| Preschool Schedule |
7:00-8:20 |
Morning Extended hours Signing in Devotion Bible story Story reading Music Movement Group activities Pre-writing Snack Recess Active Learning Lunch Prepare for rest Rest/Quiet activities Wake-up/Teacher selected activity Stories/Music/Movement Closing Prayer Afternoon Extended hours |
| Explanation of the Schedule |
| Morning extended hours During this time, children of all age levels, preschool-grade 8, will be combined. For older children, this will be a time to study or read. For younger children, different selected activities will be open to them each day, such as books, play dough, or other manipulatives until the school day begins. Please see the Early Childhood Center Handbook, page 8 and 15 for further information. |
| Signing in The first thing students do when they come into the classroom is "sign in." Each child will find his name on the sign in chart and then write his name beside it as best he can. |
| Devotion We will begin each day with the Word of God. Our devotions will include discussing and singing the Psalms and Liturgy (music that our Lutheran church body uses in worship) and discussing a vocabulary word or a concept that relates to the Bible story for that day. |
| Bible story We go immediately from the devotion to the Bible story. We’ll spend the entire week on one Bible story and work on a Bible verse that goes with each story. The first day, the teacher simply tells the story. The second day the teacher tells the story again, maybe using some props. The rest of the week, the teacher will be giving the students the opportunity to do the telling as much as possible. We will send home a detailed copy of the story each week. Homework will include reading the story at home and going over the memory verse with your child. |
| Story reading For story reading time, books will be chosen carefully. One type of book that has been particularly useful in promoting “emergent literacy” is predictable books. “Emergent literacy” refers to the preschooler’s level of development in reading and writing skills. Predictable books contain repetitive language and/or predictable plots. These books are the sort of stories children can easily become involved with and can naturally "read" independently. We will choose four or five stories each week and read them daily. The goal is to have the students involved in telling/reading the story by the end of the week. As the year goes along we'll naturally get more focused on some specific words and sounds. Story reading is a lot of fun, but it's also building children’s language skills, which is fundamental to success in reading and writing. |
| Music Our Savior's uses Sing and Make Music, the music program developed by our Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. It's a comprehensive music curriculum which includes both sacred and secular music. Some specific skills that will be introduced are dynamics, rhythm, tempo, pitch, and the very important concept of beat. We'll also be using some rhythm instruments. The music easily leads into and is often in connection with the next part of the program— movement. |
| Movement During movement time, we'll work with basic skills like body awareness, jumping, hopping, leaping, galloping, and skipping, muscle strength, balance, and directionality. It’s important for children to develop healthy habits, like being active, early on in life. We encourage the children to try moving in new ways and build their confidence with practice. Movement and music will often go together. |
| Group activities These group activities will be based on High/Scope’s Key Experiences. The High/Scope Educational Research Foundation is an Early Childhood program developed back in the 1960s which continues today. A number of studies have documented this Early Childhood model as having a positive correlation to later success in school and beyond. The Key Experiences are an important component to High/Scope’s philosophy. They were developed to encompass all areas of a preschool child’s learning and development. Key Experiences range from social skills to movement to language and they are all covered at some point in our program. This group time will be used to touch on the Key Experiences that are not directly covered in other areas of our program, such as math, art, science experiments, and some language activities that go along with the stories we’ve been reading. |
| Pre-writing In this part of the schedule, we will be using Handwriting Without Tears. It’s a program specifically for preschoolers to develop pre-writing skills. Handwriting can be very difficult later on if a child develops incorrect habits. This program is designed to lead children in the right direction, as far as pencil grip, holding the paper, and how to make different lines that will lead into making letters. |
| Snack For snacks we'll stick with things like fruit, cheese, yogurt, muffins, and fruit juice and stay away from candy and sticky stuff. We'll always have a choice of crackers available if students don't like the "snack of the day." Sometimes the snack will reinforce a letter or concept we’re working on, like grapes for letter G, or circle and square crackers when we’re working with that geometric shape. |
|
Recess |
