A+ Prep School

Ifant-Early Preschool Program:
The Early Preschool Program (2 months through 3 years old) is offered for full and half days with choices of 5-days or 3-days. It is a dynamic group that is divided into two class levels. Both classes use Creative Curriculum a research-based preschool program. This style of teaching, also known as learning by play/discovery, is used in each classroom to build a fundamental basis for development and learning.

Our goals are to:

• Build a trusting relationship with each child
• Provide responsive, individualized care
• Create environments that support and encourage exploration
• Ensure children`s safety and health
• Develop partnerships with families
• Observe and document children`s development in order to plan for each child and the group
• Recognize the importance of social/emotional development
• Appreciate cultural, family, and individual differences
• Take advantage of every opportunity to build a foundation for lifelong learning
• Support dual language learnersInclude children with disabilities in all aspects of the program
• Send home evaluation & assessment reports four times a year and to make
• Parent-Teacher Conferences available to facilitate communication between the school and home.

Young children are in the most vulnerable and important period of life. Care and experiences they have should be nurturing, consistent, and loving. Every day you can see exciting changes as children learn to trust, joyfully explore the environment, make discoveries, care about others and begin to see themselves as competent learners. Toddlers and twos who receive high-quality care are more likely to become sociable, capable preschoolers who get along with others, demonstrate self-control, and love learning. The Creative Curriculum for toddlers and twos is reflected through experiences and routines. It focuses on the importance of meeting basic needs, fostering social/emotional development, developing secure attachments, and supporting cognition and brain development.

Experiences include:

• Playing with toysImitating and pretending
• Enjoying stories and booksConnecting with music and movement
• Creating with artTasting and preparing food
• Exploring sand and water
• Going outdoors

The opportunity to have a positive influence on children and families depends on the quality of the program you provide. Early Childhood Education research has identified the factors that define a quality program for toddlers & twos. Caring for children under age 3 is too important to leave to chance. Our teachers are intentional about what they do each day in their work with children and families. That is how we offer a comprehensive, developmentally appropriated curriculum.

Preschool and Pre-Kindergarten Classes:Our preschool and prekindergarten programs (three to five years old) are offered for full and half days with choices of 5-days or 3-days. These two separate classes are designed to provide children with a strong basis and skills for life-long learning. Classes are taught in a hands-on interactive style following Creative Curriculum, a research-based preschool program. The development of each child is planned for in the four areas of child development.

These areas are:
Social/Emotional Development Goals:

• Achieving a sense of self: knowing oneself and relating to other people-both children and adults.
• Taking responsibility for self and others: following rules and routines, respecting others, and taking the initiative.
• Behaving in a prosocial way: showing empathy and getting along in the world for example , by sharing and taking turns.

Physical Development Goals:

• Achieving Gross Motor: moving the large muscles in the body, especially the arms and legs, consciously and deliberately. Gross motor control includes balance and stability; movements such as running, jumping, hopping, galloping, and skipping; and physical manipulations such as throwing, kicking, and catching.

Achieving fine motor control:

• Using and coordinating the small muscles in the hands and wrists with dexterity. As these fine muscles develop, children are able to perform self-help skills and manipulate small objects such as scissors and writing tools.The achievement of fine motor skills generally lags behind gross motor development.

Cognitive Development Goals:

• Learning and problem solving: being purposeful about acquiring and using information, resources, and materials. As children observe events around them, ask questions, make predictions, and test possible solutions, learning reaches beyond just acquiring facts. Persistence and knowing how to apply knowledge expands their learning even further.
• Thinking logically: gathering and making sense of the information by comparing, contrasting, sorting, classifying, counting, measuring, and recognizing patterns. As children use logical thinking, they organize their world conceptually and gain a better understanding of how it works.
• Representing and thinking symbolically: using objects in a unique way, for instance, a cup to represent a telephone, or a broom to represent a horse; pretending, for instance, to be mommy or a firefighter; portraying the world through charts or pictures, for instance, making a graph to show changes in the weather over time or a drawing to show what happened to a character in a story. Representation and symbols free children from the world of literal meanings and allow them to use materials and their imagination to explore abstract ideas.
• Language Development Goals:Listening and speaking: using spoken language to communicate with others, enlarging one`s vocabulary, expressing oneself, understanding the oral speech of others, participating in a conversation, and using language to solve problems. As children learn to listen and speak, they gain control of themselves and their world, relate effectively to others, and gather and store more and more information.
• Reading and writing: making sense of the written language, understanding the purpose of print and how it works, gaining knowledge of the alphabet, writing letters and words. When children begin to read they gain access to a new worlds of information and faraway places, including the world of imagination. Writing things down expands memory, communication, and understanding.

