In the Young Scholars classroom it is our goal to provide a loving, nurturing and safe environment in which your child can begin their academic journey. At the age of 3 or 4 years old it can be a big adjustment to be one of many in a class. We try to help your child learn social graces while beginning to build a strong educational foundation. Things like not always being first, sharing toys and respecting each others space are often difficult lessons to learn at this age. Independence and responsibility are also stressed in our classroom. |
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Beginning learning skills are introduced through phonics, Math and Science, Social Studies, Language Arts, Reading and dramatic play. The children are also fortunate enough to get instruction in Spanish, Sign Language, Music, Drama, Art, Library, Woodshop and PE from our “specials teachers”. |
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. |
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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, and planting seeds. |
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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. We also have reading buddies from Third Grade. Each week, they come to share stories with the Young Scholars. |
Social Studies is integrated into 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. |
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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 we will know differently! |
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