Pre-Kindergarten

General Philosophy
WE ARE A CHILD-CENTERED PROGRAM that serves as a transition from a nursery or pre-school program to a full day kindergarten program by developing their social, emotional, and thinking skills.

Goals
1. Develop fine motor skills,
2. Develop gross motor skills.
3. Develop reading readiness
4. Develop math readiness
5. Social adjustment and development.
6. Develop Jewish identity.

Fine Motor Skills
a) holding a pencil properly
b) learning to write name
c) learning to use a pair of scissors
d) learning how to sew
e) learning how to use glue
f) learning how to hold a paint brush
g) learning to work with clay

Gross Motor Skills
a) skipping
b) hopping
c) jumping throwing
d) catching
e) bouncing a ball

Develop Reading Readiness
a) Visual discrimination- recognizing letters of the alphabet
b) Auditory discrimination- recognizing the sound of the letters
c) Vocabulary development
d) Comprehension
e) Language development
f) Recognition and appreciation of literature
g) Following directions

Develop Math Readiness
a) learning numerals 1-10 and their relationships
b) learning to write numerals
c) shapes
d) more and less
e) 1st, 2nd, last
f) calendar recognition
g) thermometer recognition- learning about mercury

Social Adjustment and Development
a) respecting others, respecting property
b) respecting rules
c) develop flexibility
d) develop self-esteem- building confidence and self-worth
e) manners
f) good health habits
g) responsibility- taking care of belongings and clean-up
h) becoming independent
i) develop self-control and self-awareness

Develop Jewish Identity
a) Shabbat and why we celebrate it
b) Bible Stories
c) Introduction to Hebrew vocabulary and recognition of Hebrew alphabet
d) All Jewish holidays
e) Morning prayers (see P-K Daily Schedule), blessings for each food we eat during snack time, and blessings before and after we eat meals.

Our P-K Curriculum

Reading Readiness
Our reading readiness program is based on Frog Street Press. The series we are using is called The Sing and Read Alphabet Collection. Included in this series:
    • Bright, colorful stories for emergent reading
    • Reproducible little books for children to color and take home
    • CDs that feature familiar tunes, from Apple Annie to Zelda Zebra to reinforce each letter story,
      sound recognition and build vocabulary and language skills.

To supplement this program we are using work books based on Ginn and Company’s Animal Crackers. .

We are also using Frog Street Press Sing and Read Shape Books. Included in this series:
    • Reproducible shape books for children to color and take home.
    • CDs that feature familiar tunes from Cindy Circle to Trixie Triangle.

The entire program covers the following:
    • Shapes and colors
    • Visual discrimination
    • Auditory discrimination
    • Vocabulary development
    • Comprehension
    • Life and study skills
    • Language development
    • Recognition and appreciation of literature

Shapes and colors constitute the following: circle, square, triangle, rectangle, oval, diamond, heart and star, the colors red, blue and light blue, yellow, green, orange purple, pink, magenta, brown, black, and white. (These colors are also covered in our Hebrew language curriculum.)

Visual Discrimination covers visual matching, same-different, and entire alphabet recognition, (both upper and lower case.)

Auditory discrimination covers identifying and imitating sounds, sound matching, matching words that begin with the same sounds, rhyming, and covering the entire alphabet.

Vocabulary development includes relationships, big, bigger, biggest, first, next, last, over, under, in front of, behind, and between, beginning, middle and end.

Comprehension deals with picture and story detail, And sequencing- first two, and then three events, i.e. what happened first, next, and last.

Life and study skills derive from and contribute to comprehension. Study skills include write name, draw a circle around, draw a line under or to, cut and paste, follow directions.

Language development stresses telling stories, pantomiming, dramatizing stories, and creating story endings.

Math Readiness
Our Math Readiness program uses McGraw Hill Mathematics. The topics we cover in P-K are:

Introduction
a) All, some, none,
b) Always, maybe, never
c) Before, after
d) Day, night
e) Days of the week
f) Shapes

Chapters
a) Top, middle, bottom
b) Inside, outside
c) Over, under, behind
d) Sorting by one attribute
e) Sorting by 2 attributes
f) Sorting by order and size
g) More, fewer
h) Patterns
i) Number recognition 1-10

General Studies
Our general studies curriculum includes the following holidays:
a) Columbus Day
b) Thanksgiving
c) Martin Luther King Day
d) President’s Day (George Washington, Abraham Lincoln)
e) Mother’s Day
f) Memorial Day
g) Father’s Day

