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We are a quarter of the way through the school year, and while information has been shared about the curriculums utilized in the LPCSC Preschools, sometimes having a true picture and understanding of what your child's preschool day looks like can be the most beneficial in making the school and home connection. That being said, we'd like to provide a glimpse into the world of preschool.

WHAT YOU WILL SEE IN OUR PRESCHOOL CLASSROOMS!

Morning Message: This is a whole group classroom activity that focuses on introducing what will occur throughout the day. There are several components that remain a constant every single day. Additionally, a special skill/concept/activity may be discussed during this time. The events of the day are numbered, with both the symbol and dots to represent that number, so the students have the repetition for identification purposes (1 *, 2 * *, 3 * * *, etc). The information is often presented in picture form, to help the students with recognition/reading.

Activities within Morning Message may include:

Calendar Focus: A linear calendar is utilized, as research shows that students best learn about the concept of time/counting when the numbers are presented in a linear manner. During this time a lot of the focus is on the concepts of yesterday-today- tomorrow. Students of this age do not always grasp the understanding of what a month, or perhaps even a week means, but we may brush on the concept. Oftentimes, we relate a month to a special event that may occur within that time period (ex: October- Halloween). We practice our counting skills as we identify the number/date. We may introduce patterns (AB) as we add a new number to the number line. We talk about if it is a home or school day.

Weather: Our daily “meteorologist”will identify what the weather is like outside. We often talk about weather conditions, temperature, and sometimes even the season. We may chart/compare/contrast the weather conditions.

Story: A story is read aloud to the group. It is usually related to the themes/concepts that we are learning about. Throughout the story, we frequently stop to ask questions and check for understanding.

Alphabet: Use of the Alphabet Arc (Kendore Curriculum) as students identify letters of the alphabet. A new sound/symbol is typically addressed weekly. This is also a time for review of other letters/symbols learned.

Other activities such as birthday shout outs, question of the day, special visitors, 'share your thoughts' time, and introduction of new activities (task boxes, items throughout the room, etc) may be done during Morning Message time.

Heggerty: This curriculum is taught utilizing a repetition approach as well as hand motions to reinforce skills. It teaches the eight phonemic awareness skills: rhyme, onset fluency, phoneme isolation, blending, segmenting, adding, deleting, and substituting. Additionally, letter names, sound recognition and language awareness via nursery rhymes are taught.

Zones of Regulation: The Zones is a systematic, cognitive behavioral approach used to teach self-regulation by categorizing all the different ways we feel and states of alertness we experience into four concrete colored zones. We aim to teach students to identify their feelings, understand how their behavior impacts those around them, and learn what tools they can use to manage their feelings and states. ​By asking the students to “check in” and “check out” daily, it helps the staff to understand how a student is feeling and not only provides teachable moments, but ensures that we are meeting your child’s social-emotional needs.

Green Zone: A person may be described as happy, focused, content, or ready to learn. This is the zone where optimal learning occurs.

Blue Zone A person may be sad, tired, sick, or bored

Yellow Zone: A person may be experiencing frustration, anxiety, silliness/ the wiggles.

Red Zone: A person may be elated or experiencing anger, rage, explosive behavior, devastation.

Small Group Time: Students are broken into two small groups. They work together with an adult on a specific skill during this time. This skill could include: letter sounds/symbol, number concepts, fine motor practice, science, STEM, concepts (ex: pattern, graphing, opposites, etc) content areas that suit children’s developmental learning needs

Large Group Time: This is a time for song and/or movement. Most often it is the job of a student(s) to pick what will occur during this time. A few examples of what this time includes is: singing songs and movement, use of instruments, musical chairs or a "follow the leader" type of activity.

Plan/Work Time/ Recall Time: The HighScope approach is based on the idea that children learn best when they plan and carry out active learning experiences based on their preferences. The classroom is set up with multiple areas so children can choose what to do, and they're encouraged to explore. During Plan Time the children choose the area to visit, materials to use and friends to play with. Children then carry out their plans, and teachers observe and help them, teaching different concepts and skills through play. Following work time, the children meet in small groups with an adult to reflect on what they've done during work time.

Activity Time: Dependent upon the schedule, a table time task activity may also be presented during the day during transitional times. This often may include STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) tasks or fine motor (name writing) practice, amongst other activities.

The carryover of skills and practicing tasks in the home setting can be very beneficial. While saying this, we also recognize that often times parents may be unsure of what is developmentally appropriate for a four or five year old to learn. Because of this, we are hosting a parent information night!! We strongly encourage you to join us on Wednesday, November 13th from 6:00-7:00 pm to learn more about how you can also help your child. During this brief hour we will touch base on the different concepts of learning and you will walk away with over 25 ideas and activities to do in the home setting!! We really hope you will join us and we can't wait to see you!

Check out the Early Childhood page on the LPCSC website!