At Sandy HighScope Preschool, we want to make sure that
each child is receiving the best early childhood education, not
only to prepare them for school, but for life. With the
director/lead teacher's educational training and experience,
we provide a curriculum that not only includes all
developmental areas, but is research and evidence based.
What does research and evidence based mean?
The curriculum's selected have been developed using
extensive research on early childhood development. In
addition, that have been proven to provide positive results
over and over again. It is vital to have a research/evidence
program, and most vital in the area of early literacy.
each child is receiving the best early childhood education, not
only to prepare them for school, but for life. With the
director/lead teacher's educational training and experience,
we provide a curriculum that not only includes all
developmental areas, but is research and evidence based.
What does research and evidence based mean?
The curriculum's selected have been developed using
extensive research on early childhood development. In
addition, that have been proven to provide positive results
over and over again. It is vital to have a research/evidence
program, and most vital in the area of early literacy.
| Core Curriculum |
At the Sandy Highscope Preschool, we use HighScope as our core curriculum. Highscope is
a research/evidence based curriculum that meets requirements to what components are
needed for an effective Pre-K program. The curriculum and the experience of the teacher
allow for differentiated instruction, so if a child is below age level, at age level or
exceeding age level skills, the focus is to keep adding skills to their current skills. For
more information please visit HighScope at www.highscope.org
a research/evidence based curriculum that meets requirements to what components are
needed for an effective Pre-K program. The curriculum and the experience of the teacher
allow for differentiated instruction, so if a child is below age level, at age level or
exceeding age level skills, the focus is to keep adding skills to their current skills. For
more information please visit HighScope at www.highscope.org
- HighScope includes child instruction, staff development, and accountability assessment
- Space and materials in a HighScope setting are carefully arranged to promote active learning. The area is
divided into interest areas, which are well organized and labeled. - HighScope provides a daily routine which gives preschoolers a sense of control over the events of the day.
The schedule is consistent and includes the same time frames each day; plan-do-review sequence, small and
large group time, greeting and message board time. Music and movement are part of large group and
incorporate many skills that the children are learning. Outside time will occur each day, unless there is poor
weather. This can involve playing on the play structure, or playing a game in the field. - HighScope focuses on what is considered the Key Development Indicators. The curriculum is built around
the balance of teacher directed and child-initiated activities in five main content areas:
-Language, Literacy, and Communication
-Social and Emotional
-Physical Development, Health, and Well Being
-Arts and Sciences (includes Math)
- Centers include: Dramatic Play (kitchen, dress up, dolls), light table with many manipulatives (including light
letters, blocks, shapes, etc), Reading and Writing Center, Block Area, Thinking Center (includes manipulates
related to science, reading, math, problem solving, and sensory), and the Art Center (has plenty of materials
for children to try out, different mediums, papers, stamps, variety of painting tools, etc)
Reading
We will be using HighScope's Growing Readers Early Literacy Curriculum, Zoophonics,
and Reading A-Z
Curriculum focuses on the areas researched by the National Reading Panel. The four
areas are:
-Comprehension- including vocabulary building, connection, retelling and prediction
-Phonological Awareness- Phonological Awareness is a preliterate skill that does not
involve looking at letters or words. It is the identification that our language is made of
sounds and we can manipulate those sounds to create words. This includes rhyming,
alliteration of beginning phonemes (example: I take "c" sound away from "cat" and now I
say the "b" sound and then "at", and you made "bat")
-Alphabetic Principle-including name recognition, name writing, letter recognition and
letter-sound correspondence
-Concepts about Print-including identifying book parts, orienting books for reading,
distinguishing between pictures and words, and understanding the direction of text
Access to www.raz-kids.com and readinga-z.com
Each child enrolled will have access to raz-kids.com and readinga-z.com materials. Sandy
will provide what levels children are working at and what skills they are working on. Then,
children can practice skills at home in an interactive way (raz-kids) and by reading books
that can be printed out (readinga-z).
