Preprimary (PreK – K)
Preprimary focuses on orienting the child to a formal academic setting while meeting developmental needs and fostering independence, confidence, purposeful movement, and refinement of senses.
Ages: 3 -6
Grades: PreK – K
In the Classroom
Preprimary has three self-contained classroom environments. There is a lead teacher and fulltime assistant in each. Preschoolers stay until 11:30am while Kindergarten students remain all day.
The Preprimary curriculum includes Practical Life, Sensorial, Mathematics and Geometry, Language Arts and Cultural Subjects (integrated Science, Social Studies, History and Geography). The hands-on materials provide sensorial connections to build motor memory and support the absorbent mind, which allows the child to learn in a seemingly effortless manner. Language development is supported extensively as the child develops a vast working vocabulary and begins to decode, spell, read and write.
Homework
There is no formal homework in the Preprimary environments. Families are asked to read nightly with their children. As children emerge as readers, phonetic books are sent home so that children can share this new skill with parents.
Field Trips
In the Fall of each year the Preprimary environments visit a farm. They go on a hayride, visit the pumpkin patch, and enjoy learning about the growing and harvesting cycle.
Kindergarten students will sometimes also have an additional field trip related to their cultural studies, i.e. Art Museum, Nature Center, etc.
Technology
There is no use of technology in the Preprimary environments. Periodically teachers will show an instructional video to Kindergarten students that correspond to their cultural studies.