Kindergarten Program:
Our private Kindergarten program is open to all Kindergarten age children. Advance placement into the program will be considered on an individual basis. Our Kindergarten program provides a dynamic, hands on program designed to teach and enhance all objectives of theTexas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS). Please review theTexas Essential Knowledge and Skillsas set forth by the Texas Education Agency. These are the same objectives used by all Public schools in Texas. In addition, our program encourages children to go beyond the Kindergarten level, learning at their own pace and reaching higher academic goals.Our class hours for Kindergarten are 8:00 AM 2:30 PM Monday through Friday. We follow the samecalendar as the Plano ISD for Academic Schedule but are Open Year Round. After 2:30 PM and on non-class days, the children may attend our After-School program.

This program provides quiet; teacher supervised homework and reading time in addition to fun, supervised free-time activities for students.

Our Kindergarten year end objectives are:

Mathematics

• Counting by rote 1-100
• Visual recognition of numerals 1-50
• Visual recognition of number words 1-20
• Understand and successfully use the concept of addition and subtraction with one and two digit horizontal and vertical equations
• Tell time on the hour and half hourCount by 2`s ,5`s, and 10`s
• Distinguish between whole, half and quarterRecognition of money by denomination and determine its worth

Language / Phonics / Writing

• Visual recognition of all upper and lower case letters in random orderIdentify vowels and consonants and their different sounds
• Put together beginning and ending blends with vowels to form words
• Construct a grammatically correct sentence with a naming and action part and proper punctuation
• Copy text from paper and from board to paper with little or no help and with few errors
• Construct a story using both pictures and wordsWrite poems and autobiographical information
• Write all letters with correct information and placement
• Write first and Last name
• Construct simple letters and cards

Science/ Social Studies/ Foreign Language

• Develop and understanding of how science effects daily life
• Understand the growth process in plant life, mammals, and humans,
• Understand the aspects of our local community and the world community
• Learn about our government and its leaders past and present
• Understand and appreciate our cultural differences and similaritiesKnow their names ,address, age , phone number and how to use these in an emergency situation
• Reading Comprehension
• Identify the jobs of an author and illustratorIdentify the parts of a book
• Learn to care for and read a book properlyUnderstand that written words have meaning
• Reading on a minimum Kindergarten level with little or no assistance
• Develop a love for reading and the knowledge and power that books hold

After School "HomeWork Heaven":

Our After-School program is designed to meet the needs of children in Kindergartenthrough 8th grade in public school. We pick up students at Plano schools on the northwest side of Plano and a few Frisco schools nearby. Upon arrival the students have a short break and a nutritious snack. At 3:30 PM we begin our homework time, providing an hour and a half of quiet uninterrupted time, assisted by a certified teacher, to complete homework. Computer and internet access is available if required for homework. A large playground and two large rooms with building, pretend, art, and other toys provide many activity choices when homework is finished. In addition, we have two music practice rooms with a piano in each room.

A+ Teachers are Loving, Caring, and Professional - Your Kids are our Kids - Every A+ child is unique & special to us.

Children in our school shine because they know everyone here loves them and cares about them. Our parents have peace of mind because they know that each and every member of the A+ staff is there to watch over, help, and guide their child; and, because we are all concerned and aware of the needs and strengths of each child, we are able to provide a comfortable, secure place of learning for your child.

Please Visit our Main Website to Learn more about our Teachers and school.www.aplusprepschool.com