Welcome to Preschool at
Bishop Noland Episcopal Day School
PreK 2 (2 year olds)
The curriculum for the two year old program is based on meeting the needs of the whole child–physical, emotional, social, intellectual, and spiritual. It is assumed that most two year olds are concrete learners, tend to approach situations in a global rather than a sequential manner, and are prone to be haptic (kinesthetic-tactile) learners.The developmental tasks of the year between twenty-four and thirty-six months of age include mastery of large muscles and the rudimentary control of small muscles, the addition of approximately 800 words to the vocabulary along with the ability to form complete sentences, the ability to interact with peers and adults in a manner acceptable to the culture, identification, and understanding of emotional responses of themselves and others, and the mastery of toilet training. The children in this program must be walking and eating table foods independently. In order for children to be promoted to the three year old class, they must be out of diapers.To accomplish these tasks, an integrated program based on a variety of individual and group activities has been implemented.
Free play provides opportunities for children to interact with each other and with teachers. Negotiating skills involving sharing toys and space, taking turns, handling emotions, and making choices about play are practiced.
Learning centers give children many opportunities to explore their environment and learn and practice new cognitive skills including problem solving, matching, patterning, sorting and classifying, identifying, eye-hand coordination, and counting.
Group times–stories and music–help children with cognitive skills such as listening and following directions as they sing songs, hear stories, and play games.
Art projects encourage creativity while giving children a time to enjoy and experience painting, gluing, markers, scissors, clay, etc.
Cooking experiences give children a chance to participate in the activities of their world.
Outdoor play provides a time for muscle development and practice of social skills.
All of these activities take place in an atmosphere of love and warmth in classes taught by early childhood teachers. School, after all, should be FUN!
PreK 3 (3 year olds)
Three-year-olds can best be described as sunny, silly, and socially aware. They become eager to please and anxious to interact more with those around them. Play activities become much more sophisticated and creative cooperative play becomes the norm. Three year olds acquire a vocabulary of over 1,500 words before the end of the year. Gross motor skills improve greatly; children can run, jump, and balance easily, and they usually learn to pedal tricycles and go upstairs alternating feet. Imagination and a sense of humor become evident. Friends are important. Art activities are a favorite of threes.
Our program addresses learning in all developmental areas—physical, social, emotional, cultural, language, aesthetic, and intellectual. Children develop an understanding of the world around them because content from all disciplines--language arts, math, science, social sciences, art, music, and physical education--are integrated using themes, projects, play, and other learning experiences.
Structured play during center time, large group activities, small group activities, outdoor play, art, math, and language activities, and enrichments (library, PE, music, and art) provide a wide variety of concrete learning experiences to meet the individual needs of each child.
The language arts program includes the development of both receptive and expressive vocabulary, listening and communication skills, introduction of LiPS, appreciation for literature, comprehension and recall of stories, development of print awareness, introduction to letter recognition, recognizing their own names, sequencing skills, position words, opposites, and synonyms, and auditory and visual discrimination.
The math program includes numeral recognition to the number 10, understanding of number value (the ability to match the quantity with the symbol), one-to-one correspondence, classification and sorting, seriation, sequencing, counting, conservation of number, shape recognition, spatial concepts, as well as Handwriting without Tears Tag Bags.
Gross motor activities focus on developing coordination, strength, endurance, and agility. We focus on skills such as hopping, jumping, balancing, and pedaling that are not only important for creating strong healthy bodies, but that are vital to healthy brain development as well. The children ride tricycles, and bouncy balls, climb stairs and slide and swing.
Fine motor activities include any that help control, strengthen, and coordinate the small muscles in the hand, fingers, and wrist. Our program provides experiences for scissors skills, writing skills, and other manipulative skills such as stringing, painting, drawing, playing with play dough and manipulating small objects, finger plays to develop dexterity, as well as Handwriting Without Tears.
In the science program, children learn by exploring their environment and discovering the world around them. We raise a frog and ladybugs and hatch butterflies from caterpillars. The three year old program encourages observation and provides opportunities for experimenting, problem solving, and exploring cause and effect as we investigate life science, physical science, and environmental science themes such as plants, insects, weather, hygiene, and physical changes during cooking.
The social living program centers around learning appropriate social behavior and social skills. Our children will expand their social circles as they learn to share, care, and become aware of others and their feelings. We have a Big Buddy program in which our three year old students are paired with selected eighth grade students. Weekly visits throughout the year establish a special bond between our three year olds and their Big Buddies. They assist in monthly fire drills, play on playgrounds and sit with the children at school wide programs.
The religion program uses the Southwest Association of Episcopal School (SAES) curriculum and includes weekly age-appropriate chapel services. The service incorporates the use of music, puppetry and storytelling.
We endeavor to nurture and enrich the lives of children by providing an environment that allows children to feel safe enough to explore their world. We hope to enable them to become independent, self-confident and become capable life-long learners.
