Flowers(3-5 years)

The Flowers’ classroom provides a hands-on, meaningful approach to preschool education. Drawing from multiple philosophies of learning, the preschool environment is carefully prepared in response to children’s needs and interests and provides a gateway for future success in the primary classroom. Novel activities are planned for each week, and all activities correlate with the Illinois Early Learning and Development Standards. Children are encouraged to think and problem solve as they explore a variety of intentionally designed learning centers each morning. Centers offered include:

• Library: Children engage their pre-literacy and language skills as they explore a variety of texts and genres through independent and shared reading experiences. Through their exposure to diverse print, children develop letter and print knowledge as well as new vocabulary.
• Writing: Children develop key writing skills and discover the many purposes of writing through experience with diverse writing utensils and language concepts.
• Visual Art: Children work with a variety of materials such as tempera paint, clay, and oil pastels to create open-ended art. The art center is a place where children are free to express themselves creatively and develop a love for the fine arts.
• Dramatic play: Children develop their understanding of the surrounding world through imaginative play as they role-play real life situations, develop and carry out plans, work toward self-regulation, and learn key social skills such as negotiation and conflict resolution.
• Math: Children are introduced to math and number concepts such as classifying, sorting, and comparing through meaningful, hands-on activities. Foundational skills such as developing one-to-one correspondence and recognizing shapes are incorporated into daily experiences.
• Science: Children explore various scientific tools as they are introduced to components of the scientific method through predicting, observing and recording. Children learn how to question and experiment with aspects of their surrounding world.
• Fine motor/Self-care: Children develop key hand muscles in preparation for writing through activities such as bead stringing, puzzles, and games that involve tweezers or tongs. This is also an area where children work with everyday self-care tasks that promote independence and respect for the self and surrounding environment.
• Engineering: Children engage in problem solving and decision-making as they develop and carry out plans to create structures from a variety of blocks and materials. Children encounter spatial and structural challenges as they discover the relationship between various shapes. Social skills such as negotiation and cooperation are developed as children work together to create collaborative structures.
• Sensory: Children engage and develop their senses along with related language as they explore a variety of natural materials. Water, sand, rice, and oatmeal may be discovered with tubes, funnels, strainers, or tongs. The sensory table is a great area to develop both gross and fine motor control as children discover that different methods are needed to move various materials from one place to the next.