Pre-Kindergarten
Why Pre-Kindergarten? Our Pre-Kindergarten is a unique place for children that will turn four by or five after September 30. Read on to learn a little more about how we, The Learning Garden, encourage age appropriate development of your typical four and five year old….
The children may have appeared to “just be playing” when you visited the classroom, but did you know that “play” is children’s work? Our goal in Pre-Kindergarten is to teach the whole child by providing a nurturing, secure, structured environment in which learning can 
take place. Our teachers focus on giving personal attention to each child by using developmentally appropriate methods, and implementing high academic standards. These early learning years are important; a time when good habits are developed and character formation begins.
When it comes to learning, four-year-olds are developing greater self-control and ingenuity. Their pretend play is more complex and imaginative and can be sustained for longer periods. They can also make plans and complete tasks. Four-year-olds want to try new experiences. They also want to be more self-reliant and seek to expand the areas of their lives where they can be independent decision-makers.
The language skills of four-year-olds expand rapidly. They begin communicating in complex and compound sentences, have very few pronunciation errors and expand their vocabularies daily. They can follow multi-step directions and understand explanations given for things they can see. Four-year-olds frequently initiate conversations and are less likely to change the subject of conversation to areas of personal interest. They are also getting better at sharing personal experiences without prompts from adults.
Four-year-olds are building their knowledge of 
written language. They want to know what words in their environment say and can recognize many letters. By the end of this year, many children understand that letters and their sounds are in spoken words and may reading some words with familiar sounds. Most children also are capable of writing legible letters and know that writing goes from left-to-right and top to bottom.
Four-year-olds have an increased capacity for learning math concepts. They use logical reasoning to solve everyday problems and can effectively use language to compare and describe objects and shapes. They can count to "ten," recognize written numerals "0" to "9" and add and subtract using numbers up to "four." Four-year-olds know some variations of a circle, square, triangle and rectangle. They know days of the week, months and the seasons, but still cannot tell time.
Children this age can engage in long periods of active play and exercise. They are skillful at walking, climbing, jumping, hopping, skipping, marching and galloping. They also are better able to throw, catch, kick and bounce balls. Improved finger dexterity allows them to hold writing tools with a more mature, tripod grip. Advances in hand-eye coordination help four-year-olds do puzzles, play with toys that have small parts and dress and undress without assistance.
Emotionally, four-year-olds continue to learn what causes certain feelings and realize that others may react to the same situation differently. They have learned to better manage intense emotions with coping strategies like talking it out or drawing a picture. Four-year-olds also show further progress in their social interactions with peers, such as by smoothly joining in a group play situation, being sympathetic to others, or suggesting ways to resolve conflicts.
In exploring the creative arts, children this age can identify changes in pitch, tempo, loudness and musical duration. They can sing songs of their own creation as well as memorized ones. Their art begins to be more realistic and may incorporate letters. Four-year-olds love to dance and are able to move rhythmically and smoothly. Their dramatic play is highly imaginative and now has the structure of specific scenarios, like going to the grocery store or rescuing a cat stuck in a tree.
Four-year-olds approach the world with great curiosity and use their imaginations to help understand it. Hands-on explorations help them to separate reality from fantasy. They can participate in the planning and implementation of simple scientific investigations and over the course of the year will increase their abilities to make observations, gather information, compare data, identify patterns, describe and discuss observations and form explanations and generalizations. At year’s end your four year old will not just be “ready for school” but LOVE it!
We understand that beginning a new program can be a difficult transition for the parent and child. We encourage you to bring your child by several times to get familiar with their teacher and the classroom. Once your child has been added to the role, (first week tuition holds your spot and keeps you from having to pay on their first day) just call and let us know when you would like to stop by. Remember we are here for you and your family anytime you have questions, please just call. Thanks again for your time and consideration of our preschool. We look forward to hearing from you very soon.