Writing
First Strokes will be used for teaching pre-writing and writing skills. This is a systematic
program that is developed by Occupational Therapists in Texas. This program is a multi
sensory program that provides gross motor and fine motor opportunities to help children
learn the strokes needed to write upper and lower case letters. For more information
please visit www.thehandwritingclinic.com
Math
We will be using HighScope's Number Plus Preschool Mathematics Curriculum
The curriculum focuses on the following areas:
-Number Sense and Operations including number words and symbols, counting,
comparing and ordering (quantity), combining and dividing groups, adding and subtracting
-Geometry includes shapes, transformation, and spatial relationships
-Measurement includes measurement terms, unit, comparing and ordering by attribute
-Algebra includes alternating patterns and increasing and decreasing patterns
-Data Analysis includes describing, organizing and comparing, representing, and
interpreting and applying
Social/Emotional
We will be using Positive Behavior Support Systems to help teach children expectations in
each component of the day. This is a preventative way to teach children appropriate
behaviors and they feel successful, because they know exactly what their body should be
doing, how to treat others, and how to use materials.
For conflict resolution, we use HighScopes six-step problem-solving approach. This
encourages children to resolve conflicts in an appropriate way and teachers guide
children to increase language development, reflection, and problem solving during the
process.
Bible
We will be focusing on Bible stories, which will be read from a rhyming Bible during snack
time. We want to respect all family values when surrounding religion, so we read from the
rhyming bible and teach basic character traits like kindness, love, sharing, and respect.
We will be using HighScope's Growing Readers Early Literacy Curriculum, Zoophonics,
and Reading A-Z
Curriculum focuses on the areas researched by the National Reading Panel. The four
areas are:
-Comprehension- including vocabulary building, connection, retelling and prediction
-Phonological Awareness- Phonological Awareness is a preliterate skill that does not
involve looking at letters or words. It is the identification that our language is made of
sounds and we can manipulate those sounds to create words. This includes rhyming,
alliteration of beginning phonemes (example: I take "c" sound away from "cat" and now I
say the "b" sound and then "at", and you made "bat")
-Alphabetic Principle-including name recognition, name writing, letter recognition and
letter-sound correspondence
-Concepts about Print-including identifying book parts, orienting books for reading,
distinguishing between pictures and words, and understanding the direction of text
Access to www.raz-kids.com and readinga-z.com
Each child enrolled will have access to raz-kids.com and readinga-z.com materials. Sandy
will provide what levels children are working at and what skills they are working on. Then,
children can practice skills at home in an interactive way (raz-kids) and by reading books
that can be printed out (readinga-z).
Writing
First Strokes will be used for teaching pre-writing and writing skills. This is a systematic
program that is developed by Occupational Therapists in Texas. This program is a multi
sensory program that provides gross motor and fine motor opportunities to help children
learn the strokes needed to write upper and lower case letters. For more information
please visit www.thehandwritingclinic.com
Math
We will be using HighScope's Number Plus Preschool Mathematics Curriculum
The curriculum focuses on the following areas:
-Number Sense and Operations including number words and symbols, counting,
comparing and ordering (quantity), combining and dividing groups, adding and subtracting
-Geometry includes shapes, transformation, and spatial relationships
-Measurement includes measurement terms, unit, comparing and ordering by attribute
-Algebra includes alternating patterns and increasing and decreasing patterns
-Data Analysis includes describing, organizing and comparing, representing, and
interpreting and applying
Social/Emotional
We will be using Positive Behavior Support Systems to help teach children expectations in
each component of the day. This is a preventative way to teach children appropriate
behaviors and they feel successful, because they know exactly what their body should be
doing, how to treat others, and how to use materials.
For conflict resolution, we use HighScopes six-step problem-solving approach. This
encourages children to resolve conflicts in an appropriate way and teachers guide
children to increase language development, reflection, and problem solving during the
process.
Bible
We will be focusing on Bible stories, which will be read from a rhyming Bible during snack
time. We want to respect all family values when surrounding religion, so we read from the
rhyming bible and teach basic character traits like kindness, love, sharing, and respect.
