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While utilizing The Project Approach as well as certain components of Creative Curriculum, our Senior Pre-K curriculum is designed to develop verbal skills, reading, writing, mathematics, phonics, environment and science. Children will use a multitude of multi-sensory experiences throughout the day.

Our  goal is to provide a nurturing environment within which the  developmental need of each child will be met. Readiness skills will be  strengthened prior to the Kindergarten experience. We recognize the  uniqueness of each child. The pace may differ from student to student,  but all children will be guided to develop their thinking process to  their fullest abilities. Our purpose is to enable the children to  continue their enthusiasm to become self-motivated students, eager and  ready to learn.

The curriculum for our Senior Pre-Kindergarten  classes will emphasize pre-reading, pre-math, and early handwriting  skills. We are aligning our program with the New Rochelle School  District and will be using the "Handwriting Without Tears" program.

Walking  field trips will be on a monthly basis to various locations in the  local area that are associated with the unit of study.Weekly visits to our nature trail and Roosevelt park are scheduled.

All aspects of our Senior Pre-K program is guided by the New York State Prekindergarten Standards for the Common Core.

Each  child's self-esteem is crucial to healthy, intellectual, and social  growth. Successful learning experiences, based on the child's level of  readiness, develop students and help them excel. With our supportive and  nurturing staff, the students experience a variety of academic and age  appropriate challenges within the presented curriculum.
In addition, Spanish Immersion  is offered once a week for one hour; an hour Spanish lesson followed by  Miss Paola immersing in play with the children conversing in Spanish  only.

Reading Readiness

All  of our Pre-K students engage in a rich array of language experiences  that introduce children to reading and writing. We have both structured  and unstructured activities, and use flannel boards, puppets, dramatic  play, and children's literature to develop comprehension skills, visual  and auditory discrimination skills, the use of the written word, and  foster a love of reading..

Senior Pre-K Students:

• listen to a wide variety of literature and talk about personal experiences
• demonstrate comprehension by retelling
• follow a set of verbal directions to complete a task
• use pre-writing strategies such as drawing pictures and dictating stories
• develop vocabulary, use appropriate language, and ask questions for information
• chime in with rhyming pairs and repeated/predictable phrases
• recite poems, songs, chants
• names some of the letters of the alphabet and in some cases, both upper and lower case
• learns the sounds of the letters of the alphabet
• understands how print is organized and read (reading top to bottom, left to right, sweeping back for the next line)

Math

In  our Pre- K programs, various manipulative materials are used to develop  mathematical thinking, including counting, number and numeral  recognition, and one-to-one correspondence. We use number  and geometric patterning activities such as graphing and charting,  games, and collections to reinforce number skills. Students develop  problem-solving by practicing sorting and classifying objects in the  classroom.

Our Pre-K students:

• Count orally from one to fifteen; identify and write numerals zero to ten in and out of sequence
  
• Start to understand equal to, more than, or less than the other
  
• Recognize geometric shapes and patterns
  
• Sort and classify objects according to selected characteristics, such as by size or ordinal position (first, third...)
  
• Describe concepts of time (morning, evening, yesterday, tomorrow), temperature (hot or cold), and weight (heavier or lighter)
  
• Demonstrate the ability to solve a pictorial representation of simple addition and subtraction problems
  

Science

Awareness  and appreciation of science are developed through a focus on hands-on  investigations. Students observe, predict, sequence, analyze, andapplyknowledge they have learned. The Big Idea of Sustainability is also fostered in our Senior Pre-K Classrooms.

Music

Weekday offers all of our classrooms music once a week with Miss Patti.  Children learn about rhythm, keeping the beat, musical story telling with puppets and props and will also explore difference genres of music such as classical, opera, jazz  and even reggae. Each student develops a strong sense of musical  self-worth. Activities include listening, singing, and physical response  to the rhythm of music.

Make sure to check out Miss Patti on her website. www.nyartsmart.com

By the end of the year, each Pre-K student should master these SOCIAL/FINE MOTOR SKILLS:

• Cooperate with the children during group lessons or activities
  
• Develop self help skills
  
• Work independently
  
• Follow multi-step directions
  
• Hold writing utensils correctly
  
• Use scissors
  
• Perform fine and gross motor movements
  
• Zip, button and unbutton jackets, shirts, etc.
  

Each of our Senior Pre-K classrooms will be set up in "work areas" and "play areas" to facilitate better socialization between students. Several activity centers will be dispersed around the classroom.

Examples of these might be:

• Art Area with paint, watercolors & glue as well as a variety of writing tools and design mediums.
  
• Dramatic Play Area that changes with the interest of the children
  
• Constructive Play Area with blocks, manipulative toys and structured games
  
• Writing Area for practicing proper pencil grasp and letter formation.
  
•   Reading/Quiet area
  
•   Science area with tools thatallow for exploration and experimentation.
  

STEM CURRICULUM AT WEEKDAY
Science, technology, engineering and math are linked together in what is called “STEM” curriculum. If we break down this term into it’s parts, we see that much of it is already happening here at Weekday.

Science  can be planting seeds, mixing materials together to make a change,  rolling objects down a ramp, sorting rocks by color, and touching  objects with a magnet to test for attraction to the magnet, all the  while recording and thinking about what happened.

Technology   can be working with computers as well as on our SmartBoard, but also  using other tools such as flashlights and digital cameras. 

Engineering in preschool is easy to engineer, in the block area. There  children are planning and designing structures every day with little  teacher direction. Measuring is easy too, especially if the blocks are  unit blocks where every two make one of the next size up.

Math  in our pre- K programs consists of  various manipulative materials that  are used to develop mathematical thinking, including counting, number  and numeral recognition, and one-to-one correspondence. We use number and  geometric patterning activities such as graphing and charting, games,  and collections to reinforce number skills. Students develop  problem-solving by practicing sorting and classifying objects in the  classroom. Measuring, patterning, sorting, counting by rote, 1-1  correspondence as well as understanding concepts such as “more”, “less”,  “bigger” & “smaller” are additional concepts the children learn.