By creating a hands-on multi-sensory experience that reaches multiple learners through the use of all five senses, we provide the ideal setting for learning. At Hilliard United Methodist Church preschool, we offer a developmentally appropriate curriculum, which strives to meet the needs of each individual child. We realize that all children enter our doors with different experiences and levels of knowledge and our goal is to provide an environment that allows for such uniqueness.
Visual Learners: Our visual learners have plenty of opportunity to view print in the classroom. Word walls, names, charts, labels… are visible throughout the classrooms. Multi-dimensional projects and puzzles are always within reach.
Auditory Learners: Those children that learn best from auditory stimuli will be dancing and moving to the sounds of the alphabet, the rhythm of poetry, and participating in mathematical aspects of our transitional songs.
Kinesthetic Learners: Our kinesthetic learners have ample opportunity to explore our world through hands-on activities. Finger painting with primary colors to form secondary colors, writing words in sand, manipulating play dough to strengthen fine motor skills, and building towers of blocks all enhance the preschool experience for the tactile learner.
Introverts and Extroverts: Our classrooms are filled with a variety of opportunities to engage introverts, as well as the extrovert. Our program is based on the development of the social/emotional growth of each child. Ideally learning takes place in an environment that allows the child to feel safe, secure and respected by the adults around them.
WHY IS ART SO IMPORTANT?
When painting, I am learning:
- to develop my imagination and creativity
- to develop my hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills
- math skills, as I begin to understand and create shapes
- to express my feelings
- spatial concepts, as I discover the relationships to space and size
- independence, as I make choices
- to develop practical thinking skills, as I choose the materials
- to design and create
When I finger paint, I am learning:
- the identification of primary colors
- how colors mix to make new colors
- hand-eye coordination
- to exercise my imagination and creativity
- to explore the world through my senses
- to expand my vocabulary, as I learn descriptive words, such as cold,
swishy, wet and smooth
When I “write” notes to you and my classmates, I am learning:
- to hold the pencil, crayon or marker
- to develop eye-hand coordination
- that my ideas have value and meaning
- to express my ideas through words and drawings
- pre-writing skills, as I begin to make forms that resemble letters
- to be a creative speller, as I understand that words are made of letters, sounds and shapes
When I create with play dough and slime, I am learning:
- pre-reading skills, as I begin to see shapes against the background
of the table - to gain strength in my hands, as I develop my fine motor skills
- geometry, as I gain understanding of shapes, size, length and height
- to share and cooperate
- science, when I see that a quantity remains the same even when it changes shape
When I paste, glue, and collage, I am learning:
- math concepts, as I create patterns and design
- to understand texture
- creativity as I create a design
When I cut with scissors, I am learning to:
- to control the small muscles in my hand
- size and shape, as I begin to cut on the line
- math skills, when I design and create my own shapes
WHAT IS CIRCLE TIME ALL ABOUT?
When I sing songs, I am learning:
- to expand my vocabulary
- memory skills and sequencing
- to explore the principals of music and rhythm
- phonological awareness, as I participate in the rhyming of the words
- math skills, as I add and subtract from the rhyming, repetitive verse
When I play with instruments, I am learning:
- reading skills, as I develop auditory discrimination
- to follow directions, as I interpret and understand cues
- listening skills, as I become aware of the rhythm in the music
- concepts of fast, slow, loud and soft
- to express myself in new and different ways
- to appreciate music
When I dance, I am learning:
- balance and coordination
- to move to the rhythm of the music
- to express myself physically
When I sit and listen during circle, I am learning:
- to be attentive
- to follow directions
- to expand my vocabulary
- science skills, as I make predictions and estimations
- social sciences, as I discuss the world around me
- pre-reading skills, as I learn that text follows left to right
- listening skills, as I listen to stories read and told by my teacher
- cooperation, when I play group games
- when to sit quietly and when it is my turn to speak
- science and social studies, when I explore the theme of the day and the information pertaining to the subject, such as how tall is
the largest penguin or where animals hibernate
WHY DO I NEED TO PLAY OUTSIDE AND IN THE EXERCISE ROOM?
When I am playing on the riding toys, I am learning:
- strength, balance and large muscle coordination
- to use my energy in a constructive manner
- science, as I develop a sense of speed, direction and location
- cooperative behavior, when I learn to negotiate and take turns
- to use my imagination, when I role play
- direction, when I travel the “roadways” with my friends
When I am climbing, I am learning:
- strength, balance, and large muscle coordination
- to challenge myself and to set my own limits
- cooperative behavior, as I learn to take turns
- to use my imagination, as I pretend
- vocabulary skills, as I explore the outside world with my friends
- social skills, when I interact and set limits with my friends
When I am swinging, I am learning:
- exercise is good for my mental and physical being
- coordination and balance
- to take turns with my friends
- science, as I discover the concept of airflow, force, and speed
WHY DO WE HAVE SNACK AT PRESCHOOL?
When I am having snack, I am learning:
- to give thanks for our blessings
- manners, as I learn to say please and thank you
- nutrition, when I try new foods, and discover different tastes and textures
- hygiene, as I understand that I must wash my hands before eating
- social studies, when I try different cultural foods
- social skills, when I chat with my friends and teachers
- coordination, when I pour my own drink
- counting, as I count the kids at my table and the number of crackers on my napkin
- number comparison as I compare the number of boys to girls