At The Child of God Preschool, we strive to incorporate all areas of development into our curriculum, encouraging children to grow and develop physically, emotionally, intellectually and spiritually. Each week, the lead teachers create detailed lesson plans that include age-appropriate activities which are aligned with the Ohio Department of Education's Early Learning and Development Standards.
Each classroom is set up to encourage a sense of learning, discovery, and community. This is accomplished by providing the following variety of learning centers in each classroom:
ART CENTER
This is where children are able to explore and create with a variety of art materials. There is usually an art project that goes with the current theme, and an open art project. Whether they are painting, drawing, cutting, gluing, or sculpting, they are learning to express creativity and develop motor and problem-solving skills.
BLOCK/MANIPULATIVE CENTER
This center gives children the opportunity to work together to create structures with blocks. It is also used for developing fine motor skills and eye-hand coordination by working with puzzles, LEGOs, and other small toys.
COMPUTER CENTER
This center helps the children develop a foundation for future computer use as they grow older. Pre-K educational software is utilized with a variety of themes and learning areas.
DRAMATIC PLAY CENTER
This center allows children to develop social skills as they role play and problem solve with each other. The teachers have access to prop boxes in a variety of themes to expand the children's knowledge and vocabulary.
LANGUAGE/LITERACY CENTER
Here, the children work on letter recognition and starting to form letters. They are introduced to their first and last names as well as new words. The children work at their level and are encouraged to do what they can without becoming frustrated.
SCIENCE/MATH CENTER
This center encourages exploration and experimentation with a variety of materials. The children may be counting, sorting, or even using fractions. They may be mixing colors, planting seeds, or measuring materials. The children are encouraged to make predictions and draw conclusions on their own.
LIBRARY CENTER
This center teaches children a love and appreciation for books and literature and that books are sources of information and can answer our questions. They are also exposed to pre-reading concepts: the written word is talk written down, made with symbols; stories are read from right to left; sequencing; letter recognition; language patterns and development; new concepts and vocabulary.