| Active Learning Active learning occurs when a child has direct and immediate experiences and derives meaning from them through reflection. There are five components necessary for active learning to take place. These components are materials — there needs to be a variety of materials for the child to work with; manipulation — the child needs to be allowed, within reason, to have a hands-on experience with these materials; choice — the child needs to be allowed to do, within reason, again, what he wants to do with the materials; language — there needs to be an opportunity to talk about what the child is doing; and support — there needs to be encouragement and someone to facilitate, if necessary, what the child is doing. Active Learning will be organized with a Plan-Do-Recall routine. This Plan-Do-Recall process is the centerpiece of the High/Scope Educational Research Foundation mentioned earlier in connection with group time. Plan The "Planning" part of the sequence is the child telling what he is going to do during this active learning time. The value of Planning time includes building purposefulness, organization, focus, prioritizing, decision making, responsibility, accountability, sequencing, and gives some control to the students. Children develop the desire and ability to remain at a task long enough to act on their desires. At first, plans may be rather vague, but as the year goes on, plans become more detailed. We will plan in a variety of ways, such as identifying a picture of the area the child chooses for his plan, or bringing a toy from that area to the group. Do The next part of the schedule is doing the work of carrying out the plan. There is a lot going on while children are carrying out their plans. Children are playing with purpose, participating in a social setting, using language in many ways, solving problems, and making discoveries. Possible choices during this time include the block area where children develop spatial and problem solving skills. In the house area, much role playing goes on which involves lots of social interaction and language skills. The art area involves working with a variety of mediums. There is a book and writing area, which once again gives opportunities for literacy development. Another choice is working with manipulatives, which builds the concepts of pattern making, sorting, classifying, and again, fine-motor skills. There will be other varying work areas throughout the year as well. During this time the teacher will be helping to facilitate the children's plans, participating with the play, conversing with the children about what they are doing, and trying to extend the play, that is, introducing them to new ideas. Recall When active learning time comes to a close, everyone is involved in clean up after which we'll gather for Recall. During Recall time, the children are remembering and reflecting on their experiences. The children are associating their plans, actions, and outcomes. They are talking with others about personally meaningful experiences. We will do this in a variety of ways, very similar to planning. |
| Lunch This is another wonderful opportunity for social interaction among children and teachers. It’s also a chance for children to practice autonomy (doing things for themselves), which is an important part of a young child’s development, by participating in getting their lunch ready and cleaning up after themselves. They also practice autonomy by getting themselves ready to go outside, using the restroom by themselves, cleaning up toys, making choices during active learning time, etc. |
| Prepare for rest During this time the teacher will assist the children in getting ready for rest time. Each child will use the restroom, choose two books to look at on their cot, and get their pillow and blanket ready. They will be allowed to look at their books until the lights are turned off. |
| Rest/Quiet Time Students must be laying down on their cot, not playing with anything for a time. This is a requirement for our state licensure. Sometimes students fall asleep and sometimes not. As much as it seems impossible for some children, they all get used to this rest time! Children who do not fall asleep after the appropriate amount of rest time will be allowed to do a quiet activity on their cot until the end of Quiet time. |
| Wake up/Teacher selected activities As children wake up, the teacher will help them put their cot away. There will be an activity for the children to do, usually at a table, until all children are awake. |
| Stories This is another opportunity to promote emergent literacy at the end of the day. We will read a story different from those being read in the morning, possibly a chapter book or a book in a series, or a book chosen by a student. |
| Closing Prayer We will end the day as we began it, with Jesus, our Savior, and thank God for all the blessings He has given us that day. |
| Afternoon extended hours During this time, children of all age levels, preschool-grade 8, will be combined. We will have recess outside and have a snack. When we go inside, this will be a time to study, read, or play a game for older children. Younger children may choose what they would like to do and all children are responsible for cleaning up what they were using when they are picked up. Please see the Early Childhood Center Handbook for further information. |