In preschool we use the Building Language for Literacy curriculum. This program develops oral language and early literacy skills. By using Building Language for Literacy, we help to prepare children for reading success using high-quality literature, songs and poems, rich vocabulary, and language-loving characters. We also foster the children’s awareness in other domains such as science, social studies, math, writing, and music.
We focus on building language and knowledge so that during playtime (centers) the students are able to act out roles and scenarios that happen, for example, in a restaurant. In order to facilitate this, we provide explicit instruction, modeling, role cards in the centers, and role clips that clip right onto student clothing to wear while they are in centers.
Before students join centers, we assist them in planning their play. To do this, they start by drawing a picture and dictating what they will do during center time. As their writing skills develop, students begin to write their own sentence to describe what they will do. This becomes their daily play plan and helps them not only to guide their actions, but also to bring about higher-level language and more mature play behavior. Each student’s individual needs and abilities guide which skills are focused on each day. For example, one student in the small group may be focusing on tracing his/her name while another student writes his/her own name and begins to write the words in the plan by listening for sounds they recognize.
The six themes that we focus on using this program are: Home, Store, Restaurant, Firehouse, Beach, and Farm. Other seasonal themes that are incorporated into our preschool curriculum include: Getting to Know You, Fall, Holidays and Traditions, Dad’s Day, Mother’s Day, and Summer Fun.
Throughout the year, we plan and participate in many extra activities that correlate with our curriculum themes. Activities include field trips, classroom projects, visitors, programs, and parties. We will let you know well in advance of any activity for which we will need extra help. We encourage parent participation and input; so if you would like to join us in the activities, or have ideas of other things to do, please let us know!