Three Year Curriculum
What do you do with a Three Year Old?
Curriculum Highlights
SOCIAL SKILLS including
Friends, Family, I am Special, Valentines, America
Child gains the ability to:
- Play cooperatively and appropriately with other children;
- Affirm a positive self image;
- Use appropriate problem solving skills, by practicing confidently introducing him or herself and sharing a family photo with the class.
- Develop fine motor and self esteem skills while drawing the family
- Grow in self esteem and spiritual awareness as children review a film strip about how God made us each special.
Understand at a preschool level about the Valentine’s celebration of love. - Respect himself and others, and our country.
LANGUAGE and PRE LITERACY SKILLS including:
Receptive skills (listening):
- In group time, children practice staying on topic.
- At the craft table, children follow directions
- In the classroom children ability learn to listen and respond to class rules.
Expressive skills:
- In circle time, each child is encouraged to take part orally.
- During ‘free play’ at centers, children learn to talk to others.
- At the dramatic play center, children create oral story lines.
Pre literacy skills:
- Working toward recognition and writing of own name.
- Becoming aware of how books work
- Working on his or her journal throughout the year.
EXPLORING MATHEMATICAL CONCEPTS including
- Snacks in colors and shapes reinforce recognition of shapes and colors. . Free play using:
- Manipulatives that reinforce shape and number words
- Sets of similar objects in the sensory tub help skills of quantification grow
- Circle time using:
- Fingerplays, songs and instruments to help with counting*
EXPLORATION OF SCIENCE :
Child gains-
- Vocabulary, science knowledge and observation skills as children
- go on a pumpkin hunt at school,
- cook, bake and taste apples and pumpkin seeds
Science concepts and vocabulary growth as children
- talk about how we dress for each season, **
- look at what animals do in winter,
- observe how trees change across the seasons,
- visit with farm animals.
- Knowledge about life cycles from caterpillars to butterflies as children explore about God*s wonderful Spring*
- Observation skills as children watch the daily weather,and explore the changes of season.
CHILD HEALTH AND SAFETY including
- The body, heart, food and child safety
- Learning about our body and the function of the heart.
- Learning how to stay safe as they
- talk about what a stranger is
- Think about everyday safety.
- Explore nutrition concepts as children look at, touch and taste the variety in food groups.
CHRISTIAN HOLIDAYS
CHRISTMAS
Children learn about Jesus’ birthday and the joy of Christmas
EASTER
Children explore the Easter meaning of new life as they work on Easter crafts, and hunt for eggs.
SPECIAL EVENTS:
The 3’s classes can enjoy off site field trips and on site visitors. Trips include a late winter trip to a local exploring garden and another trip to Sharon Woods Park to meet with a naturalist for a spring walk. On Site special events include a pumpkin hunt, and a visit from Farmer Frank. Many other visitors come to the entire school: musician, storytellers, the Zoo or Natural History Museum and others.
CAREFUL EVALUATION
Teachers evaluate each child twice yearly to keep parents up to date. Presentation of written progress assessments in the winter and spring, as well as twice yearly conferences gives parents understandable and useful information. This can help with future decisions about how their child is functioning in the classroom and possible future placement for your child. Additionally, the private, in person conferences give parents of threes insight about how their child is progressing in the classroom.
EXPERIENCED STAFF
Teachers at SUMC Nursery School have a solid background in child development as well as current knowledge of First Aid, CPR, Communicable Disease and Child Abuse Prevention.
