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Our Transitional program is our Pre-K program that helps children transition from taking the world around them and connecting them into an educational setting to begin to get them ready for a kindergarten classroom. We implement the Big Day in Pre-K Curriculum, a proven-effective comprehensive early learning program that embraces a child's natural curiosity. The curriculum provides developmentally appropriate practices with every theme and focuses on whole group learning experiences and small groups lesson with our teachers.
Big Day for Pre-K
Embracing Natural Curiosity and Making the Connection in an Educational Setting
Children also continue to improve self-help skills. At the beginning of each day, the students are given "classroom duties" where they are responsible for a duty. For instance, we may have a horticulturist who waters the classroom plant or an electrician who turns off the lights after the class leaves or enters the room for outdoor play. In addition, students who may not have a classroom duty that day are encouraged to put on their coats and hang up their bookbags, wash their hands, and are typically potty-trained in this program. Children help prepare the table by setting it up for breakfast or snack.
The learning does not stop at the classroom. Parents are encouraged to be actively involved with their child's progress. Our teachers provide various ideas about ways to extend your child's learning at home. For instance, during the community helpers theme, our teachers may encourage parents to visit a firehouse or a police station.
The Day of a Preschooler in Transitional
This program includes a variety of learning experiences throughout the day. Each day, our preschool program includes:
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Large group meeting time: Children build community, learn new project themes, problem solve important questions as a group, and read stories.
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Small group: Children choose which learning center to explore which includes new items related to their theme. Teachers enhance learning experiences with smaller focus groups to work on important learning objectives such as math, science, and literacy (daily writing journals).
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Outdoor time occurs twice a day
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Spanish and American Sign Language interaction through daily routine, large group meeting time, and music.
Beyond the Classroom
The Transitional program participates in weekly visits to our local library to pick out books based on interests and the theme of the week. Once a week, children enjoy a read a loud at the library to learn about new books. Children also enjoy nature walks around the school or have a science experiment outside. The Transitional Program also enjoys various trips to local parks and other locations in the area to enhance learning experiences based on the weekly theme.
Hatch a Chicken Project
Our preschool teachers promote children to learn about caring for others, whether people or animals. One way they learn how others develop is watching the development. Each spring, our Transitional Program participates in receiving eggs in their classroom, taking observations on any changes on the eggs, and keeping a close eye on how their teacher cradles the eggs to help them develop. Children make predictions and test their hypothesis after the chickens hatch. Once the chickens are ready, they are released back to the farm.
Butterfly Release Project
Each spring, Transitional students participate in raising Monarch butterflies. Children continue to grow their science vocabulary during this project and watch the caterpillars transform into chrysalis to their final stage, breaking out of their cocoon. When students come into the classroom, they see the butterflies they raised in their habitat net, practicing to fly. Children then release the butterflies in the Center. From time to time, the same butterflies stop by the Center to visit the children.
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