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Preparing Your Little Explorer for the New Challenges Ahead
Focusing on the individual uniqueness of each student
Our Kindergarten Readiness Program is accredited by the Maryland State Department of Education and designed to enhance the overall educational experience of each child. We implement Children Study their World (CSW) with an emphasis on STEAM and conservation.
The Kindergarten Readiness Program uses curriculum grounded in science, social studies, and social foundations. However, we remain focused on developmental goals to include language, literacy, math, fine arts, and physical development.
The program has eight project-based themes that focus on independent discovery while actively participating in teacher-led lessons. Each project theme is about one month, and we've found that the longer and more detailed a theme, the more children learn and become "experts" on a specific topic. During each theme, children interview experts to spark curiosity regarding real-life application. Children may interview these experts by having them visit their classroom or by taking a field trip.
The learning does not stop at the classroom. Parents are encouraged to be actively involved with their child's progress. Our teachers provide various ideas about ways to extend your child's learning at home. For instance, during the community helpers theme, our teachers may encourage parents to visit a firehouse or a police station.
The Day of a Preschooler in KR
Our Kindergarten Readiness program includes a variety of learning experiences throughout the day. Each day in our preschool program includes:
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Large group meeting time: Children build community, learn new project themes, problem solve important questions as a group, and read stories.
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Small group: Children choose which learning center to explore that includes new items related to their theme. Teachers enhance learning experiences with smaller focus groups to work on learning objectives such as math, science, and literacy (such as daily writing journals).
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Outdoor time occurs twice a day
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Spanish interaction through daily routine, large group meeting time, and music.
Beyond the Classroom
Our teachers enhance children's learning experiences inside and outside the classroom. The Kindergarten Readiness Program participates in weekly visits to our local library to pick out books based around their interests and the theme of the week. Once a week, children enjoy a read a loud at the library to learn about new books. Children also enjoy nature walks around the school and science experiments outside. The Kindergarten Readiness also enjoys various trips to local parks, museums, and other locations around the area to enhance learning experiences based on their weekly theme.
Our Kindergarten Readiness program is one-of-a-kind as the teachers focus on freshwater conservation. Children participate in raising rainbow trout in their classroom and releasing them into local waterways. Children learn where the fish come from by visiting a local hatchery where the fish will live out their adult life. This conservation project helps enhance science experience before kindergarten. CCC works directly with the Department of Natural Resources to coordinate this conservation effort in Maryland. DNR took a chance in letting CCC become the youngest program to incorporate this project in the state.
Hatch a Chicken Project
Our preschool teachers promote children to learn about caring for others, whether that is people or animals. One way they learn how others develop is watching the development in front of their eyes. Each spring, our Kindergarten Readiness program participates in receiving eggs in their classroom, taking observations on any changes on the eggs and watching a close eye on how their teacher cradles the eggs to help them develop. Children make predictions and test their hypothesis after the chickens hatch. Once the chickens are ready, they are released to the farm they came from.
Butterfly Release Project
Each spring, our KR students participate in raising Monarch butterflies. Children continue to grow their science vocabulary during this project. Children observe the caterpillars transform into chrysalis to their final stage, breaking out of their cocoon. Each time the KR students come into the classroom, they see the butterflies they raised in their habitat net practicing to fly. Children then release the butterflies in the Center. From time to time, the same butterflies stop by the Center to visit the children.
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