The following information will assist parents in understanding the curriculum and goals that children will work through at Peachtree Academy:

LANGUAGE ARTS

Communication and self-expression are the primary functions of language. The goal of the Pre-kindergarten language arts curriculum is to build upon existing skills to create a community of active and interested communicators. Language skills involve reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Using these skills children enhance interpersonal relationships in the classroom. Teachers encourage children to practice expressive language skills like learning how to rhyme, singing songs, and reciting poems. Role-play and dramatizations of favorite books provide students with opportunities for successful communication and "book language."

Exposure to all aspects of language through print-rich environments and child centered, multi-sensory activities lay the foundation for future literacy readiness. Books are always available in the classroom library and teachers often read stories at the children's requests. Pre-writing opportunities are abundant as children engage in painting, drawing, digging, and sculpting. These activities strengthen the hand musculature that they will need for later writing tasks. Children interact with the alphabet through activities like matching, Bingo, letter scavenger hunts, puzzles, and magnetic letters. An explanation of children's work, transcribed by teachers, helps students to recognize the symbolic nature of print. Children often transition to making their own "words" by a scribble, stream of letters, or even inventive spelling. Children also practice stroke development and letter formation through drawing and tracing activities. Through literacy experiences children gain phonological processing skills, language skills, and pre-writing skills that will lead them to the writing and early reading they will practice in Pre kindergarten.

Pre-kindergarten Objectives: Language Arts

Pre-Reading

• Identify uppercase letters
• Identify own name
• Begin to identify lowercse letters
• Manipulate sounds in language
• Begin to decode letter sounds
• Understand the connection between print and the spoken word
• Demonstrate concepts of print, such as left-to-right progression
• Begin to understand the structure of sentences
• Explore a variety of literature including fiction, poetry, biography
• Compare and contrast books by the same author or illustrator
• Make simple predictions in stories

Pre-Writing

• Make representational drawings
• Use a developmentally appropriate grasp
• Establish 'handedness'
• Work toward writing letters and numbers with correct formation
• Write first name and/or other familiar words

Language Skills

• Retell stories
• Repeat songs and poems
• Articulate clearly
• Participate in small and large group discussions
• Ask relevant questions and make relevant comments
• Express thoughts clearly and accurately
• Use rhyming words
• Recognize and use descriptive words
• Use developmentally appropriate grammar
• Identify rhyming words
• Comprehend new information
• Begin to ask meaning of unfamiliar words
• Follow 2-3 step directions

Learning Looks Like This

On a snowy February day the children gather at meeting time. The teacher places a poster on the easel. It has large print and an illustration of a bare tree. The teacher tells the children that they will be learning a new poem and asks if anyone can use the words and illustrations to guess what the story is going to be about. Immediately hands are raised, and the teacher calls upon several children for their ideas. One child says, "I think it's going to be about a dead tree because the tree has no leaves." Another child offers, "One of the words begins with a 'W.' I know that because my name has a 'W' in it." The teacher continues to point out the interesting connections they are making.

She then reads, "Tree in Winter," carefully pointing to the words on the poster. A few children attend to her movement along the print while others remain focused on her voice. After hearing the poem once, the children are encouraged to recite the poem together. One child even volunteers to point to the words for his classmates. As the week continues the children have learned the poem, and they take a walk to observe the trees outside in winter, remembering the words to their poem as they walk.