Jacob's Ladder
Learning Center
 

LANGUAGE AND LITERACY:  Through a multi-sensory approach to learning, children are presented with opportunities to communicate effectively with both peers and adults, continue building upon both receptive and expressive vocabulary, and use language to solve problems.  The environment provides children with time to experience and practice using language to communicate effectively, as well as to understand and follow progressively more difficult auditory instructions.  Throughout our weekly thematic units, opportunities exist through reading/being read to, creating classroom books to share, dictating rich and descriptive text, beginning understanding of letter symbols and sounds, practice of left-right progression, and introduction to our library program and literacy mascot, Library Bear, to our 4 year olds.

 

MATHEMATICS:  Our mathematics curriculum begins to build your child's understanding of lifelong mathematical concepts.  Children are encouraged to think and reason through hands-on, concrete experiences.  Concepts, including comparing, matching, sorting, classifying, seriation, measuring, number recognition, and 1:1 correspondence, are accessible to children during both teacher-directed and student-centered activities.  Mathematical concepts are presented in all aspects of our daily routine.

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SOCIAL/EMOTIONAL:  Our social and emotional curriculum is developmentally appropriate for preschool-aged children.  Expectations are clearly introduced and reinforced continually through positive reinforcement of desirable behavior.  Activities are presented to help children begin to follow classroom rules and routines, have respect for others' feelings and personal space, and participate in turn-taking activities..  Students learn the importance of empathy and engage in group decision-making.  Activites are hands-on and encourage taking risks and "practice" (making mistakes) and are supported by the daily schedule.

 

FINE MOTOR/PRE-WRITING:  The development of the small muscles in the fingers, hand, and wrist lays the foundation of your child's success with writing.  Children are encouraged to engage in a number of self-help and fine motor activities, such as stringing beads, building with manipulatives, molding play dough and clay, sand play, using tweezers and scissors, finger painting and isolation games, and use of writing tools to help build these muscles and pave the way for further success with writing skills.  The materials and methods of Get Set For School, the preschool version of the Handwriting Without Tears curriculum, are integrated into the daily schedule to provide a multisensory approach to practice developing fine motor skills.

 

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT/GROSS MOTOR SKILLS:  Gross motor development is an important aspect of any successful preschool program, and is integrated throughout our daily curriculum.  Children participate in daily movement songs, and practice gross motor skills such as crawling, skipping, running, jumping, and ball skills in many daily activities.  Three year olds engage in a weekly Music and Movement class, and four year olds engage in a weekly Music and Movement class, and a weekly Gym class. 

 

SCIENCE:  Our Science and Discovery activities introduce students to the wonders of science through hands-on activities.  Some areas of focus include body awareness, nutrition, life cycles, dinosaurs, and the sky.  Students experience a wide variety of hands-on activities that facilitate skills in all areas of development.