1. Pre-K Curriculum Outline

2. Pre-K
St. Mark’s Pre-K curriculum is an enrichment program designed to give children the opportunity to enhance academic, social, and emotional learning before beginning kindergarten
For children turning five between July and December*
A daily schedule balances creative exploration, inquiry-based projects, exploration of concepts, and kindergarten readiness
Curriculum is based on the “Project Approach”
*Children turning five before or after are interviewed and accepted at the discretion of the director

3. Daily Schedule 9:00 – Arrival 9:15 – Morning Meeting
9:30 – Project-based learning
10:30 – Bathroom/snack
10:45 – Cooperative learning groups/fine motor
11:15 – Reading foundations/math foundations
11:30 – Outdoor play
12:00 – Bathroom/lunch
12:30 – Library/read aloud/shared reading
1:00 – Play centers or outdoor play
1:55 – Dismissal

4. Arrival
Students will arrive and settle into their day by completing their morning jobs (hanging up backpack/jacket, greeting teachers, checking in, etc.)
Table-top activities will be available to explore as the children arrive

5. Morning Meeting
Morning Meeting will be the first whole-class activity of the day
This meeting also serves as a time to build our classroom community and will be student-led
Activities consist of taking attendance together, calendar skills, weather tracking, songs, rhymes, exposure to basic math/reading/writing skills

6. Project-Based Learning
Teachers will present a general theme to students
As a class, students will create a web of topics based around this theme
From this web, the class will decide how they want to explore a particular topic (or topics) from their web
Students will come up with ideas for and participate in age- appropriate research/exploration/projects based on the topic(s)

7. Possible Project Themes
Pathways
Homes
Habitats
Space
The Human Body
Things That GO
Things That GROW
Ocean

8. Cooperative Learning/Fine Motor
This portion of the day is for teachers to break children up into smaller “intentional” groups to work on a variety of skills
Groups will be flexible and based on the daily areas of study (review of basic skills, handwriting activities, completion of projects, etc.) and interests of the children

9. Reading Foundations/ Math Foundations
Basic reading and math skills will be enriched and reviewed in preparation for kindergarten
Reading skills may include: letter recognition, letter sounds, rhyming, syllabication, concepts of print, word families, sight words
Math skills may include: rote counting, number recognition, counting objects, ordering/comparing numbers, collecting data, representing data, understanding of how numbers change when added to/taken from

10. Library/Read Aloud/Shared Reading
Library time with Mrs. Spitz will allow for children to hear a treasured story and check a book out from the SMP library
Read Aloud time in the classroom will be an ongoing activity in which children will listen to and take part in various discussions about picture books and short chapter books, and author studies
Shared Reading will be a time for children to hear a short story or poem multiple times, but for different purposes each time

11. Play Centers
The classroom set up will include developmental play centers
Children will use their collaborative play skills to enjoy a variety of activities
When appropriate, certain play centers will be adapted to connect to the current student-driven topic of study
Play centers include: blocks, dramatic play, art, writing, reading, math, puzzles, sensory/science