Pre-Kindergarten Daily Schedule
8:00 am: Your child is excited as they arrive at school. They sign themselves in on the white board then join their friends who are painting large smooth rocks to look like turtles, ladybugs and other animals or creatures they create using their imaginations.
8:30 am: It's learning center time. Your child explores many different learning areas throughout the room. They enjoy playing with the trucks with their friends building their gross motor skills and then moving to join their teacher in an art activity working on fine motor skills.
9:00 am: It's circle time! Gathering the children on the carpet it's time to practice some math and letter skills using the calendar and other tools. Once they have filled in the day of the week, completed the weather plus some patterning, they move on to the letter they are learning. This week it is the letter F. Together they make a list of all the words they can think of that start with the "f" sound. After that they talk about the lines needed to make the letter F. Using a ball of homemade play-dough and a work mat that the teacher passes out, they each form their own letter "F." While learning how to form the letter they are also strengthening their motor skills as they roll it into shape.
9:30 am: After the children have sat so nicely for circle time the teacher gets them up to engage in some music and movement. Today all the children enthusiastically request the song "The Bear Hunt." They sing along with the words as they act out the motions looking for the bear. When the song is over they laugh and ask to do it again!
10:00 am: Next it's snack time. The children help themselves to organic granola bars, organic fruit slices and low fat organic milk, practicing to share and take turns as the food is passed around the table.
10:30 Time to go to the tree tops playground. At the playground the children ride around on the tricycles, play with hula hoops and climb and slide. Little do they know that while having so much fun they are also building coordination, stamina, and gross motor skills.
11:00 am: Back from the playground the teacher begins a new activity. Giving each child a bag they head out on a nature walk. Out on their walk they collect sticks, pinecones, leaves and other items while making observations about what they see around them. Once back in the room they investigate all the items they have collected. They discuss where they came from, what the purpose of them is, who might use them for a home, or for food. Then they use these items to create a group nature collage that they proudly display on the wall.
12:00 pm: They have done a lot already for the day and your child is ready for their nutritious lunch. They help themselves to a caprese sandwich with buffalo mozzarella, tomato and basil on ciabatta bread and some fresh organic fruit. After lunch is through your child helps the teacher clean the table and get ready for rest.
12:30 pm: Still not quite ready to close their eyes, your child chooses a book to read on their cot before they drift off to sleep.
2:00 pm: After waking up it's time for another organic snack. Today the children enjoy organic fruit bars and organic apple juice.
2:30 pm: Rested and full it's time to run around again. The teacher decides it is a perfect opportunity to take the class to the park. Once at the park the teacher gets the children to play a game kick ball. Working on their hand-eye coordination they run and kick the ball through the field.
3:45 pm: It's story time. To help foster literacy development the teacher has chosen to read and do, an activity with the story Caps for Sale. First they all read the story together on the carpet then it's time to retell the story using the children's help. They particularly enjoy shaking their fists and making a sound like the monkeys in the story. After this they use a felt board with a peddler and various colored caps to create patterns with the caps on top of his head. The teacher uses this activity to see how the children are doing with the skill of patterning, who needs more work on this skill and who can be challenged with more difficult patterning activities.
4:30 pm: It's learning center time again and your curious child chooses to play in the science center. They use a magnifying glass to examine an ant farm and some leaves. Building a better understanding of the way the ants live as well as nature is helping them to improve their cognitive development by improving their awareness, reasoning and observational skills.
5:30 pm: It's almost time to get ready to go home. You arrive to find your child playing a learning game on the computer. They jump up to give you a hug and their teacher fills you in on their exciting day