Preschool program
3 years - 5 years old
At Little Heartprints Academy we offer a full day preschool program.
These are the years to continue building on their foundation for learning both socially and academically. Around this time, children’s imagination and interests begin to deepen and flourish. This will allow us to tailor their learning to guide them through the inquiry process. We will delve deeper into topics your child is into and allow your child to lead us through their journey of learning. In this process teachers will incorporate some literacy and numeracy activities to build the foundations for school.
There will be more focus on learning the letter sounds and stringing the sounds together to form simple words through hands on activities and games where they get to manipulate and move around letters. We will also be following the “Lively letters” approach to learning the letter sounds. Lively letters “is a research-based and clinically-proven, multi-sensory reading program that turns plain, abstract letters and sounds into lively characters”.
Numeracy skills will be developed through the natural act of playing, building and through interactions with everyday objects. When partaking in these activities they are naturally learning how to problem solve and manipulate. We will discover together how math is all around us. We will also be using Montessori materials to teach the foundations of numeracy. Even before a child is able to count, they experience the skill using materials like the number rods, a series of blue and red colored wooden rods that are arranged in a stair-like pattern. Children will learn how to count using a variety of materials such as the golden beads. Sandpaper numbers (and letters) teach children how to correctly form each number to develop readiness for writing them on paper.