise.
  • The goals of our social skills program include teaching students to
    • Recognize feelings of both self and others
    • Identify and appropriately express feelngs
    • Practice techniques to improve self-control
    • Work and play cooperatively with others
    • Form appropriate relationships with children and adults
    • Reslove conflicts appropriately
    • Follow rules and routines appropriate to context

THERAPIES AND SPECIALS

ASSESSMENT

  • Our program utilizes standardized assessments that identify each student’s level of functioning in the following areas
    • Gross and fine motor skills
    • Following verbal directions
    • Expressive/Receptive Vocabulary
    • Visual memory
    • Handwriting
    • Math: number recognition, 1:1 correspondence, shape recognition
    • Reading: letter recognition, letter sounds, basic sight words


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