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Preschool/Pre-K Program Program Highlights: Exceptional and Unique
- 35+ years as a renowned preschool program
- NAEYC accredited, International Baccalaureate World School located on a 40 acre wooded campus with ponies, sheep, goats, rabbits, and chickens
- NAEYC Video: NAEYC Accreditation-The Right Choice for Kids
- Tenured teachers
- 9 to 1 student to teacher ratio
- Curriculum support classes, including Spanish, Music, Library, Physical Education & Environmental Education
- Various program offerings from 3 half days to 5 full days
- Numerous parent volunteer opportunities
An Inquiry-Driven Education: The International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme (PYP)
The IB learner profile promotes that children develop as Inquirers, Thinkers, Risk-takers and Communicators that are Knowledgeable, Principled, Open-Minded, Caring, Balanced, and Reflective (www.ibo.org). At High Meadows, our preschoolers participate in this internationally-acclaimed program, giving them a head start on their development as a global citizen.
Literacy EducationLiteracy education begins in Preschool at High Meadows with reading and writing being an integral part of every day. Teachers read aloud to the class frequently throughout the day, and the classroom provides age-appropriate books for children to look at on their own. Teachers provide hands-on activities designed to meet children where they are academically, and to lead them to greater understanding and mastery of specific skills. Children write or dictate stories and ideas regularly, using a combination of words and pictures, helping them to understand the purpose of writing, and to validate themselves as authors. Phonemic Awareness is promoted through extensive rhyme, predictable stories and letter sounds activities.
Handwriting Without TearsPreschool students are introduced to this unique handwriting program that combines hands-on manipulatives with music and movement to teach proper letter formation and good pencil grip. Preschoolers learn many songs that teach them the skills they need to not only successfully print the alphabet, but also to draw people and animals. In addition, children are provided regular experiences with small motor tools such as tweezers and chopsticks to strengthen their hand muscle, in preparation for writing.
Mathematics EducationNumber sense and pattern are the foundation of all mathematical understanding. Preschool children at High Meadows count, add, subtract, graph, and order things every week. Concepts of attributes such as size, shape and dimension are a regular part of center activities and discussions. Our teachers also use the calendar and other morning routines to teach various fundamentals of math.
Social Studies and Science
 Our goal is to help our children learn how to ask questions and then gather enough information from varied sources to derive the answers. Some of our social studies and science curriculum is embedded in our PYP units of study. For example, students might study how a community is a group of people working together to help each other or how animals need certain things in their environment to survive. PYP units of inquiry help children to recognize that they are part of a global community, and the various cultures represented within the classroom community provide a rich classroom experience.
Pony Rides and Nature ExperiencesOnce a week, weather permitting, preschool classes take a stroll down to the pony corral, where they meet our ponies - Oro and Silver Moon. With the help of parent volunteers, children put on a riding helmet and mount the saddled pony. The ponies and riders are then led by the rein on a short ride around the corral.
Our 40+ acre campus has forest, pond and meadow ecosystems to explore, along with the wildlife they sustain: chipmunks, squirrels, rabbits, frogs, fish, reptiles, birds and insects. We are also fortunate to have a number of domesticated farm animals, including sheep, goats, rabbits, chickens and roosters, with which the children interact. High Meadows boasts a number of on-site gardens (bog, herb, vegetable and flower) which the children help to tend. |
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