Riverhill’s four-year-old pre-kindergarten is a wonderful place for children to discover “the way school is supposed to be.” It is a time of discovery, learning, and helping children develop lifelong skills. The learning environment is a nurturing and loving one where the children feel safe to explore and to become more independent and responsible. Students love to use the wonders of nature and the exploration of our imaginations to have creative learning time. In Pre K4, learning is taken seriously and students are encouraged to “reach out” to the community to make a difference. A LOVE for learning and reading is instilled in the students that they will carry with them throughout their lifetime. Positive experiences teach the children that learning can be fun! Riverhill’s Pre K4 class is fully licensed by the Alabama State Department of Human Resources.
Curriculum Summary
Basic Skills
- Address
- Phone Number
- Button/Tie/Zip
- Cut/Glue
- Draw
- Hold pencil correctly
- Recognize and write full name
- Recognize colors: red, orange, pink, yellow, blue, green, purple, black, brown, white
- Recognize shapes: circle, square, triangle, rectangle, oval, star, diamond
- Know days, months, year
- Recognize alike/different, big/little, up/down, long/short
- Copying patterns
Reading Readiness
- Identify sounds in order
- Recognize spaces between words
- Left to right orientation
- Table of contents
- Author/illustrator
- Big books
- Parts of a book
- Comprehension
- Sequence stories
- Illustrate stories
- Write story endings
- Predict outcomes
- Nursery rhymes
- Poems
- Retell stories
- Write and illustrate Big Books
Word Readiness
- Recognize upper and lower case letters
- Recognize sounds
- Matching capital to lower case letters
- Blending letters
- Rhyming words
- Understand words for when things happen: now, later, never, always
- Understand words for how things feel: hard, soft, hot, cold, rough, smooth
- Understand words for how things move: fast, slow, stop, go
- Listen to stories
- Recall basic facts
- Vowels
- Sight words
- Color words
- Shared guided reading
- Word-by-word reading
- Space between words
Writing Readiness
- Recognize name in print
- Print own name
- Draw recognizable figures
- Hold pencil correctly
- Glue things on paper
- Mold with clay
- Stack and build with blocks
- Put together puzzles
- Cut with blunt scissors
- Copy a shape and/or letter
- Daily journals
Knowledge of Self
- Full name
- Age
- Gender
- Full names of parents/siblings
- Basic body parts: hands, head, toes, hip, feet, shoulder
- Adjust to school
- Share and take turns
- Follow directions
- Play with other children
- Take part in group activities
- Sit quietly for short periods of time
- Pay attention for short periods of time
- Follow classroom rules
- Respect adults
- Develop good work habits
Motor Skills
- Hop, skip, leap, jump, gallop
- Jump rope
- Strike
- Hand/eye coordination: Tennis, badminton, volleyball
- Kick—kickball, soccer
- Tumble/balance
- Cup stack/Juggle
- Run
- Dance
- Throw/catch/dribble/bat
- Obstacle courses
- Throwing/catching
- Games
- Rhythm clapping
- Puzzles
- Alike/different
Mathematics
- Count by 10, 20, 50, to 100
- Count by 5s to 100 and 10s to 100
- Recognize numbers 1-100
- Create patterns
- Recognize patterns
- Sort by size, color, and shape
- Counting the correct number of objects
- Understand concepts of more/less, same/different, empty/full, all/none
- Number words
- Simple addition
- Simple subtraction
- Write numbers to 100
- Graph colors, people, apples, predictions, etc.
- Geoboards
- Unifix cubes
- Coins
Science Experiments
- Volcanoes
- Growing crystals
- Metamorphosis of a caterpillar to a butterfly
- Pollution
Units of Study
- All About Me/I am Special
- Body Parts
- Johnny Appleseed
- Seasons
- Community Helpers/Community Service
- Five Senses
- Christopher Columbus
- Real and Make Believe
- Fall—Pumpkins
- I Am Thankful for—
- Turkeys
- Pilgrims and Indians
- Thanksgiving
- Reindeer
- Winter/Bears/Hibernation
- Penguins/Birds (20 kinds)
- Abraham Lincoln
- Father’s Day/Mother’s Day
- Floating and Sinking
- Groundhogs
- Thomas Edison
- George Washington
- Mardi Gras
- Dr. Seuss
- Alexander Graham Bell
- Watermelon
- Shamrocks
- Spring/Butterflies/Insects
- Sea Life/Oceans
- Weather
- Zoo animals
- Farm animals
- Transportation
- Plants
- Pets
- Space/Planets
- Opposites
- Grandparents’ Day
- Nutrition/Health
- N-S-E-W
- Learning states
- Flat Stanley
- Maps/globes
- Recycling
- Environment
- Holidays
- Oceans
- Current Events
- Insects