Philosophy & Highlights

The name says it all…a 'hands-on' learning environment, that is committed to providing developmentally appropriate practices every day, for every child.
Within this environment children are engaged in small & large group activities, as well as learning centers where they are supported to excel in all areas of development (social, emotional, physical, & cognitive).

~Letter of the Week

~Weekly Themes

~Learning Centers

~Alphabet Lapbook Library

~Monthly Field Trips

~Positive Behavior Training

~Implementation of Love & Logic Techniques

Letter of the Week & Book Baggies!

We focus on a different letter in the alphabet each week. We discuss upper and lower case, name of letter, and sound of letter. Each child has a 'letter pouch' to bring something to school from home that starts with the letter of week. This is a great literacy opportunity to extend learning between home and school.
After Christmas break we start Book Baggies! Every week each child will be sent home with a simple book to read with parents.  When they return the book the following week, they read it for Miss Katie to get a star sticker to put on our reading chart. When the reading chart is full, we celebrate our super reading by dressing up and having a super-hero party!

Weekly Themes

Weekly themes enhance your child's learning opportunities in an age-appropriate manner. Each theme is incorporated throughout various centers in our classroom.

The following is an example:

Letter: C c

Theme: Carnival of Colors!
Circle Time: Direct and interactive instruction about primary colors and secondary colors, letter sound bean bag toss, Scat-the-Cat song for learning colors in sign-language, calendar, jobs, mystery box, phonic practice with "Slowly," talking stick, and choice chart. 
Literacy: Complete letter 'C c' lapbook folder. *See below for more details about lapbooks.

Art: Play-dough mixing to experiment with color! Using primary colors to make new secondary colors. Day # 2 Mouse Paint activity, mixing colors.

Library: Mouse Paint, and White Rabbit's Color Book 

Math: One-to-one correspondence, & patterning games.
Science: Observe-Predict-Outcome! Chunks of ice on cookie sheet, food coloring, & kosher salt.

Sensory Bin: Colorful noodles, and magnetic fishing polls. Catch the letters in your name!

Dramatic Play: Market area and dress-ups (police, chef, veterinarian, and builder). Taking on new rolls, organizing play, learning to enter and exit ongoing play. 

Writing: Introducing vocabulary words to recognize and write  words that correspond with weekly theme. Red, yellow, blue.

A truly hands-on education!

Alphabet Lapbook Library

A lapbook letter folder is also completed each week for children to take home. Letter folders have activities for children to engage in age-appropriate skills such as: letter exploration art project, practice writing the letter, sign language picture of letter, phonic picture practice, as well as an additional skill (sequencing, patterning, positioning, or phonic skills).

By the end of the year each child has a 'hands-on alphabet' collection at home that they can engage in throughout the summer as they prepare for kindergarten.