Science
a) Four seasons
b) Weather, thermometer, mercury
c) Solids, liquids
d) Shadows
e) Wind
f) Sound
g) Plants
h) Insects (we grow butterflies), and learn all about honey bees.
i) Animals and hibernation

Music and Literature
An integral part of every day includes music and a story. Children are read stories either just for fun or to compliment the unit of study we are working on. We learn songs both in English and Hebrew to also re-enforce what we have learned, and for pure musical enjoyment

Judaic Studies
A portion of our Judaic studies center around the following Jewish holidays:

When we learn about all these holidays, we always have a hands-on project to reinforce what we have learned, plus stories and music reflecting each holiday. Also included in our Judaic Studies are the following stories in the Bible:

A Shabbat Party is held every Friday afternoon. We learn the blessing over the candles, the wine, and the challah. At the conclusion of our party we have a Shabbat treat as we listen to a special Shabbat story and sing Shabbat songs.
Our Hebrew curriculum consists of Hebrew Alphabet recognition, and a wealth of new vocabulary words. We begin with colors, and learn many objects in the room, along with words associated with the holidays and 4 seasons. We sing many Hebrew songs and we learn and recognize our Hebrew names.

P-K Daily Schedule

8:30 A.M.
Arrival of children, weekly helpers chosen, (Monday only)

8:30 – 9:00
Social and play time at tables

9:00 – 9:15
Circle time- opening exercises- good morning song in Hebrew, Prayers, (Modeh Ani, 2 Torah songs, Shema, Oseh Shalom, Ma Tovu, Ayn Keloheynu, Adon O Lom to lots of different melodies), Pledge of Allegiance, Patriotic song (Yankee Doodle Dandy, Make America Proud of You, You’re a Grand Old Flag), two degel (flag) songs in Hebrew, Hatikvah, calendar, and weather.

9:15 – 9:30
Discussion: unit of study

9:30 – 9:40
Bathroom break

9:40 – 10:00
Reading readiness activity

10:00 – 10:15
Snack Time!

10:15 – 10:30
Math readiness activity

10:30 – 11:00
Hands on project to coordinate with unit of study

11:00 – 11:25
Free play activity (blocks, dolls corner, easel painting, manipulative and construction toys, floor puzzles, play dough, clay, etc.)

11:25 – 11:30
Bathroom break

11:30 – 12:15
Lunch!

12:20 – 12:50
Birkat Hamazon and Harachamon, 3 minute rest, and Outdoor recess

12:50 – 1:00
Story

1:00 – 1:15
Music and rhythm activity

1:15 – 1:50
Free Play

1:50 – 2:00
Clean up, review day’s activities, dismissal

The above schedule does not reflect any of our specialties which take place once a week. See last page for a complete list of our special classes.

Our Specialties
Our P-K children are very fortunate to be able to participate in all the special classes the JDS has to offer. Each class is offered once a week.

a) Science
b) Art
c) Computers
d) Gym
e) Library
f) Music

Free Play
Our free playtime is one of the most important components of our curriculum. Through play, children learn to build knowledge by exploring and experiencing. The following skills are learned and reinforced during this time:
a) Independent thinking-making choices
a) Creativity and invention
a) Spatial relationships
a) Fine motor
a) Attribute matching, colors and shapes
a) Critical thinking
a) Flexibility
a) Ability to follow through and complete activity
a) Social and emotional development
     1. Sharing and taking turns
     2. Communication
           a) resolving conflicts
           a) expressing feelings
           a) consideration of others’ feelings
           a) asking for help when needed
     3. Responsibility, clean-up
     4. Self-esteem (building confidence)
     5. Following directions and rules.

The following activities and materials are available to our children during this time:
a) Matching games
b) Board games
c) Sewing cards, stringing activities etc.
d) Sorting activities
e) Pattern blocks
f) Geometric shapes for creating designs and figures
g) Pegs for creating patterns
h) Magnetic boards for creating designs, and using both upper and lower case letter for simple spelling and word recognition.
i) Sequencing cards
j) Floor and table puzzles
k) Wooden and waffle blocks

Manipulatives
    1. Bristle blocks
    2. Legos and Duplos
    3. Mobilos
    4. Interstars
    5. Gears
    6. Magneatos
    7. Build-A-Saurus
    8. Build-A-Bug
    9. Snap and build
    10. Flexi-Blocks
    11. Action figures
    12. Animals
    13. Clay