New to Premiere Preschool this year by popular demand is the Junior Kindergarten program, taught by our very own Miss Michelle and Miss Desiree! The program was added to our school for those children who are on the cusp of the age cut off to attend Kindergarten or for those who aren't quite yet ready developmentally or academically to take the leap! The curriculum is designed to provide the children with the opportunity to flourish and mature so they will be more than ready, if not ahead of the game by the time they hop on the bus for elementary school!
While our core values and academic regimen remain consistent for all classrooms, our Junior K brood follows a slightly different program than that of our Preschoolers. The program offers a focus on specific academic competencies in effort to prepare their little minds for Kindergarten. This class focuses not only on making strides with curriculum (reading, writing, arithmetic and creativity), but also developmental milestones such as listening skills, behavior and respect for fellow classmates.
For example, the students are encouraged to eat quietly at lunchtime (which they do unbelievably well!) It is important for them to take time to eat their meal and save the chatter for after lunch. The students exude manners, keep their hands to themselves and practice sitting calmly with their tummies to the table. Our hungry little youngsters are taught to select their healthy foods first followed by snacks. Food is fuel for the body and mind and they will soon be encouraged to practice the same concept in Kindergarten.
When you are lucky enough to have a group of eager minds like these, it is exciting to teach them about things like sight words. Seeing the progression of how they grasp onto words and how they make sense of putting words together is truly incredible! Sight words are words that appear frequently in the text we read, but can't easily be sounded out. Learning these words helps the children to be more confident readers. If you are the parent of a Junior K kiddo at our school this year, you may already be very familiar with these words. Let us guess...Do you hear your little one saying them in the car, around the house or when reading at home? Their minds are absorbing so much!
Miss Michelle and Miss Desiree are unbelievably talented at what they do inside their classroom. They are a small but passionate team of teachers who have come together to share their time, energy, dedication and knowledge with your children. These students are working every day on site word recognition, identifying patterns, journaling together and independently and creative play to name a few. Each morning they walk into class, they are asked a Question of the Day which is given a tally under a yes or no column. The question not only relates to the theme of the week, but includes a site word and a math lesson. They are also learning about the concept of time, days of the week and learning about the ins and outs of a calendar. What may seem like small ideas are actually purposefully used in the classroom to teach, with a creative twist!
The strides we see our students make during this year are astounding! Because of the ever changing age restrictions for Kindergarten, many of us parents are faced with the tough decision...Do we send our little one to Kindergarten or hold him or her back? Ultimately, no one can make that decision but you. The gift of time never disappoints the child and this year has already proven itself for every single moldable mind inside our classroom. What a joy!
