PROGRAM
It is our goal to
provide a variety of experiences and opportunities designed to stimulate a child's
imagination, provide opportunities for intellectual exploration, and to enhance
the emotional, physical, mental, social and spiritual growth of the young child.
Our curriculum is based on the "creative play program" theory. This
means being flexible, but knowing where you are every minute. It means allowing
each child to grow as an individual -- to feel, to touch, to communicate. It is
caring about children and empathizing with them as a friend. It encourages
children to imagine, explore, invent, express ideas, show emotions and above all
have a good time.
It is important to remember that play is a child's
"work". For children,
play is a way of gaining knowledge, developing skills and competencies, and
learning about people and their environment. It is through the right kind of
play that the foundations are laid for future learning in the areas of reading,
math and science. Pets are not a part of our program, however individual
teachers may opt for "growing" butterflies, tadpoles, ladybugs, or
worms in the classroom.
Our program
includes:
Dramatic Play or Role-Play - Dramatic
play or role-play is particularly suitable to the developing needs of young
children. In pretending to be an adult or animal, children can be in control of
a situation and can act out their feelings, which in turn develops social
skills. This kind of play changes often and can be teacher or child directed.
Our thematic curriculum allows us to make different dramatic play situations
available to children each week. Example: children might act out a situation in
a dentist's office, a grocery store, a post office, a campsite, an airport
terminal, a train station; they might be construction workers, fire fighters,
doctors, pilgrims or astronauts.
Block Play - Construction
play provides skill in manipulation, imagination, problem solving and promotes
understanding of math concepts. Because there is no "right way" to use
blocks, blocks stimulate creativity and provide a sense of achievement. Children
learn to work cooperatively at a task while building with blocks.
Large and small muscle activities -
Creative movement and play
activities, both indoor and on the playground give children the opportunity to
refine large muscle skills through jumping, hopping, climbing, balancing and
crawling. These movements are coordinated with seeing, hearing and touching
stimulation that increases the child's perception of the world around him/her.
The development of small muscle skills develops more slowly and is an outgrowth
of large muscle control. Manipulative experiences such as cutting and pasting,
connecting toys, puzzles, water play and clay encourage exploration with hands
and fingers, which in turn increase visual-motor skills and small muscle
control.
Creative Arts and Crafts - At
Noah's Ark, children are given an opportunity to explore and use a wide variety
of traditional and non-traditional art materials. We may paint with brushes,
sponges, marbles, feathers, flowers, pine branches, vegetables, fruits, our
hands or even our feet!
Don't measure the value of
the day by the amount or "quality" of projects brought home.
Unfortunately for parents, our young artists sometimes produce an end result
that is unimpressive. We suggest that parents allow the child to speak freely
about what was done. "Tell me about it," is a parent opener that
allows a child to elaborate. Comments like, "I liked the colors you
used," "That must have been fun to do," "Tell me how you did
that," are more honest than "That is a beautiful picture." Your
child may feel it was their worst!
Listening and Learning Activities - Story
telling, poetry, finger plays, physical and natural science, and cognitive games
are provided as learning activities. They are also designed to stimulate a
desire in children to develop language skills, think with numbers and learn to
write.
Music - Listening
to and producing music helps a child to identify sounds, rhythms and tunes.
Moving to music, painting to music, and playing to music helps children express
their feelings and moods. Above all, music is a fun experience that can be
shared later at home.
Science - Children
are given the opportunity to examine plants, observe bugs in the magnifying bug
box, discover the properties of magnets, mix colors and explore the properties
of sand, water and sound in addition to other science related activities.
Ponder Play and Books - Materials
that aid cognitive development are available for children during their free
time. These materials include puzzles, number and letter games, learning toys,
flannel and magnetic boards. In addition to everyday exposure to numbers,
letters and shapes, teachers have designed units to use during the year that
emphasize these areas. Noah's Ark has a collection of over 1800 books for
children to enjoy at their leisure or have read to them by a teacher.
Spiritual Development - It
is our goal at preschool to provide a Christian environment in which our
children can grow mentally, physically, socially, emotionally, and spiritually.
God's love for each one of us is emphasized through our love and consideration
for each other, by prayers before snack time, Bible stories, and visits with our
pastors.
Field Trips - Well-planned
field trips can greatly
enhance and provide a very positive learning experience for the preschool child.
Prior to a field trip you will receive information regarding the destination and
purpose of the field trip. You will also receive a permission form which you
must sign and return in order for your child to participate. Bus transportation
is secured through First Student. Parent volunteers will be asked to accompany
us on our field trips.
Special Guests - Guests
are also an important
resource for learning. Musicians, artists, persons with different cultural
backgrounds, police officers, doctors, nurses, and people with hobbies are all
welcome. We are eager for volunteers who will share with us, and for help in
finding people who can add to the young child's experience and growth. Please
let us know if you are interested in participating in our preschool in this way.
Sharing Time - Sharing
time ("show and tell") is directed by individual teachers. This is a
valuable part of our program. It encourages children to express themselves. We
encourage you to guide your child in selecting their "sharing"
material. We ask that your children bring toys or other items only on their
sharing day. NO GUNS, WAR TOYS OR OTHER TOYS OF DESTRUCTION ARE
PERMITTED AT PRESCHOOL.
These items
are strictly taboo. A child must have a means to express feelings of aggression.
We suggest clay to pound (manual dexterity), hammer and saw to use (good for
visual motor
perception), pillows to hit (and vent anger while developing perceptual
abilities), finger-paints (to soothe jangled feelings while practicing a
developmental rhythmic movement).
Snack Time - Parents
are asked to take turns providing snack for the children during the year. Snack
lists are sent home with the children the first week of school. To avoid the
possibility of hepatitis infection, snacks must be "store bought." A
"Snack Bag" and detailed instructions will come home with your child
the session before it is their turn to bring snacks. Be sure your child's
teacher is aware of any food allergies your child may have. Teachers will have
allergy lists in their classroom.
For your child's safety
the following foods are NOT permitted at preschool:
