Pre-Kindergarten Experience
Culture
Skipping or sometimes racing into school each day is typical for your Aspen Pre-K student. There are a lot of high-fives as your child is greeted daily on their way into the building by a trail of welcoming teachers and administrators. Once students are checked in, each the group settles into their classroom for the opening activity.
Curriculum
Our curriculum is an intentional weave of Handwriting Without Tears, Learning Without Tears and Connect 4 Learning. With the integration of these three programs, along with supplemental materials, the teachers are able to differentiate and offer learning experiences that best suit the needs every child.
X Factors:
- Self contained classrooms create optimum learning experiences for children at a young age.
- Perfect blend of academic development and open exploration activities.
- Small class sizes for optimum individualization.
- STEAM integration and lab time.
- Designated outside playground for learning.
- Social / Emotional focus. We believe in meeting children where they are.
SCHEDULE
Please note that this is a rough schedule to give prospective parents a view of what their child's day may look like at Aspen Academy.
8:15 - 8:30; arrival and check in. Each day the teachers welcome the students and invite them to begin with a fun table time activity as they wait for all of their friends to arrive.
8:30 - 9:00; leadership time in PreK. Gathering at community time is a wonderful way to start the day. For example, we learn about the 7 habits through “the leader in me”. We read together, create ideas and participate in fun lessons and activities. All we learn is woven into our day as we develop leadership through problem solving, self-accountability and friendships. Being part of a caring community is essential to our success as a kind person.
9:00 - 10:30; Center time. Through a theme based curriculum our teachers provide opportunities to learn and practice reading, writing, math, science and social studies. Our center time is a balance between table activities and movement, group and individual learning, exploring and playing, learning and teaching, small motor and sensory and everything is super FUN.
10:30-11:00, Outside time. Our bodies need to run and play throughout the day. In addition to many opportunities to move and learn in the classroom, we love to go outside, breathe fresh air while swinging, climbing and digging in the sandbox. At Aspen we spend time outside everyday (unless the weather prevents us) because we know how important this is to growing and learning.
11:00-11:30; Lunch time. Sitting and eating with our friends is not only healthy for our bodies, but continues social opportunities and learning through conversation.
11:30-12:30; Rest time. During rest, we are either quietly working on our mats, resting or sleeping.
12:30-1:00; Big Gym time. We spend time with our whole grade level working on Large Motor activities. Sometimes we play games, ride scooters or toss the balls to each other. There is so much to learn about our bodies and how we move at our age.
1:30-2:30; Center time. Our afternoon center time allow us to continue our learning and curriculum. We have the opportunity to dive deeper into our strengths, finish activities from the morning or practice what we are learning in order to move along.
2:30-3:00; Afternoon snack. We go outside to enjoy afternoon snack together and get a bit more exercise.
3:00-3:15; Pack up and dismissal. We are so capable at getting ourselves ready for the end of our day. We make sure to have our book bags and back packs ready for when we are picked up. We can’t wait until tomorrow!
PK essentials with Ms.Stream!
Each PK student will join their homeroom class in 40 minute blocks to introduce the following subject areas; Fitness, Art, Music, Spanish, STEAM, Drama & Dance. Students will go through each subject for three weeks and rotate twice over the course of the school year with a total of six weeks devoted to each subject. This will provide PK students with an introduction to each subject in an ECE environment that will focus on the growth and development of our youngest minds.