Prekindergarten - The Blue Whale & Stingray Rooms
More than ever, a great pre-school education is crucial to ensure children are ready and eager for Kindergarten. Palcare’s newest program is carefully designed to focus 4-year olds’ enthusiasm for learning! The Pre Kindergarten Program offers a full-day or part-day curriculum that prepares each child to be successful in Kindergarten, whether he or she will be attending a public or a private elementary school.
Our approach includes daily experiences in language, literacy, mathematics, natural science, music and art. Our group size of 18 children, with three credentialed, experienced Pre Kindergarten teachers, plus an Assistant Teacher for each group, ensures that the children will receive individual attention and support for their learning. Everything we plan and do with the children is intended to help them build a strong, solid foundation and a love of learning.
Every week the children have an enrichment class in music and another in movement education in addition to their daily classroom activities. Each child will also participate in the “Book Bag Program,” a wonderful literacy-building experience!
Our curriculum and our faculty meet the new quality guidelines and standards for Preschool for All, the National Association for the Education of Young Children, and the California Department of Education.
Common Questions About Palcare’s Prekindergarten Program
When do children enter the Pre Kindergarten Program?
Children join Palcare’s Pre Kindergarten if they will turn four by December 2nd of that year.
What if my child has a late birthday and I am not sure I will want to send them next year?
Some young children, especially those with birthdays in September, October or December, may benefit from having two years of Pre K. The Pre Kindergarten teachers help parents with this decision by sharing their assessment of each child’s learning, self-confidence and development midway through the year. The gift of a little more time may increase a young child’s confidence and readiness immeasurably! Learning and development is not a race but a complex, rich process.!
How will I know if my child is learning?
To follow each child’s progress, and place emphasis where it is needed, teachers perform a pre kindergarten developmental assessment ( Desired Results Developmental Profile) for each child in the Fall and again in the Spring. A periodic Pre K Newsletter keeps parents informed of the children’s projects and accomplishments. At parent conferences, teachers and parents share information that helps both to understand each child’s learning style, strengths and challenges. We also welcome parents to participate in the classrooms! And we hold two parent meetings to introduce you to Pre K and to advise you about Kindergarten readiness issues.
Isn’t this a child care center? Shouldn’t I be sending my child to a Preschool?
Palcare is a school, which also provides early care and hours that help parents work! First we are an educational institution with a mission to provide the best and most up-to-date in early childhood education. Our dedicated Pre Kindergarten Lead teachers have the education to teach Kindergarten, but prefer to work with this vital, fascinating age just before Kindergarten. With their preparation, Palcare children have gone on to attend the best public and private schools the Bay area has to offer.
Essentials for Kindergarten Readiness!
Develop children’s self-confidence by…
- offering appropriately challenging activities, materials and experiences
- encouraging children to construct curriculum with teachers
- providing time for repetition and practice,
giving each child personal attention.Enhance children’s ability to communicate by presenting many occasions for…
- talking about meaningful experiences
- representing ideas through drawing, construction, dictation, writing and play.
- Reading and discussing books and their own stories
Teach respect for oneself, our peers, our elders and our materials and environment.
Set up and guide children in activities that require cooperation, turn-taking and teamwork such as projects, experiments, and group games.
Promote children’s creativity, imagination and problem-solving abilities through projects, art materials, music, literature, etc.
Help children learn to follow multi-step directions and handle transitions by…
- having realistic, consistent expectations
- using humor
- offering many opportunities to “try again.”
Develop children’s ability to choose, focus on and complete tasks.
Emergent Curriculum
At Palcare the Pre Kindergarten curriculum is negotiated between teachers and children. The children bring their spontaneous, day-to-day discoveries, interests and questions. Their teachers bring their knowledge of child development and their specific learning goals for the children. The curriculum plans EMERGE from both! The teachers harness the energy of the children’s natural curiosity by adopting the children’s ideas and planning activities based on them that incorporate as many learning goals as possible. This approach is a creative, rich process for both children and teachers. It has the added benefit of enhancing children’s self-esteem and self-confidence because they see themselves as the initiators!
