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SIS EARLY CHILDHOOD PROGRAM
Multiage Pre-K classes for 3/4 year olds
The goal of this program is to create a warm and nurturing environment for
3- and 4-year-olds and to provide them with experiences that foster creativity,
curiosity, and a love for learning. Because children learn best through play
and direct experiences, we have filled our Pre-K program with opportunities
for our students to explore, create, question, and interact with the world
around them in a natural manner.
SIS learning center activities promote all aspects of the child’s development: intellectual, social-emotional, and physical. We work with a weekly theme that integrates language, science, math, music, storytelling, and dramatic play so that children can make meaningful connections between the different content areas. Our children develop independence and become confident learners as they are helped to make choices and explore their interests. They have opportunities to learn in individual, small group, and community activities.
SIS offers morning and afternoon sessions for our 3/4-year-old multiage Pre-K class. Our multiage philosophy recognizes that children develop at different rates regardless of their chronological age. We have found that multiage grouping helps children develop self-esteem and social confidence. In this setting, children learn how to communicate, cooperate, problem solve, and respect others’ differences.
Our average class size is ten students, with two teachers who are certified in early childhood development and education. Classes meet for 2 ½ hours a day, five days a week. The school day includes group time, activity time, snack time, and outdoor play time. The day begins and ends with a full class meeting which helps children to develop a sense of belonging to a community. At SIS, children and adults interact with respect, trust, and sensitivity.
We maintain ongoing communication with our families and work as a collaborative
team to help the child reach shared goals.
Our Early Childhood Program is based on the position paper of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) which identifies the following principles on which developmentally appropriate practices for young children can be based:
- Domains of children's development are interrelated.
- Development proceeds
at varying rates from child to child as well as
unevenly
within different areas of each child's functioning.
- Children are active learners,
not passive recipients. They draw on experience to construct their own understandings
of the world around them.
- Play is an important vehicle for children's social, emotional, and cognitive
development.
- Children develop and learn best in the context of a community
where they are safe and valued, their physical needs are met, and they
feel psychologically
secure
- Children learn through social interaction with other adults and other children.
Classes meet five days a week:
- Morning session: 8:45-11:15
- Afternoon session 12:30-3:00
