Pre-K Goals & Curriculum - The Ramaz School

Pre-K Goals & Curriculum - The Ramaz School
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Pre-K Goals & Curriculum
The Pre-K child’s world is rapidly expanding.
While the children are very much focused on themselves and their families, they also are excited to learn about the world around them. Children at this age are developing both their independence and sociability. Children in Pre-K have a lot of energy and curiosity and our classrooms offer innovative and hands on experiences to support their enthusiasm for learning. Inquiry and play continue to be the vehicle through which children learn in Pre-K. Language, emergent literacy, math, collaboration, and cooperation continue to help the children build the strong foundational skills to succeed in school and life.
In Pre-K, our children are immersed in a bilingual environment, in which one teacher in each classroom speaks to the children only in Hebrew, while the other two teachers speak in English.
Themes for this year may include
Rosh Hashana
Animals
Sukkot
Transportation
Construction
Family
The Four Seasons
The Five Senses
Self
Shapes
Voting
Thanksgiving
Musical Instruments
Chanukah
Tu B’Shvat
Trees
Flowers
Purim
Israel
Pesach
Yom Ha’Atzmaut
Shavuot
The Pre-K curriculum offers both new thematic curriculum and previously experienced and now expanded units that incorporate the more developed cognitive abilities of the Pre-K child. The teacher will select themes that are appropriate for the class and make changes that reflect the interests of the children. We encourage emergent curriculum in our Pre-K program. Throughout the day, block play, dramatic play, art activities, sand and water play, outdoor play, cooking, circle time, story time, and music all facilitate growth and development. At this age, children enjoy dramatic and fantasy play, and we encourage children to use their imaginations and creativity in their play. Dramatic play helps children develop language that is more vivid and spontaneous. Many of these activities are experienced in small groups to ensure that each child is actively engaged in all parts of our program.
While understanding that children develop and mature as individuals at different rates, there are basic milestones that each child should reach through the Pre-K experience. Through daily interaction with other children, teachers, and materials, children will continue to develop in the following areas throughout the year:
SOCIAL/EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
COGNITIVE
FINE MOTOR
GROSS MOTOR
JEWISH LIFE
LANGUAGE
HEBREW
MATHEMATICAL CONCEPTS
EMERGENT LITERACY
Social/Emotional Development
Pre-K children should be able to:
Gain increased self-confidence.
Use increasingly complex words.
Play inclusively.
Initiate play or integrate into others’ play.
Be flexible in role playing.
Wait patiently while taking turns.
Accept limits.
Share.
Show respect for people and property.
Respect personal property.
Resolve conflicts verbally.
Make eye contact.
Display curiosity.
Take risks.
Develop independence.
Accept responsibility for own actions.
Delay gratification.
Tolerate frustration.
Make transitions.
Accept changes.
Cognitive
Pre-K children should be able to:
Be curious.
Follow directions.
Master and complete tasks.
Extend one’s attention span.
Share their knowledge.
Follow multi-step directions.
Show interest in subject matter.
Ask or answer questions on task.
Appreciate discoveries.
Remember events and information.
Share knowledge.
Express fears.
Struggle with distinguishing between truth and fiction.
Fine Motor
Pre-K children should be able to:
Manipulate small objects.
Be independent eaters.
Cut and snip with scissors.
Easily manipulate puzzle pieces.
Scribble.
Correctly hold a pencil.
Trace.
Copy lines and shapes.
Zipper clothes.
Write name using capital and lower case letters.
Form letters and numbers (through copying).
Gross Motor
Pre-K children should be able to:
Sit on a chair without falling off.
Walk up stairs using alternating feet.
Walk without using handrails.
Begin to walk down stairs, alternating feet.
Run easily.
Kick a ball forward.
Throw a ball.
Catch a ball.
Jump with both feet.
Hop.
Climb.
Balance on one foot.
Pedal a tricycle.
Have awareness of body in space.
Keep appropriate physical distance from others.