PreK 4 (4 year olds)
The PreK four program is a comprehensive plan that prepares the children for further educational development. Methods for achieving this objective include direct teaching using visual, auditory, kinesthetic and tactile modes. Social growth as well as academic achievements is emphasized.
The children participate in choral recitations, finger plays and singing. This enables them to learn a variety of language arts skills including:
* Using prepositions of location (over, under, around, and through)
* Using appropriate language for everyday situations while talking in complete sentences
* Identifying parts of the body
* Recognizing and naming capital and lower case letters and their sounds
* Blending letter sounds into words
* Learning about proper nouns
* Dictating stories to teachers
* Increasing basic vocabulary
* Practicing rhythm and rhymes as preparation for reading readiness.
The phonics program is enhanced by using a three step process involving letter identification, letter sound and an active prompt associated with each sound. The phonics program is supplemented by teacher resources, learning centers and field trips and also by the Lindamood Phoneme Sequencing Program (LiPS). This program emphasizes the ability to reproduce, decode and comprehend sounds, words and stories.
Our Math program focuses upon the concept of number sense which is introduced through activities and illustrations with groups of objects. The written symbol of each numeral is introduced and practiced. The students count to 30 and beyond. They learn to classify objects by shape, size, color, length and weight. The children learn to problem solve by repeating patterns and creating new ones. The penny, nickel and dime are taught when money is studied. Graphing is introduced using common objects such as M & Ms, different colors of apples, candy hearts and other everyday objects. The children are introduced to prediction and estimation at this same time.
“Hands on” math - use of many manipulatives
Introduce time, tally marks and matrix
Work with more and less, smallest to largest, putting numbers in order, matching the correct number with a set of objects, equal amounts, ordinal numbers, counting back from 10, simple addition and subtraction with objects
Measure the children with everyday objects that correlate with the letter of the week (c-crayons)
Four year olds study the wetlands as their biome in Science. They learn about Louisiana’s vanishing barrier islands, and many of the indigenous animals in this habitat. They do experiments to show the states of matter. Measuring and mixing ingredients to cook various recipes allows them to observe the changes that occur in the physical states of matter. The seasons and corresponding changes in animals, trees and plants are studied. Magnets are fascinating to this age child and many experiments are done with them. A unit on color is studied. An October unit explores the skeletal system - spine, skull, ribs, etc. Additional study about weather, clouds, and wind allows the students to fly kites, create and play with bubbles, and run to “fly” streamers, scarves and balloons. Plants, insects and ladybugs are favorite topics. The five senses are also covered. Each child has an opportunity to be the scientist of the week. They bring experiments to demonstrate to the class.
In the Social Studies program, the children learn about our school environment and how a community works together. Holidays and customs are studied. The roles of the various family members are discussed. Louisiana is a favorite unit of study. Points of interest include culture, customs and cuisine. During USA week, the children learn about the presidents, the White House, and other places to live in our country. Field trips enhance the students’ understanding by providing real life experiences. The four year olds field trips may include a search for all the “Gators on the Go,” the dental office, a children’s concert, a picnic in the park, and a real wetland experience.
Religion is integrated throughout our program. In addition to hearing stories, the children play games and sing songs, act out stories and express their creativity in a variety of art projects. Sharing experiences is encouraged to enhance lessons. The children experience Pre-K chapel in the rotunda of our own wing during the week. The Beginner’s Bible is used to share Bible stories. Helping our neighbors takes many forms of outreach, even at this age. The four year olds collect new socks for area children in need. Operation Christmas Child is a project which involves the students filling shoe boxes with gifts and supplies. They are collected locally and then sent to children in third world countries.
Children are taught the seven habits of highly effective people through The Leader in Me. They learn that each person is a leader at something and is responsible for their own behavior and choices. Each habit has a gesture to help them remember what the habits are. They also learn to use the habits in everyday situations.
Fine motor skills are emphasized in both our phonics and math programs. In addition to these structured programs, centers are utilized throughout our year. The skills of drawing, cutting, gluing, threading and coloring are used in making projects. These centers are related to seasons, holidays, and current math and/or phonic objectives. They are completed using a variety of different media.
In addition to the homeroom teacher, the Pre-K 4 students have specialists teaching them Physical Education, Music, Computer, Library and Art. It is amazing to see four year olds using the computer to draw shapes they have studied or decorating a tree with various colors of leaves using the stamping technique from Kid Pix.
There is a strong school - home connection. The children make many class books that are sent home on a rotating basis. Subject matter includes easy readers, predictable readers, seasonal, holiday and other books that the children create in correlation with units of study. In addition, each child has a binder that is created at school and used at home to complement the over-all program. It can also be used as an immediate assessment tool.
Overall, our program focuses on a total child approach to development. Because the total enrollment in each class is limited to fifteen students, a platform has been established for creating the type of learning communities needed for high levels of achievement by all students. We, as teachers, dedicate ourselves to promoting a happy environment that is conducive to learning.
