Discover Pre-Kindergarten 4

“Our daughter was afforded the opportunity to attend school in a historic downtown setting. She was taught by loving faculty who nurtured her. The interactive preschool classroom was engaging and promoted learning through play.”

- Todd Terry and Alison Brown, Lower School parents -

Maximum Class Size: 18
Faculty: One lead teacher and one assistant teacher
School Day: 8:00 a.m. to noon (lunch included)

CORE ACADEMIC AREAS

Language Arts

• Auditory and visual reading readiness
• Letter sounds and symbols, rhyming, appreciation of literature
• Identification and recognition of high frequency words
• Year one of Open Court Reading curriculum used through grade one

Math Concepts

• Rote counting and one-to-one correspondence
• Introduction to the concepts of basic addition and subtraction
• Sorting and classifying, patterning, identifying spatial concepts and shapes
• Year one of University of Chicago Everyday Math curriculum used through grade five

Essential Age-Appropriate Skills

• Cooperative and independent work habits
• Social and emotional development, independent problem solving, self-confidence
• Fine and gross motor development through Handwriting Without Tears curriculum and whole body movement
• Responsive Classroom® strategies emphasizing social, emotional, and academic growth in a strong and safe school community

Enrichment to our core curriculum includes weekly experiences in art, music, physical education, Spanish, and library, led by specialist teachers.

Thematic units of study allow for interdisciplinary exploration of science and social studies topics at developmentally appropriate levels. Examples include All About Me, Families, The Five Senses, Arctic Animals, and Transportation.

Educational Field Trips explore The Lexington Children’s Theatre, Raven Run Nature Sanctuary, Apple Orchard/Pumpkin Patch, U.K. Arboretum.

THE CLASSROOM

What’s not to like about being 4? Our PK-4 environment is a great place to spend the morning! The four year old classroom in our school is inviting, colorful and very child friendly. The curriculum is well rounded, developmentally appropriate for 4 year old children, and is a terrific springboard that prepares them for what lies ahead as they move on to kindergarten.

Even though the children are only 4 years old, a lot goes on in the course of four hours. Each morning begins with a morning meeting, calendar time, and a song or a story. We have center time every day and theme or unit related activities.

The classroom curriculum in detail:

• The incorporation of Responsive Classroom® philosophies. Morning message, morning greeting, and sharing are all part of our morning meetings.
• The PK-4 classroom uses the Open Court Reading series. This program focuses on alphabet recognition, associations between letter names and letter sounds, an introduction to 20 high frequency words, and reading readiness using many phonological awareness skills that are carried over into kindergarten and first grade.
• The Handwriting Without Tears program teaches correct letter formation of upper case letters, proper pencil grip and correct formation of numbers 0 – 9.
• The Everyday Math program begins in the PK-4 classroom. The focus here is on number recognition, rote counting, patterning, shapes, sorting and classifying, one-to-one correspondence, and spatial relationships.