Welcome to Little Learners

Bible Curriculum.  First and foremost, we are a Christian preschool.  Every day that our students attend class, they will hear about Jesus!  We have a separate teacher who goes around and teaches Bible in each classroom.  We have created our own Bible curriculum.  Each month, the upper-age students learn about a new character trait, such as "patience", "thankfulness", or "joy" through "The Adventures of Jill and Jesse" in coordination with Bible stories, poems, finger plays and songs.  Along with this character trait, the students memorize a Bible verse and practice saying it each day during Bible Time.  Approaching Biblical principles in this manner allows us to integrate the character trait into each aspect of the preschool day.  It is our goal that by the end of the month, the students will know the Bible verse by heart and fully understand and be able to implement the character trait into their daily life.

Academic Curriculum

Our philosophy in teaching is with a hands-on approach.  This also applies to academic instruction.  We believe that children of preschool age are not only ready to learn, but have an insatiable desire to learn!

Obviously, one of the first academic tools a child needs is to learn the letters and letter sounds in order to build a foundation for reading.  Several recent, reliable studies have shown that the best approach to teaching students how to read is by not isolating letters (hence the letter-of-the-week approach), but rather by demonstrating to the students that while each letter has a separate sound, they can be linked together to form words.

Therefore, we teach letters, letter sounds, and numbers in a variety of tactile ways.  However, you will see very few, if any, worksheets.  Our students are learning, but that won't necessarily be revealed in what they bring home each day.  Worksheets are NOT the best age-appropriate learning tool for preschoolers. 

Our Programs:

The Wonderful One's and Transitioning Two's Group, for ages 18 months to just before, and around, 2 years old, is a small group where basic skills, such as sharing, eating at a table, and looking at books, are introduced.  This class is limited to 5 students.

The Terrific Two’s and Early Three’s Program is designed as an introduction into the school setting. The two main focuses of this class are to create a love for learning and to encourage age-appropriate social skills.  Students DO NOT have to be potty-trained to attend this class.  This class is limited to 6 students.

The Thriving Three's Preschool, for ages 3 and 4, emphasizes successful interactions with other children, while developing a strong foundation in the field of academics. Large and fine-motor skills are developed through teacher-directed and self-directed activities.  This class is limited to 10 students.

The Fantastic Four's and Five's Academy is for children ages 4 and 5. This is a pre-K program designed to prepare students to enter kindergarten the following school year. Social and academic skills are greatly emphasized in this class.  This class is limited to 12 students.

Our center hours are 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday.  We offer a wide range of schedules for our families.

Extended Care                                                                                                                                                                                 Our afternoon Extended Care is a "use-as-you-need drop-in service".

After school Extended Care is available any afternoon of the week - - even on days the student isn't scheduled to have class;  morning EC is for class days.  No advance notice is necessary.  

Extended Care hours are 8:00-8:45 a.m. and 11:45 a.m.-5:00 p.m. every day.

An activity our students really enjoy is having lunch with the teachers during the afternoon Extended Care.  Students who are staying over the noon hour are to bring their own lunch.  We have a refrigerator and three microwaves to heat things up and cool them down!  We are happy to help our students in this way, as some of them aren't fond of having sandwiches every day.

Non-napping students (ages 3 and up) who stay in the afternoon, either for the 6 hour class or afternoon Extended Care, will join the STEAM Room.  STEAM stands for Science-Technology-Electronics-Art-Math.  Our STEAM Room is a fun classroom, where a variety of topics are taught about and explored.

"A child's name is a wonderfully engaging place to start learning about the features of print.  Children's names are often their most beloved and important words, and names of family members are valuable and interesting to them as well.  Once children learn that their names are words and that they are made with the same letters in the same order each time, they begin to understand the concept of word."  (Gay Su Pinnell and Irene C. Fountas, 2011, Literacy Beginnings)

What can you do at home?

You can "play" with words with your child anytime, anywhere. Children can already identify many "environmental words", such as McDonalds, Toys-R-Us, and any of their other favorite places. Explain to your child that they are really reading when they look at those words and symbols. And then see what other words they can identify.
 

A great article from "Parenting" online magazine listing 10 very good reasons your child should attend preschool.  I encourage you to read it and then use it as a checklist when searching for a preschool for your child.

http://www.greatschools.org/gk/articles/why-preschool/