Three Year-Old Program

Goals and Objectives

• To help your child view school as a happy, safe place
• To help your child develop a relationship with and accept guidance from their teachers 
• To encourage your child’s natural curiosity and wonder in learning
• To encourage children to use their words to communicate or ask for what they need
• To encourage children to take turn, share and follow directions

Learning Tree Preschool provides a warm, nurturing, and happy environment for your three year-old to learn and practice important early academic skills.  The three year-old class curriculum is based on a Letter of the Week program.  The children are introduced to a new letter of the alphabet each week using the Fundations program.  Activities, including story time and daily crafts, are centered around that letter.  In addition, each child gets individual time with the teacher throughout the week to work on fine motor development, such as proper pencil grip and scissor use, as well as letter recognition and sounds.

Socialization

Our three year-olds learn to make friends, share, take turns, and listen when others talk. They learn to separate from their parents and to adjust to other adults. These are difficult skills.  Our teachers know that all children develop at their own pace, and they give our children individualized guidance, encouragement, and positive feedback.

Pre-Reading

Our three year-old teachers foster a love of reading and language through many fun and engaging, age-appropriate activities.  These include story time and surrounding activities such as songs, music, movement and fingerplays.  The children navigate through the alphabet one letter at a time, building on their knowledge each week with the introduction of letter activities including matching games, puzzles and art projects.

Pre-Math

Our three year-olds learn counting, pattern recognition, shape recognition, and problem solving through both structured activities and unstructured play.

Pre–Writing

Before children can write, they need to develop the fine motor muscles in their hands for proper pencil grip and control.  At Learning Tree, we help foster fine motor development through many activities that are fun and age-appropriate.  They include painting, scribbling, gluing, play dough, cutting and crumbling paper, stringing beads, manipulating puzzles, and construction toys and fingerplays.

Science

Children are natural scientists – Always wondering why, and eager to find the answer to that persistent question, “Why?”.  Our teachers provide children with plenty of hands–on science experiments.  Some examples are mixing colors, planting, and hatching insects.

Daily Schedule

9:00 AM Arrival:
Teachers greet children, children hang coats and backpacks, children wash hands, children participate in activities at the tables

First Circle:
Good Morning song and movement activities, story time, cognitive skills, demonstration of craft

AM Activity Time:
Crafts, Puzzles, manipulatives, play dough, painting, blocks, kitchen, science experiments, fine motor activities, teachers provide individualized and small group instruction

Clean-up Time

Snack 
We provide a nut free snack each day and children are asked to bring their own labelled refillable/reusable beverage container. 

Second Circle:
Calendar, weather, songs, movement, story time, Pledge of Allegiance

Gross Motor:
Playground or movement songs and activities in the classroom if there is inclement weather

12:00 PM
Dismissal

 (option for afternoon enrichment)