Program Details

Next stop, kindergarten! But first, we want to introduce and familiarize your child with the types of schedules and routines he'll find when he gets there. For example, one of the biggest transitions for children is the increase in whole class instruction. To get him ready, your Pre-K child will participate in full group activities that are similar to what he will experience next year.

Morning Circle Time

Once all the children have arrived, our Pre-K day begins with Morning Circle Time. Here, your Pre-Kindergarten child is exposed to many different routines designed to increase his oral vocabulary, graphing skills, social and verbal interaction skills, and his ability to actively participate in group activities. Circle Time also gives the teacher the opportunity to work with the class as a group before they branch off into smaller groups.

Every day your child will participate in challenging routines, like:

• Your Opinion Counts. Here, your child will learn to share his opinions and evaluate his feelings. As the class tallies everyone's opinions, he will learn math concepts like graphing, counting and comparison. He'll also work on word and letter recognition.
• Weather. Each Pre-K classroom has a "meteorologist" for the day - one child who helps discuss the weather and how we prepare for it.
• Calendar. A calendar helper helps determine what day it is, the number of days that have passed in the month, that are left in the month, until the teacher's birthday, etc. The class also works on patterning - the teacher may vary the colors within the calendar every few days to see if the children catch on to the pattern.
• Job Chart. Pre-K children are excited about helping out during classroom routines. During Circle Time, the teacher reviews the Daily Jobs, and the children share their experiences with the jobs on prior days.
• Kids of Character. The teacher will discuss the Kids of Character trait with the children.

Music and Movement

Music and Movement is a great time during the day for your Pre-K child to get active, learn fun, new songs and expand him vocabulary. During one Young Authors Workshop Music and Movement activity, the children skip around to "I'm an Author Today" sung to the tune of "Zip-a-dee-do-dah."

Song and Poem Time

Songs, poems and stories are part of every day in the Pre-K classroom. Of course, they're fun for the children, but we also use them to introduce key concepts such as letters, rhythms, rhymes, vocabulary and sound recognition.

For example, once the teacher is finished introducing the poem, she will ask the group about words that rhyme, words that begin with similar or different sounds, certain vocabulary words, and other elements designed to foster language and communication development. These are all key tools that will help your child learn to read when he enters kindergarten. Our Pre-K teachers use Scholastic's Building Language for Literacy curriculum, which has colorful, inviting learning materials and characters.

Center Time

Next, your child will choose which Learning Center activity to participate in. In the Learning Centers, children explore, inquire and discover solutions by themselves, with a friend or in groups.

Throughout each two- to three-week unit, there are over 75 Learning Center activities for the teacher to introduce. Click for example 2. Every activity that is done throughout the day is tied to a specific Learning Objective.

Once your child has completed his initial Learning Center activity, he can choose another. The Pre-Kindergarten teacher works with the children in small groups to extend the Learning Center learning.

Later in the day, the children will come back to the Learning Center to finish a project they started in the morning, work on their journals or pick up a whole new game to play and learn.

Outdoor Play

After Center Time, the children typically go outside to exercise, burn off some energy and develop their gross motor skills. Believe it or not, our teachers perform assessments outside, too!

Story Time

To foster a love for reading, your child will gather with the rest of the class to read a story, sing a song and/or act out a favorite book. La Petite Academy believes in using quality children's literature to help make your child a lifetime reader. You will enjoy many of the theme-related books that your Pre-K teacher shares with your child.

The teacher will spend time on each page asking the children open-ended questions about the characters, certain word sounds they've been learning about, words that rhyme with words in the book, etc. This helps your child better understand how sounds come together to form words, how to use beginning and ending sounds to recognize different words, and how to comprehend text. All of these skills will go a long way in helping him get a running start toward learning to read in kindergarten and beyond.

Lunch and Quiet Time

After lunch the children have an opportunity to wind down during Quiet Time. Each child has a cot that they may rest or sleep on. They are also allowed to play quietly. As the school year progresses, the amount of Quiet Time decreases. Most kindergarten programs do not have Quiet Time, and we want your child to be prepared for what he will experience there.

Music and Movement

Just wait until your child teaches you his music and movement song. This is a great time during the day for your child to get active, learn fun, new songs and expand his vocabulary.

The Home Stretch

Our day comes to a close with more outside play and afternoon Circle Time. During afternoon Circle Time, the children will review what they have learned, share their favorite Center project and look ahead to tomorrow. The teacher also will review favorite songs, poems or stories.

Your Ride Home

You will get a snapshot of what your child did that day from the "Car Talk." We urge you to use the Car Talk information as a going-home routine to reinforce learning, and build self-esteem and enjoyable communications with your child. It's a great way to avoid the "I don't know" response when you ask him what he learned today.