Every day - rain or shine - the kids run and play outside.
Four's Curriculum
The fours program builds on the foundation of the threes program by honoring and encouraging children in all areas of development: social, emotional, intellectual, creative, and physical. Activities are planned so children can construct knowledge in their own way and at their own pace.
The style and techniques employed in the classroom enhance each child's ability to resolve conflicts, share spaces and equipment, and to value similarities and differences. Our learning centers include dramatic play, table games, cut and color area, art table, painting easels, sensory tables, woodworking, science areas, block building, a loft, book corner, listening center and an outdoor playground. Equipment and materials are flexible and open ended to allow for individual differences in interest, growth and development.
Children are invited to play games, dictate stories, move to music, sing songs and finger plays, paint, make and eat a variety of foods, explore different tools, pour and measure different textures, snuggle with books, build castles with big blocks, construct wood sculptures and on and on...
Topics of interest and study for the fours are life cycles of plants and creatures. We learn about apple trees, visit an orchard for picking and then turn our apples into cider, sauce, pies, apple butter and dehydrated apples. We study seeds, and then plant our school garden. We harvest lettuce and radishes in the spring and dig potatoes in the fall. We watch caterpillars turn into butterflies each spring and praying mantises hatch from their egg sac. We study healthy foods then take a behind the scenes tour of a grocery store and go shopping for a class feast. We make musical instruments, visit a high school band room and then put on our own instrument parade. In May, we turn our classroom into outer space as we learn about the solar system.
We strive to encourage life long wonder!
Fours Typical Daily Schedule (Monday / Wednesday / Friday)
| AM | PM | |
| 8:45 | Arrival of Parent Teachers | 12:45 |
| 9:00 | Children Arrive/Greetings Choice in Art Room |
1:00 |
| 9:15 | Class Meeting Choice Activities |
1:15 |
| 10:45 | Clean Up Quiet Reading, Songs |
2:45 |
| 11:00 | Outside Rain or Shine!! |
3:00 |
| 11:20 | Closing | 3:20 |
| 11:30 | Parent Pick up | 3:30 |
Typical Fours field trips
- Smith Berry Barn for apple picking
- Fire Station
- Clay Studio at Children's Museum
- Grocery Store tour and shopping
- Band Room at local high school
- Nature Hike at Hoyt Arboretum
- Hike to Common Wealth Lake
