Preschool Program
By the time children are in our Pre-School program, they are generally ready for more involved activities and are interested in the “hows” and “whys” of the world. Our teachers recognize these needs and prepare lesson plans that are active, hands-on and relevant to the children’s interests. Our Pre-School classes follow a Scope and Sequence based curriculum and a centers based approach to learning. Teachers use developmental checklists and age level training to develop age appropriate activities and experiences within the weekly center wide thematic topic.
More complex levels of play emerge as children try to create connections between what they already know and what they want to know. Our children focus on pre-reading and pre-writing skills by strengthening fine motor skills; they build, measure, estimate and weigh through pre-math concepts. We continue to build a solid foundation of learning through play by bringing science, cooking, art, music, stories and dramatic play into every part of the learning process.
The teachers in the PreSchool rooms use tablets and the KidsReports app to provide regular updates throughout the day and letting parents know their child’s activities for the day. Parents also receive real time updates during the day letting them know about their child’s daily routines. Additionally, the Kids Report app allow the teachers to take pictures and videos of the kids during the day and to not only sharing the videos on a daily basis but to also store them for the development of a year end portfolio so that you can see the child’s progress throughout the year. Cypress will be implementing the Kids Report app during the winter of 2020-2021.
We focus on Fine Motor Skill development, specifically in the area of writing skills, to develop a strong base for the Pre-K class. Our teachers use creative and thoughtful planning to help the children pick up those necessary skills to be successful in Pre-K and Kindergarten.
The Pre-School classrooms have their own playgrounds that include slides, swings, basketball hoops and playhouses. Additionally, at Tomball they use the air-conditioned gym on rainy and hot days to take advantage of additional play and learning experiences including riding toys, parachute play, soccer and basketball.
Each year at the Cypress location, the preschoolers participate in the planting of the vegetable garden and their teachers take them through the garden on a regular basis to look at the growth and harvesting of vegetables. At the end of the day, the children cannot wait to show their parents all of the vegetables that they picked and get to take home.