Jewish Life
Pre-K children should be able to:
Develop a Jewish identity.
Develop a sense of pride in being Jewish.
Gain a love of Israel.
Learn about the Jewish holidays and Shabbat.
Gain an understanding and love of prayers.
Learn about different
minhagim
(Jewish customs).
Learn and recite
brachot
before eating.
Wash hands before eating bread.
Recite
birkat hamazon
after eating (first paragraph,
Nodeh
, and
Oseh Shalom
).
Wear kippot/hats (boys).
Wear
tzizit
(boys).
Learn the following
tefillot
Modeh Ani
Reishit Chachma
Bracha
on
Tzizit
Ma Tovu
Shma
Torah
Adon Olam
Light candles, say Kiddush, cut challah, and sing Shabbat songs at the Shabbat party.
Learn
parsha
stories from
Bereshit
to the beginning of
Shemot
Yitziyat Mitzrayim
).
Participate in Shabbat Oneg every Friday.
Language
Pre-K children should be able to:
Receptive Language
Understand and follow multi-step directions.
Understand stories read aloud.
Understand the plot of a story.
Recognize common objects and pictures.
Expressive Language
Create stories from imagination based on prior knowledge or experience.
Use fuller, more complex sentences.
Take turns in conversation.
Verbally share experiences.
Sing songs.
Act out others' roles.
Tell and retell stories.
Discuss the plot of a story.
Tell simple story events in sequence.
Express ideas.
Ask questions.
Hebrew
Continuing to build on what was learned in Nursery, Pre-K children will:
Be able to understand the Hebrew spoken in the classroom (receptive).
Be able to use repetitive patterns throughout the day (expressive).
Know songs, stories, and dances that are appropriate and are integral to the curriculum.
Be able to recognize all the pronouns and several verbs, and can say sentences in present tense with a pattern.
Begin the next phase of Chalav u’Dvash.
Mathematical Concepts
Pre-K children should be able to:
Count 1- 10 (in sequence) and attempt to count higher.
Count objects by touching and naming one item at a time.
Match one digit with each object.
Have one-to-one correspondence.
Be able to put 1-10 blocks in order from smallest to largest (seriation, magnitude).
Understand size vocabulary to compare two items (big, small, bigger than smaller than, smallest, too big, too small).
Understand and use positional vocabulary (comes next, next to, before, after, in between).
Understand positional vocabulary with other manipulatives (inside, outside, on, under, in front of, behind, on top, over, under).
Use ordinal position words (points to the first and last in a series).
Identify the number that comes next in a number sequence of 1-20.
Identify the numerical value of pattern boards 1-6 and 10.
Respond to addition situations that require the joining of one more object to a predetermined set (with manipulatives).
Respond to subtraction situations that require taking away one object from a predetermined set (with manipulatives).
Understand that a whole can be divided into two smaller units.
Use manipulatives to name combinations of two addends that are the same length as 10 and describe them (“two and eight make 10”).
Be able to identify the name of a digit if a teacher points to numbers 1-5.
Be able to separate disparate objects into organized groups according to one of the following attributes: color, shape, and size.
Recognize and continue a pattern – begin with AB and grow to more complex patterns.
Recognize simple shapes (square, circle, rectangle, diamond, oval, heart).
Use language to compare objects (long, short, wide, tall, high).
Emergent Literacy
Pre-K children should be able to:
Know that written symbols have meaning and lead to letter recognition and identification (i.e., knowing names).
Recall beginning/middle/end of story (sequencing).
Recall stories independently.
Dictate a story.
Retell a story in his or her own words.
Recognize front, middle, and end of book.
Recognize own name.
Recognize classmate’s names.
Recognize the upper case letters of the alphabet (both in and out of sequence).
Begin to recognize lower case letters.
Recognize signs in their environment.
Recognize rhyming words.
Begin to rhyme simple words.
Recognize familiar words (e.g., the class schedule).
Write first name.
Begin to make a connection between letters and their sounds.
Begin to recognize the beats in a word (syllables).