Preschoolers Overview : 3yrs to 5yrs

The preschool child eagerly pursues autonomy; they are ready to develop large muscle skills like jumping and skipping and small motor skills like pinching and grasping pencils and scissors. The pre-school child is happy with their increased ability to communicate with adults as well as their peers. They have a great need to learn and are constantly asking questions. Children at this age are beginning to learn cooperative play and sharing with others. The 3 to 5 year old child is becoming more and more independent and self-reliant. It is our goal at Preston Kiddie Kollege to provide opportunities for the pre-school child to:
- Use both large and small muscles
- Increase and expand their language
- Help them discover the answers to their many questions
- Play cooperative games
- Gain self help skills

Our curriculum will be presented in preschool themes and will integrate all areas of learning. The following subjects will be introduced to the preschool lesson plan throughout the year, with an ultimate goal of having emergent readers by age 4.
- COLORS
- PRESCHOOL SHAPES
- NUMBERS AND COUNTING
- ALPHABETIC PHONICS
- RHYTHM AND RHYME
- OPPOSITES
- SPATIAL/ DIRECTIONAL AWARENESS
- CALENDAR CONCEPTS
- CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT
- SPECIAL EVENTS AND HOLIDAYS

We will work closely with your preschooler through these typical preschool development phases, easing the frustration of some of these milestones and encouraging the growth of others.

Social
• Want to be included in everything.
• Begin to understand concepts like taking turns and sharing, but often are unwilling to    act on their understanding.
• Test language and social skills by arguing with adults and other children.
• Need opportunities for pretend and dramatic play, especially those that explore
   sex-role differences in everyday life.
• Need help distinguishing real from imaginary especially with television, movie and    video characters and events.
• Respond well to choices rather than commands or open-ended requests.
• Have special friends, but best friends may change frequently.
• Develop imaginary companions.

Language
• Speak in complex sentences. Enjoy stories with elements of humor, fantasy and exotic    places and animals.
• Able follow three-part directions, understand more than 1,000 words and speak    between 800 and 900 words.
• Talk about past and future happenings but often confuse the meanings of tomorrow    and yesterday. Reproduce the forms of some letters and associate the related    sounds.
• Recognize several printed words.

Emotional
• Continue to explore independence, frequently do things for themselves but need    reassurance of a trusted adult nearby. Demonstrate their autonomy by expressing    opinions and ideas.
• Delay gratification - for a short time - by waiting to have their needs met.
• Show concern for others (empathy), especially for younger children who are hurt.
• Identify emotional pain - when a pet dies, parents divorce or a friend moves away -    and need help labeling, understanding and controlling feelings of abandonment and    injustice.
• Feel stress, defined as a mental or physical response to strains or daily hassles that    result from injury, illness and fear of failure, disaster, blended families or abuse.

Cognitive
• Follow the sequence and story line of age appropriate books and stories.
• Base their judgments on how some thing looks at the moment.
• Have difficulty distinguishing fantasy from reality.
• Draw circles, squares and letter forms.
• Understand basic shapes and can point to them in the environment.
• Count objects out loud - sometimes with accuracy
• Sort object by characteristics such as color, shape and size.
• Adept with picture puzzles of 10 to 40 pieces.
• Enjoy words, nonsense language, riddles and rhymes.
• Have a vocabulary of up to 2,000 words and use sentences averaging six words.