The foundations for learning in language arts are critical to all other curriculum areas as well as to social and emotional development. Children develop the basis for verbal communication in early childhood, beginning with nonverbal social exchanges. A solid foundation in language development prior to entering elementary school promotes success in reading and writing. A well- planned program will encourage children to learn about the world around them. Reading to children encourages their imaginations and sparks an interest in learning how to read by themselves.

Children identify upper and lower case letters and sounds. (Usually upper case only with first year children)
Children have many opportunities to write his or her first name in the first year, and during the second year, also recognizing, identifying and begin writing his or her last name. Young three year olds may not be able to write any letters until their fine motor skills have progressed.
Children recognize first and last name in print. (Usually just first name in first year)
Children build their conversational skills.
Children work on correct grasp of brushes, crayons and markers, with the eventual goal of holding a pencil or pen correctly.
Children have the opportunity to retell familiar stories.
Children are exposed to all kinds of books.
Children draw pictures and dictate words to tell about stories and experiences.
Children answer questions and discuss stories that they’ve read together
Children build listening skills through stories, songs and rhymes.
Children strengthen visual discrimination.
Children have the opportunity to identify similarities and differences.
Children recognize beginning print concepts such as left to right and top to bottom (called directionality) (Usually, this is a second year skill).
Children match like objects.
Children identify first action in a sequence and arrange events in order when telling a story
Children develop fine motor skills using play-dough, scissors, writing utensils, and Legos.
Teachers expose children to the concept of basic letter sounds.
Children listen to and identify language sounds in order to develop auditory discrimination and phonemic awareness. This includes: rhyming, changing first letter sounds in a word, beginning letter sounds, and breaking words into syllables. (Advanced skills are emphasized more during the second year)
Teachers make beginning reading books available.
Children have the opportunity to write often.
Children build a better knowledge and recognition of lower case letters during the second year.

The foundations of scientific learning lie in inquiry and explorations. These are tools of active learning. Fostering children’s natural sense of curiosity can promote a lifelong interest in scientific study. Simple, concrete and meaningful activities for young children in all areas are important for learning.

Children explore and experience science through hands on activities.
Children plant seeds and discussing growing plants.
Children learn about insects.
Children learn about animals.
We learn about the world around us by going on nature walks, gardening, and by observing insect and plant growth.
We learn about weather and how it influences the world.
Children learn about air, wind, water and earth.
Children learn about the change of seasons.
Children measure, using rulers and other spontaneous informal forms of measurement (such as blocks, children etc.).
Children learn to identify eight basic colors.
We explore color with paint and other media.
Children explore the properties of liquids and solids.
We use our five senses
We predict outcomes of experiments and other natural phenomena.

Math skills include ideas and concepts about quantity. Math also addresses logical and spatial relationships. In pre-school, math foundations are formed out of children’s concrete experiences. These experiences can be embedded in almost all classroom activities including block play, dramatic play, sand and water play and outdoors. Math may also be connected to music and art in the form of rhythmic and visual patterns and symmetry. Number concepts are significant when they are applied to the child’s world.

The following are Math goals for children who attend the Co-Op:

Children at the Co-Op usually can identify numerals 1-30 by the end of the first year, and sometimes to 100 by the end of the second year. However, this goal is flexible, and may be too ambitious for the very youngest in both the first and even second years.
Usually children can count numbers to 20 in the first year, and 50 in the second year.
Teachers expose children to writing the numbers 1-30.
Children have the opportunity to regularly count objects using one to one correspondence.
Children may sort objects by various attributes such as color, shape and size.
Children may identify relative size such as small, medium and large.
Children identify shapes such as square, rectangle, circle, and triangle.
Children match symbols and shapes.
Children duplicate and create simple patterns.

The following items are more detailed and are more often taught with our second year, or older children:

Children use concrete objects to solve simple addition and subtraction problems.
Children observe and talk about concrete examples of whole and half.
Children use positional language and ordinal numbers (first, second, third) in everyday activities.
Children understand the terms “more, less, same as, equal to” while comparing sets of numbers.
Children make estimates and verify accuracy of estimations.
Children organize and draw conclusions from collected facts.
Children graph, using objects and pictures. Sometimes teachers number graph with older children.
Children learn simple time concepts such as morning, afternoon and night, and calendar time such as days and months.

At the pre-school level, history and social science is built on children’s personal experiences with their families and immediate communities. Meaningful topics around social studies often emerge spontaneously out of children’s play and conversations. One purpose of history and social science curriculum is to help children acquire the knowledge, skills and attitudes needed in community life. Decision making within the group lays the foundation for a democratic society. Development of a civic identity and American culture is also a part of pre-school curriculum.

Children practice problem-solving skills.
Children sometimes work in groups or with a partner on a variety of projects (usually during the second year only).
Children share classroom materials with classmates.
We all practice using manners and appropriate polite terms such as please, thank you, excuse me.
Children learn to communicate his or her needs.
Children take care of their own needs with self help skills and cleaning up after oneself.
Teachers expose each child to his or her own personal information such as first and last name, school name, city, state, street and country.
Teachers discuss “time” in relevant activities using timelines, counting down days etc.
Children begin to explore maps.
We learn about various holidays, and also about other countries and customs.
Teachers discuss qualities of character such as honesty, courtesy, kindness, fairness etc.
Teachers discuss and explore various types of work people do.
Children become aware of important American symbols such as the flag.

Children develop a basic understanding of songs and music.
Teachers encourage inventing and creating variations of known songs.
Children use movement as expression.
Teachers present playing and learning about various musical instruments. There is singing in patterns.
Teachers expose children to puppetry.
Classes provide dramatic play areas with costumes and props.
Children explore different types of paint and color media.
Children use texture, lines, patterns and shapes in artwork.
Children learn self-expression through music, dance and art projects.

Children have many opportunities to strengthen hand and finger flexibility.
Strengthening finger pincer-grasp and also grasp and release skills are a priority for beginning hand writing skills.
Opportunities are there for children to strengthen their eye-hand co-ordination.
Children learn about nutrition guidelines and healthy vs. not healthy food.
Children learn about body awareness, co-ordination and strength.
Children learn about directionality and position in space.
Children learn about personal hygiene.
Children learn the names and signs of emotions.
Children learn about dental health.
Children learn about fire safety.
Children learn about environmental health.