Your child learns every day, by playing, interacting with their peers, and observing and imitating those around them. At Country Acres your child will be allowed to learn by playing with others and exploring their environment using all of their senses. We believe it is so important for children to be given freedom to be themselves, use their imaginations and be creative! Everything we do here at Country Acres Preschool is hands on and developmentally appropriate. We follow the children’s lead and natural curiosity, interests and abilities. Our curriculum is made up of multiple components, play, social and emotional development, literacy and language, science, math, social studies, music, fine and gross motor skills, nutrition, sensory and small parts. We let children be active participants in their own learning and our themes are always flexible based on the children’s curiosity and interests.
Play
We believe children learn best through play. They gain invaluable social skills, conflict resolution skills, they create and problem solve, and they learn team work. Play develops language and vocabulary, motor skills and imagination. It sets a foundation that learning is fun. It sets children up for success and builds confidence as they master the world around them.
Science
Science is incorporated into each and every day in our primarily outdoor program. They observe and care for animals and plants. Learn about life cycles. Experiment with earths materials such as sand, dirt, rocks and water. Learn about each season and types of weather. We will make observations, develop hypothesis and conduct experiments!
Social Studies
We regularly learn about the world and our place in it. We learn about different occupations, places around the world, and various cultures and traditions. We also learn how to be responsible members of our community.
Art
Art is done daily in our program. We focus on process art which is created 100 percent by the child and each art piece is unique. We create many forms of art, paint, watercolor, drawing, collage and more. We also dance, perform plays and puppet shows.
Math
We teach math concepts such as counting, number recognition, one to one correspondence, patterns, sorting, shapes, sequencing, addition, subtraction and more. We teach all these concepts by relating them to their lives and through fun hands on games, activities or projects relating to that weeks theme.
Literacy
Our literacy curriculum teaches vocabulary, concepts about print, phonemic awareness, letter recognition and writing, journaling, rhyming and learning to sound out words. We read stories and poems, sing rhyming songs, tell stories and practice retelling for comprehension, we journal frequently and play games related to our theme. We love zoo phonics for Its multi sensory approach to teaching letter sounds. Every letter has an animal and movement! You will find children building letters on the light table, forming with play dough or writing in sand to practice letter formation.
Nutrition
Here at Country Acres we are focused on healthy eating and being active. Children spend most if not all of the day outdoors, we grow and eat our own fruits and vegetables and collect eggs from our chickens daily. We serve healthy snacks and lunches!
Social and Emotional
Our goal is to help children grow into strong and confident individuals.We helps them use their voice and express their feelings, We help them cultivate close friendships and solve conflicts and communicate. We validate their emotions and help them make secure attachments.
Fine and Gross Motor Skills
We provide children opportunities all day long to develop motor skills. We have two acres for them to run, skip, jump and climb. We provide balancing equipment, various swings, slides and climbing opportunities within our environment. They kick and throw, ride bikes and balance on tree roots. We have daily sensory materials and small parts available for children to explore and create with to develop the fine motor skills needed before writing. We weave, lace, bead, play with play dough and cut to exercise those fingers!
We believe we offer a well-rounded program to meet the needs of all children. With such a small group of children activities can be designed to fit individual child’s needs and learning styles, abilities and interests. Each child will receive plenty of one on one attention that they may not receive in a larger program.