The Kids Inn staff is determined to help your child develop the skills they need. Lessons are created for group instruction. Individual attention is given to those who require a more personal touch. Structured play is an important opportunity for children to practice what they have learned. Different centers are created around a theme to encourage further exploration and the practice of skills in exciting and new ways.
This period of your child's life is full of sporadic bursts of growth and excitement. It is natural at this age for emotions tend to run high. We are here for your child socially and emotionally as well as academically. We hope to foster your child's creativity and natural ability to learn. We are also here to answer your questions and address your concerns. We recognize that open communication between educators and parents is vital in ensuring your child's success. Issues being worked on at home will be supported in school as we hope that you will support our work on school issues when the child is at home.
This transition takes time and patience. Different skills develop at different rates; therefore children may become confused and emotional. We are here to support you and your child through this time.
Nursery School Skills
- Recognize and identify numbers
- Recognize and identify letters
- Manipulate pencil, scissors, and crayons
- Develop listening skills
- Be able to follow directions
- Understand sequencing
- Be able to verbalize thoughts and ideas
- Take responsibility for personal items
- Be able to retell a story
- Develop a positive self image
- Cooperate with others
- Practice shoelace tying
- Print name
- Categorize and sort (i.e. shape, color, size, etc.)
- Answer and ask questions
Learning Centers
Our staff members create learning centers, which allow free exploration by a child. They encourage children to be active learners in their environment. Centers are symbolic representations of different environments and allow children to try out different ideas or different ways of affecting that environment. Small groups of children work together to receive immediate responses to their ideas, communication, and work. The following examples clarify what may seem like “just” play.
Housekeeping:
Allows a child to take on new roles to begin to understand other people, and to figure out who they are. Provides an opportunity to practice what they know or have learned. They expand their oral language as they talk to one another.
Blocks:
Children work on their problem solving skills and learn to work cooperatively. They practice organizing their world using symbolic representations in play. They expand their expressive language as they explain their creation and how it was constructed.
Art:
This center fosters children’s natural creativity. Art gives children the opportunity to understand their world as they experiment with many different materials and tools. They will expand expressive language skills. Children build self-confidence and self-esteem by implementing ideas and decisions as they create something wonderful.
Discovery:
Provides an opportunity to learn something new and allows children to learn in greater depth. Changed on a regular basis to provide variety.
Water Table:
May contain a variety of materials such as: water, sand, rice, popcorn, sewing materials, shaving cream, pasta, bubbles, paper for cutting, clay, people/farm animals for dramatic play, etc. Children area allowed to experiment with materials and tools as they are developing their small motor coordination. Provides opportunities to problem solve, learn math and science concepts, and observe.
Math:
Different manipulatives are provided to count, sort, measure, compare, classify, graph, etc. Encourages expressive language and observation and the practice of different math concepts.
Library:
Develop an interest in printed material, reading, storytelling, and an area for quiet or down time. May contain books on tape, which aid children in learning how to read.
Language Arts:
Practice reading, writing, communicating, and creating. Children learn to remember details, converse and explain, share ideas, write letters/words/sentences, and create their own literature.
Behavior Guidance Plan
Kids Inn Early Learning Center operates on the premise that young children are never “bad”. The types of inappropriate behavior most often seen in a pre-school age children (such as temper tantrums, refusal to cooperate, hitting other children, and failure to follow rules) are usually the result of a child’s level of development. Young children lack the social-emotion, cognitive, and physical skills needed to comply with many adult demands. For these reasons, our staff uses the following guidelines for promoting positive behavior and responding to undesirable behavior.
Our staff seeks to change behaviors through the use of positive techniques. Some of our methods include:
- having age-appropriate expectations for the children
- stating rules clearly, and in manners appropriate for the children’s developmental levels
- clarifying the consequences of misbehavior prior to inappropriate behavior occurring
- the participation of children in development of the rules
- allowing the children time to practice new rules before implementing consequences for inappropriate behavior
- ignoring some kinds of inappropriate behavior (some misbehaviors are attempts to get attention)
- reinforcing desirable behavior by praising or rewarding the child
In extreme cases of misbehavior, a teacher may remove a child from the group setting. This technique takes a child away from friends and activity for a short time. This gives them the opportunity to calm down and start over.