Pre-School
Heritage Christians Preschool program offers the developmental life skills necessary for your child to become a successful learner. Your child will be exposed to a social setting with an exploratory focus in areas such as language, math, science, sensory, dramatic play, blocks, and manipulative play as well as art exploration. Group times are very important at this age because your child is becoming an independent person and we want your child to feel very comfortable with who they are.
Preschool is a fun and exciting time in a child’s life. Your child will absolutely love coming to school daily at HCCC. Our teachers are very dedicated and experienced in the developmental stages of these important years. They realize that each child needs to develop at their own pace and therefore offer many activities in language, math, science, fine motor, and gross motor skills. The activities are set up in learning centers that offer opportunities for your child to develop self-confidence, decision-making, patience, and independence skills. Learning through play is one of the most important ways your child will learn and is an essential element of our curriculum.
Each class offers social circle time where students co-mingle and interact with the teacher and the daily lesson. This provides each student the opportunity to listen and speak and engage their classmates and teachers, building cognitive and social skills while learning.
Preschoolers also engage in learning at themed stations known as “shelf jobs” and “table centers”. Each classroom has designated areas where students gather in small groups to play with themed toys and learning tools. Each area focuses on mathematics and science, reading and language, dramatic play, practical life skills, and manipulative play.
- Math and Science area have games and tools that encourage counting, number recognition, and recognition of basic scientific principles, including collecting and examining “bugs”, scales to determine heavy and light, determining hot and cold, etc…
- The reading and Language area has familiar and contemporary books and other letter tools that encourage letter recognition, phonetics, and beginning reading skills.
- The Dramatic Play area encourages creative expression through pretending and role playing with costumes, puppets, and puppet shows, and ‘grown-up’ toys and tools like brooms, dustpans, workbenches, etc…
- The practical Life Skills area encourages teaching life skills like holding pencils and crayons correctly, how to hold silverware, washing hands, potty training, and cleaning up after yourself.
- The manipulative Play area encourages the development of gross motor skills through activities like sorting and building.
Physical movement and outside play is also important to a child’s development and is an integral part of our curriculum. Children play outside every day, weather permitting, in their own age-appropriate playground area. When the weather is below 40 degrees or over 90 degrees, children play indoors.
As part of the Preschool curriculum, your child will participate in Enrichment that enhance different areas of their learning. The three daily Enrichments include:
- physical fitness in our fully equipped gym – building gross motor skills and teamwork
- computer lab and children’s library – offering individual instruction in language, reading, comprehension and fine motor skills with computers, hands-on activities and games, and books
- creative movement room – allowing your child to express their creative side through dance, music, drama and art
By allowing preschoolers to experience these important developmental learning stages – they will become more comfortable with their own independence and begin learning tolerance, patience, rules, self confidence, decision making, and independence skills.
Potty Training
Potty training is a significant step for the older toddlers towards their self-awareness, self-identity and self-esteem. Therefore our knowledgeable teachers will work with both child and parent(s) to create a consistent and positive experience for the child during this important developmental stage. We will help guide you and your child to identify the signs of potty training readiness.
Learning Environment
Engaging the young child in social experiences such as circle time will allow your child to become familiar with nursery rhymes, enhance their vocabulary skills, identify colors, shapes, numbers, and letters, and be introduced to music through song and music-making. This is all taught through hands-on lessons which allow your child to learn through play. Learning through play is one of the highest goals we reach for – it is a core element of our curriculum.
In addition to social circle time, toddlers are also engaged in learning at themed stations known as “table centers”. Each toddler classroom has designated areas where students gather in small groups to play with themed toys and learning tools. Each area focuses on mathematics and numbers, reading, dramatic play, practical life skills and manipulative play.
Math and Numbers has games and tools that encourage counting and number recognition.
The Reading Area has familiar books and letter cards and other letter tools that encourage letter recognition.
The Dramatic Play area encourages creative pretending and role playing with costumes, puppets and puppet shows, and ‘grown-up’ toys and tools like brooms, dustpans, workbenches, etc…
Practical Life Skills features learning things like how to hold a cup, or a spoon.
Manipulative Play develops gross motor skills.
Physical movement and outside play is also important to toddler development and is an integral part of our curriculum. Toddlers play outside every day, weather permitting, in their own age-appropriate playground area. When weather is below 40 degrees or over 90 degrees, children play indoors. Three times a week, they participate in the Enrichments within our facilities.
By allowing toddlers to experience these important developmental learning stages – they will be become very comfortable and able to move into their next stage of development which is Preschool. We provide the beginning and love of learning which will last a lifetime.