Through a wide range of activities we help children gain confidence as they become active learners, adapt to collaborative group experiences, and learn to respect the feelings of others. We believe that children’s play is an expression of intelligence and growth, and that young children learn best through hands-on, concrete experiences.
The PreSchool program’s age-specific curriculum includes:
Literacy and Language: phonological awareness, comprehension, concepts about print, and alphabet knowledge, story telling.
Mathematics and Science: classification, spatial thinking, number observation and experiments, shapes, counting and cardinality.
Social studies: different cultures, diversity, people and places, our environment.
Creative and Dramatic Arts: role play, dramatic play, colors and painting.
Music and Movement: rhythm, clapping, songs and melody, instruments.
Emerging Literacy & Language
At Kinderhaus children express themselves and build vocabulary during story and picture book times. Language and positive communication is valued as a positive way to resolve problems and issues in the classroom. Children are acquiring language skills, through active play and learn to become effective communicators. Teachers guide each child to ensure the development of the following pre-reading and pre-writing skills:
Use of oral language
Ability to answer questions and follow verbal directions
Ability to remember previous events and apply that information
Mathematics and Science
Mathematics helps us with ordering and thinking about the world. Mathematical concepts develop through hands-on use of materials such as manipulatives and puzzles. Science and math concepts are best explored through tactile experiences. Children are establishing the foundation of early scientific principles by engaging in activities of observation, experimenting and comparing. This results in our students developing a love and respect for nature as well as a better understanding of the world around them. When children cook or bring snow into the room to watch it melt, they are gaining an understanding of changes and properties. Other science activities include using magnets, color wheels, and magnifying glasses. Children go outdoors daily to observe seasonal changes, in addition to learning about day and night, the clouds and stars. Their observations lead to “scientific” predictions and eventually to finding ways to record their observations.
Children begin to learn about their classroom community, its routines, rhythms, and rules. They begin to understand how to work together as a group. By sharing their different backgrounds, holiday traditions, and exploring a variety of cultural and ethnic cooking activities, stories, music, and dances, children discover the many wonderful differences and common threads that bind individuals together.
Creating, experimenting, and learning go hand in hand. Art is a form of communication that comes naturally to children. It is experiential and exploratory and does not always need to be planned or purposeful. Students have opportunities to be creative every day, using a variety of materials including paint, markers and crayons, clay and collage. Art activities develop the following skills:
- Fine motor coordination
- Awareness of color, shape, size, and texture
- Understanding of spatial relationships
- Awareness and understanding that symbols have meaning
- Developing self-expression and emotional outlets
Music is to make, to use, and to enjoy, and the children engage in musical activities daily. The children sing or play rhythm instruments and listen to a wide range of music and are taught German songs by a specialized Early Childhood music teacher. As children sing, do finger plays, or imitate animals in a song, they use their imaginations and improve coordination. They develop an appreciation for the patterns and the musical variety produced by rhythms, melodies and musical instruments. They also simply learn to love music and find joy in singing together.