Because of our approach we will be reporting to you on what we are or have been working on in the classroom, rather than on what we plan to do next month.
Project Work
Our emergent curriculum approach will eventually lead us to PROJECTS! These are extended, in-depth investigations of a topic, suggested by the children’s interest. Projects involve children in conducting research on phenomena and events worth learning about in their own environments.
In the process, they will pose questions, generate theories and predictions, interview experts, conduct experiments. We will usually finish the project with some kind of culminating event or creation that will symbolize all that the children have learned and give them a way to share this with you. We will ask parents to help us by contributing materials or expertise related to our project topic or helping us to plan the culminating activity.
Pre Kindergarten Content Areas and Competencies
Many of these competencies will begin to emerge in the Pre Kindergarten year and continue to develop in Kindergarten. We will work on these, using our emergent approach, through playful and meaningful activities, small group times, projects, transitions, and outdoor time. Remember : development is not a race!
Language and Literacy
- Enjoy being read to and follow a story in words and pictures
- Can retell basic elements of a simple story
- Pretend read to classmates
- Invent and tell own story
Preparation for Reading
- Recognize, and write the letters in their own name
- Recognize some letter / sound correspondences
- Recognize some familiar words in the classroom
- Recognize and experiment with rhyming words in songs and poems
- Recognize phonemes and syllables through language games and songs
Mathematics
- Count to ten
- Use one to one correspondence to determine if small quantities are the same or different.
- Use an invented unit of measurement to measure
- Recognize shapes and patterns
- Sort by more than one criteria (ie color and shape)
- Order objects by size
- Understand spatial words such as, under, over, above, below
- Understand ordinal concepts such as before and after
- Participate in creation of graphs and charts
Science
- Disposition to be curious
- Can observe and describe objects and phenomena in their immediate experience
- Can make predictions based on experience
- Can engage in experiments to test predictions
- Can generate questions they would like to answer.
- Begin to develop concept of cause and effect.
Art
- Use paint, markers, collage materials, dough, clay, etc to create
- Use drawing and modeling to represent objects or ideas
- Appreciate the importance of works of art – their own and those of others
- Participate in performance as a participant and as member of the audience
Music Education
- Respond rhythmically to music through creative movement and instrumental expression
- Can march or step to a steady beat
- Sing along with others
- Play simple instruments that do not require fine motor skills
- Develop attentive listening habits
Physical Development
- We know that children’s physical and motor development influences, and is influenced by, all other aspects of development: cognitive, language, social and emotional.
Fine Motor Skills
- Show increasing eye-hand coordination, strength and control
- Manipulate two small objects at the same time (e.g., stringing beads)
- Use tools with growing precision (e.g. scissors, hammer, hole punch, pencil)
- Zip zippers
- Fasten buttons
Gross Motor Skills
- Show greater balance and control
- Able to speed up and slow down
- Able to run and stop quickly
- Can jump, skip and dance
- Able to avoid obstacles
- Can climb stairs without holding onto railing
- Can pedal a tricycle
- Kick a ball
Pre-K Daily Schedule
Children experience several special periods during their day (and evening), no matter what their schedule:
Circle Time, the children come together in a small group to hear what is planned for the day, sing songs, create music or dance.
Small Group Time, when teachers invite a small group of children to work together on a project or teacher-planned activity in the morning and afternoon. (See Emergent Curriculum and Project Work.
Work Time, when the various learning centers around the classroom are available to the children to work alone or in small groups. Teachers station themselves around the room to help children find the materials they need to accomplish their goals, to help them negotiate with other children during play and to surprise the children with ideas they may not have considered. The learning centers include the library, dramatic play, art and construction, computer, blocks, manipulatives and puzzles, science and natural history, language and music.
Outside Play several times during the day for really active play.
Enrichment Classes, one in music and another in movement education, are offered every week in addition to the classroom daily activities.