Preschool Programs and Curriculum
The programs at Children of The Woodlands have been designed to promote the development of the whole child. Our curriculum is developed through teacher observations and evaluation of each child. Concepts and skills are introduced which are appropriate to each child’s stage of development and which reinforce social, emotional, physical, spiritual and cognitive growth. Our programs provide part day learning opportunities for children ages 18 months through Kindergarten. All of our classes participate in our Music and Motor program and Chapel.
We believe that a major determinant of the quality of an early childhood program is the degree to which the program is developmentally appropriate. Teaching strategies in such a program are based on how children learn. Child development theorist, Jean Piaget, demonstrated that learning results from the interaction of a child’s own thinking and his /her experiences in the external world. With this understanding, the role of the teacher is that of a facilitator or guide. The teacher creates a rich classroom environment that stimulates and challenges children. She then closely observes to see what children understand and then poses additional challenges to push their thinking further. Through this observation, teachers learn what motivates the children and uses this knowledge to create and environment where children question, investigate, experiment and invent. In other words, the children learn by doing. Learning information in a meaningful context is the goal in a developmentally appropriate program.
Music and Motor
The music and motor program is taught by the staff from Ms. Boni’s. A classroom teacher also attends with their students at all times. Gross motor skills are enhanced through fun, age-appropriate movement activities. Children attend music and motor everyday.
Chapel
Our children have an opportunity to attend chapel each week. Children’s Minister presents age-appropriate Bible stories with songs and activities. A note will be sent home with chapel details.
Transition Curriculum
School readiness is not magically achieved on a child’s fifth birthday. Readiness is built on years of experience that support the development of a child’s cognitive, physical, social, emotional, and language skills. Before children can master academic tasks, they need time to pretend, build, climb, draw, question, and observe.
It is important to look at children from a developmental perspective when considering school year placement. Developmental readiness considers chronological age, social and emotional stability, physical abilities, and cognitive understanding. The child’s social, emotional, and physical development are equally as important as cognitive development because they can determine the child’s school success. It is important to remember that children mature at slightly different rates. A child’s developmental age may or may not correspond to his chronological age. At Children of The Woodlands we rely heavily on teacher’s recommendations for placement.
Children of The Woodlands offers a transition class (a class after four year old preschool and before kindergarten) that provides children the extra time they may need for maturation if they are to be successful in school.
Learning centers in our transition classroom provide opportunities for children to develop social skills, set goals, make decisions, use individual learning styles, work at their own pace, develop creativity, and communicate ideas.
In the dramatic play center, children develop communication skills. The reading-writing center provides opportunities for reading readiness, letter recognition, creativity, vocabulary, and fine motor skill development.
The block area encourages shape and size discrimination, spatial relationships, balance, cause and effect, cooperation, measurement, and physical coordination. The sensory table and the science center allow mathematical and scientific experimentation. In these centers children will explore, discover, measure, investigate, problem solve, and predict.
In the art and manipulative centers, children will develop eye-hand coordination and fine motor skills. Colors, shapes, counting, and patterning will be evident here as well. The listening and music center will allow development of listening and comprehension skills and rhythm and coordination.
Circle time in the transition classroom will be rich in literature and phonemic awareness. Students need to have a strong understanding of spoken language before they can understand written language. Knowledge of how language works is called phonemic awareness. Songs, fingerplays, and games encourage children to manipulate sounds and "play with language". Phonemic awareness activities during the transition circle time will provide a sold foundation for the development of reading and writing skills.
Shared Reading will also be an important part of circle time. Shared Reading is an interactive reading session involving the whole class or small groups. After introducing the story, the teacher reads it and then discusses it with the children. On subsequent readings, children join in on key words and phrases that they know. The children read more and more of the text in subsequent rereadings until they are able to read it independently. Shared Reading allows opportunities to teach skills and reading strategies through mini lessons and is a valuable method for teaching reading.
Kindergarten Curriculum
At Children of The Woodlands we provide a stimulating environment where children will develop a solid foundation for further learning and a positive attitude toward school. We teach a love of learning.
The State Board of Education has adopted a set of learning standards known as the Texas Academic Knowledge and Skills (TAKS). These standards identify what Texas students should know and be able to do at every grade level. The kindergarten curriculum at Children of The Woodlands has been designed to meet or exceed the TAKS in the four foundation areas of English/Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies. Our curriculum encourages authentic learning experiences in the foundation areas woven together in an integrated curriculum that is literature-based and offered in a print–rich environment.
In Language Arts, kindergarten children at Children of The Woodlands will experience a balanced literacy program where learning will involve children in all modes of communication: reading, writing, listening, speaking, observing, illustrating, experiencing, doing, and creating. Phonemic awareness instruction will help children understand, use, and apply oral language. It will allow children to play with language and is a prerequisite to confident reading skills. When the child is ready he or she will learn to read by reading and learn to write by writing. The student will use all three reading cue systems: semantic (meaning), syntactic (grammatical structures), and graphophonic (phonics).
Shared, guided, and independent reading, as well as shared, interactive, and independent writing will be evident in our kindergarten classrooms. Weekly visits to the school library provide opportunities for the children to select additional literature for independent, pleasure reading.
In Mathematics, kindergarten students will have opportunities to practice math skills in an appropriate, developmental sequence and build a solid conceptual understanding through the use of hands-on experiences with math manipulatives. In each fundamental area, activities and understanding will move from concrete to symbolic to abstract. The children will learn about spatial relationships, classification, patterning, one-to-one correspondence, ordering, numeration, shapes, measurement, time, money, addition, and subtraction.
Science instruction in kindergarten will encourage the development of scientific inquiry and critical thinking skills. Kindergarten students will make observations, infer, and question. They will develop skills to compare, classify, chart, graph, and observe change. Thematic units may include living organisms, the seasons, day and night, health, and the natural world.
In kindergarten Social Studies children will learn about history, citizenship, and culture. Computer, fine art learning centers, Christian education, music/motor instruction, and in-house field trips provide additional curriculum enrichment in kindergarten at Children of The Woodlands.