Chickadees
– 3 years old by September 1st –
The goals for our three-year olds fall into four categories of growth: social, emotional, intellectual and physical.
On any given day, you will see classroom activities that fall into these areas through “play." As the “work” of children, play allows each child to select what he does, how long he does it, how he does it, and with whom he does it.
Play is a learning time for thinking, the use of language, problem solving, investigating, and organizing using the mind and body and social skills to respond to an idea or situation.
While children are busy at play, the adults in the classroom are busy hearing what the children say, reading the children’s faces and sensing what is on their minds. They are busy seeking opportunities to stimulate learning or interpret children’s play to help them grow.
[Adapted from: Parent Handbook, Indianapolis Council of Pre-school Cooperatives.]
A Day In The Life Of A Chickadee
The Chickadees have the opportunity to engage in play and learning in three distinctly different rooms, the Art Room, the Block Room and the Climbing Room.
The teacher and three participating parents are engaged in teaching the children concepts essential to the development of a 3 and 4 year old.
We are in session on Tuesdays from 9 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. and Thursday from 9 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. On Tuesdays the Chickadees class is extended to include lunch and extra play and exploration outside.
9:00 – 10:10 Arrival & Free Play
At the start of the school day, the children are encouraged to explore and discover age-appropriate activities correlating with our theme for the day.
These activities may include pretend/or actual cooking in the kitchen, painting at an easel, working with manipulatives like play dough or small bristle blocks, building with large wooden blocks, dressing up in costumes, exploring different themed items in the sensory table, making music, climbing on a climber, visiting with the guinea pig, or looking at a book.
Through these different experiences the children learn important social and large and small muscle developmental skills, including working cooperatively, with plenty of questioning and problem solving.
While the children are busy exploring, one area of focus for the teacher and the three participating parents is to assist the children in transitioning from parallel play to interacting more intentionally with each other.
The children are taught to communicate their emotions in positive ways and to work through conflict. The children learn to comprehend the consequences of their actions. They are exposed to math concepts such as sequencing, patterns and matching.
10:10 – 10:35 Clean Up & Circle Time
The children assist with picking up the toys that were available during free play. Then the children gather quietly around a library of books and look at books independently with soft music playing in the background.
Circle Time begins with the teacher reading a story related to the day’s theme, exploring it through questions enhancing pre-reading and language skills. Following this, the children are led through several songs, with the children moving around and participating.
The increase in listening skills and attention span will become obvious over the school year.
10:35 – 11:00 Snack Time & Dress for Outside Play
The children enjoy a snack such as crackers, pretzels or dried fruit and with some regularity, the children also are offered fresh fruits and vegetables.
During snack time, the children learn to share with each other and are encouraged to use their manners when passing the snack bowl to their friends.
Independence is encouraged as they pour their own cup of water from a pitcher and mop up any spills with a sponge. After snack, the children learn to put on their own hats, gloves and jackets to go outdoors.
11:00 – 11:30 Outdoor Play
As long as the temperature is above zero and not pouring rain, we go outside to play on the school’s beautiful, well-equipped, half-acre playground.
The children play on the tire swing, sandbox and playhouse, to name just a few items permanently situated on the playground. We also provide tricycles, sand toys and diggers, and sleds on the snowy days for the children to use as tools for enhancing their imagination and gross motor skills.
We encourage them to have fun, and we expect them to get dirty!
11:30 – 12:00 Lunch
During lunch, the children sit together and socialize with each other. One adult is sitting at each table and engages each child and encourages open communication.
12:00 – 12:30 Story Time & Outdoor Play
On the extended day Tuesday, the teacher reads the children a second story related to the day’s theme and the children get extra time exploring outside.
Enrichment activities might include a scavenger hunt on one of our hiking trails, a special science activity or a visit from a resource person.
The children are dismissed from the playground, but parents are always invited to stay and to socialize with each other.
Enrichment
Music
Our music teacher comes once a month to the classroom and leads the class in a music lesson. This is a very interactive and often physical lesson, in which the children learn about pitch, rhythm, and tempo and frequently have the opportunity to play different instruments.
Spanish
We are fortunate to have Spanish speaking parents teaching mini Spanish lessons. These lessons typically occur once a week and include reading books in Spanish, singing traditional Latino songs and learning new Spanish vocabulary such as colors and numbers. The children enjoy participating in this interactive lesson.
