Young Preschoolers

Our two year olds are emerging from toddlerhood and becoming young preschoolers. They have tremendous energy and curiosity to learn and play. We encourage them to explore, their classroom learning centers, based upon math, language skills, play and social skills. The soft surrounding encourages gross motor skills; we encourage social development and use of expressions. Teacher to child ratio: 1:6

Cognitive:

Math is more than counting and recognizing numbers, teachers incorporate math into every day activities.

Interest in counting numbers, understanding to identify one, two, three objects
Understanding concepts of simple shapes, circle, triangle, square, star, oval etc
Developing awareness of terms like long, short, big, small, more, less in play area and in learning centers
Providing simple patterning activities, using big beads and stacking blocks, to introduce size and color concept

Language and literacy:

Toddlers and early preschoolers are always absorbing language, hence classrooms that are rich in print, with all materials labeled to encourage the importance of language to learning.

Singing ABC’s and using phonics to sound letters
Enhance skills further by reading aloud, repeating, encouraging children to see books
Storytelling to encourage imagination, sing along rhymes
Encourage pretend play and peer communication, indoor and outdoor daily
Introduce new words to develop vocabulary
Opportunities, to experiment using crayons for writing, value scribbling, as an expression. (2)

Physical skills:

It is important to teach gross motor skills, for the development of the indivuals and for healthy living. Small motor skills are very important too, for hand to eye co-ordination and in the overall development of the child.

We offer opportunities, both indoor and outdoor to play on soft climbers, use age appropriate tricycles and materials, like ball for kicking, throwing skills.
Stacking blocks, and using other appropriate play activities to encourage gross motor skills and create independence and confidence.
Encouraging children to dress themselves, when needed and to use dramatic play
Encouraging holding and using crayons, markers for their age to encourage self development and control on their hand movements.

Social development:

Social and emotional development is an integral part of today’s society and a very important part for the overall development of your child. We encourage social communication and value good manners, communicating effectively, and developing meaningful relationships as the strong foundation for social skills.

We model empathy and encourage children to imitate comforting behavior
We encourage sharing and teacher’s step down to talk and comfort the child to encourage positive reinforcement
We encourage children to express their feelings, and read to them to share emotions
We support use of words, instead of children showing physical conflict
We encourage children to show independence in their actions and encourage their positive behavior
We support children’s interest to communicate with familiar adults and their communication with friends.