Preschool
Our preschool students are divided into three "groups:" two-year old trainers “Los Cachorros,” three-year old learners “Los Tigres,” and four-year-old, pre-kindergarten crew “Los Leones.”
Los Tigres (the tigers) are younger than 4 in August and still have two years before entering kindergarten. They are integrated with the older students for part of their day and share the same space at times. They do have a different lead teacher and are divided for the learning blocks at the beginning of the day. See the complete schedule to understand this rotation.
Los Leones (the lions) are the leaders in our school. They are preparing to enter kindergarten and are the most capable learners. These students are eager to learn “big kid” tasks and skills.
Curriculum
Our school uses integrated, theme-based units to build engaging lessons and activities to encourage a diverse language experience. These themes help direct our target vocabulary. We are a play-based center following the Montessori beliefs of setting an inviting environment to inspire student exploration. We know that students learn best by engaging the whole body.
Our preschool teachers are trained in the Handwriting without Tears curriculum and also use Zoophonics for literacy learning.
Los Cachorros are practicing pre-writing techniques and developing fine motor skills using a variety of products. They focus on body awareness and articulation of speech sounds.
Los tigres learn uppercase letters using crayon and chalk while refining their pincer grip and proper posture for writing.
Los leones learn lowercase letters with additional practice using pencil on paper.
Los Leones begin a 30-minute kindergarten prep class in English starting in January of the year preceding kindergarten.
All preschool students keep writing journals to track their progress throughout the year. Older students use the licensed Handwriting without Tears booklets.