Some of the special events and field trips that PreK 4 students at Bishop Noland Episcopal Day School get to participate in include (may vary from year to year): Sport Day, Alligator Hunt, Cowboy Day, chapel, Easter Bonnet parade, Letter Bags, Mardi Gras parade, Estimation Jar, Scientist of the week, personality of the week, Christmas Program, Post Card Project, Sports Day, Louisiana Week and much more!
Kindergarten
The Kindergarten program strives to promote a positive approach to learning. We believe that each child should have a good self-image and from the smiles and laughter we see, the program works. Social growth, as well as academic development is emphasized in our program.
Macmillan/McGraw-Hill Beginning to Read, Write, and Listen, is a comprehensive reading, language arts program. It contains and correlates reading, handwriting, auditory and oral language skills for children who do not know how to read or write. Many of our Pre-K 4 students come to kindergarten with beginning reading skills. These children are offered more advanced reading opportunities.
The Kindergarten child reviews the letter names, sounds, and how to write the letters, what sounds the letters represent, and what function the letters serve as their sounds are blended to form words. Each child will read 580 words using their phonics skills as well as 65 sight words. They read independently many supplementary series, write daily in their journals, and complete phonetic workbooks at multi-levels. This series is a multi-sensory program of visual, kinesthetic and auditory activities, which meets the needs of the beginning student. Above all, this reading program produces in the beginning or intermediate student a high degree of involvement and motivation, which is so vital for success at this early stage of learning.
Addison Wesley Everyday Mathematics, Saxon Math, and Sadlier-Oxford are used in our math program. In these programs, the child learns to write numbers 0-31 and the numbers from 31-100 are introduced. In addition to writing numbers 0-31 and counting to 100/counting by 5's and 10's to 100; the children add, subtract, begin fraction concepts, graphing, and estimation, as well as identifying solid figures such as cones, spheres, cubes, rectangular primes, cylinders, etc. Other concepts introduced include time, money and its value, and comparison and patterns. Manipulatives are an important method of introducing and reinforcing mathematical concepts utilizing concrete experiences before abstract experiences.
Geography is an exciting concept for children at this age. Identifying continents and oceans, the poles and equator lead to the biome study of the Arctic Tundra. The children learn 100 animal facts which lead to habitat discussions and critical thinking skills.
Each morning we spend time in circle or group time. This is an important time for each child to feel comfortable sharing experiences with his/her peers, sharing books or just waking up! Each week, a child is featured as our “Artist of the Week”. During circle time, the children discuss the calendar-months of the year, days of the week, and the weather (which we graph). We also count from 1-100 by 5's and 10's. The children recite The Lord’s Prayer and Pledge of Allegiance, and sing America, The Star Spangled Banner and many other patriotic standards. This is also a chance to sing together, have dramatic play, finger plays and just a chance to relax and begin the day in a pleasant way.
Our religion program follows the Southwestern Association of Episcopal School’s religion curriculum. All thirty-six weeks of the school year are assigned a lesson. The three year cycle is repeated so that they students learn about a topic more in depth as they grow older. Kindergarten introduces the Bible lesson during their Chapel services once a week. The Bible story is retold during the week to reinforce it, and personal applications are made. The children are asked to retell the story. Students also participate in the Lord’s Prayer daily. To assist the children in character building and community awareness several projects addressing community needs become important teaching tools. Projects have included collecting socks and canned goods for needy.
Afternoons in Kindergarten are center time. Centers incorporate reading and mathematical concepts being studied as a means to reinforce concepts. Social studies and science concepts are also introduced during center time. The afternoon may feature a special cooking class and a play performed from a children’s classic they have read. We utilize the Discovery Chest, Destination in Science, All Around Me and Science Place programs. We do a science experiment every week. We harvest silk from silk worms, incubate eggs, provide habitat for lady bugs and caterpillars and have many multi sensory science experiences. The centers also emphasize the use of fine motor skills through cutting, gluing and coloring. The objective of the centers is to make learning a fun and successful experience in an unstructured environment.
The children participate in Physical Education, Music, Library, Computer, Spanish and Art. Through these varied experiences the children gain confidence and poise. This is continually expressed in the children’s journaling which allows each child to use growing writing and vocabulary skills.
The Kindergarten program emphasizes the “total” development of the child. Each child needs social growth, as well as academic growth. Our objective is to allow the child to learn his/her greatest capabilities. We strive to provide a positive and healthy atmosphere in order to promote this learning experience.
Some of the special events and field trips that Kindergartener's at Bishop Noland Episcopal Day School get to participate in include (may vary from year to year): Gingerbread Hunt, Pancakes with the Principal/Pajama Day, Circus Day, Puppet Show, Reading with Buddy Bear, Camping Adventure, Class Books (written and illustrated by children), Super Sports Day, Halloween Carnival, Miniature Museum, Thanksgiving Play, Arctic Tundra Science projects, Zero the Hero, Artist of the Week/Month and much more!
