In phonics our children learn one
letter per week. We concentrate
on the sound that letter makes
and that each letter may be
written in upper or lower case.
The children learn several words
that begin with that letter as
they listen to a special story or
sing a song. They also learn how
to print both the upper and lower
case of each letter.

Beginning math skills include
recognizing and naming shapes,
recognizing numbers and realizing
quantity from 0-10, completing
patterns, understanding positions
of an object, classify by color,
shape and size, identify
different, same, more, and less
and problem solving by bead
stringing, nesting cups,
geometric box and puzzles. The
children accomplish this by using
different manipulatives such as
counters, blocks, parquetry,
puzles, games and beads.

Our goal for science is to make
the children aware of science in
their environment by doing simple
activities and experiments. The
various concepts that we cover
are float/sink, magnets, water
evaporation, animals in different
environments, seasonal changes,
weather, insects, cooking changes
and planting seeds.

Social studies is integrated in
the Young Scholars program by
focusing on units concentrating
on the uniqueness of me, the
environment, animals, seasons,
and sharing responsibility.
Some of our objectives would be
to have the children recognize
the differences between people,
keeping the classroom environment
clean and organized through the
classroom daily jobs. During our
daily routine we also have group
discussions regarding the
classroom rules and respecting
the rights of others. We also
discuss communities, families,
different types of houses and the
four seasons. The children learn
vocabulary from different
languages such as Sign Language
and Spanish.

Language arts is a big part of
our day. Due to the young age of
our children, our foremost
concern is to teach them to use
their words to express
themselves. A child can absorb
knowledge on their own in regards
to things in their environment,
but they must be told what
something is names. For example,
when examining a ball, they will
discover that it bounces, it is
smooth, round, it rolls, but they
cannot know that it is called a
ball. During this time it is
imperative to flood the child
with words to help keep them from
becoming frustrated when they do
not have the words required to
express themselves.

The importance of reading is well
known to parents of children of
all ages. We have a reading area
in our classroom where the
children can look at books,
listen to books on CD and have a
book read to them by a teacher.
This area is kept quiet and cozy
to help encourage the love of
reading.

Our dramatic play area changes
each week along with the rest of
our classroom. Whatever theme we
are talking about that week is
reflected in our books on the
shelves, "toys" on the shelves as
well as the puzzles and
counters. Encouraging a child to
open his mind to develop his
imagination has proven to help
with creative writing in later
years.

Every item in our classroom, as
well as, every activity that we
do with the children has a
definite purpose. Hopefully your
child will think that he or she
has played all day, but you and I
will know differently!

CLICK ON SPECIALS TO SEE WHAT THE
YOUNG SCHOLARS ARE LEARNING IN
SPANISH, MUSIC, PE, AND SIGN
LANGUAGE