Preschool

The Giddens School preschool program helps young children develop the skills of our three pillars; academic excellence and learning, social and emotional development, social justice and equity in ways that are developmentally appropriate and responsive to them as young learners. The program is rooted in play, emphasizing a child’s innate curiosity. On a daily basis, children are provided with opportunities to explore, observe, question, and construct knowledge from the world around them. Teachers work alongside students; they watch, inquire, and interact in order to learn more about what interests each child. These interests are built upon and interwoven with community goals to become engaging units of study. Lessons created in this manner provide an authentic learning pathway for children, where teachers thoughtfully provide the skills and strategies to investigate the world around them.

Preschool Curriculum

Literacy

Literacy instruction in preschool is focused on cultivating a deep love of story. Children are surrounded by stories, in the books that fill their classrooms, the narration that flows from their teachers, and the budding ideas being shared by their classmates. Each child is developing skills as a creator and interpreter of stories. This happens on a daily basis through:

Learning how to tell a story
Learning the “Hello Song”
Understanding the sounds of language
Using books as a resource
Characters and their motivations
Characters grow and change, we grow; we change

Math

Preschool mathematicians develop the skills to look at the world through a mathematical lens. Teachers scaffold learning through thoughtful modeling, careful questioning, and intentional provocation, encouraging children to build on their innate curiosity. Children engage with mathematical concepts including patterning, numeracy, quantity, and classifying as they play and explore.

Math skills that preschool students learn include:

Counting, sorting, quantity
Identifying patterns
Measurement
Shapes
Quantities and change

Specialists

PE

Preschoolers are introduced to new locomotor skills such as hopping, skipping, balancing while learning about spatial awareness and body control.

Music

Preschoolers sing, dance, and laugh through songs that get their bodies moving with a steady beat and a light head voice.

Library

Preschool students will participate in Read Alouds, songs related to behavior in the library and have time to explore books on their own or with peers.