PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT The Pre-K curriculum emphasizes learning to play well together while exploring and expanding the students’ physical capacity learninghowtocontrol their bodies ingroupgames and teamsports. Children engage in activities inside the classroom, on the playground or in gym class. These activities help them with control, balance, strength, and coordination in gross-motor tasks as well as coordination, strength and refinement in fine-motor tasks. Children will continue to build with blocks, practice stringing beads, work with more challenging manipulatives and complete increasingly complex puzzles. In preparation for Kindergarten, correct pencil grip will be reinforced and handwriting skills will be practiced. JEWISH LEARNING Pre-K students participate in Jewish Studies and a formal Hebrew language immersion program called Chalav U’devash. This Hebrew language program imparts a basic knowledge of spoken Hebrew and provides a foundation for future study of the language. It does this by developing the student’s ability to communicate in Hebrew from the first lesson and by connecting Hebrew to everyday situations related to home and school. The program integrates themes of Israel, Shabbat and Jewish festivals while making Hebrew a source of pleasure for children and for the entire family. In addition, the teachers continue to reinforce the students’ skills in reciting blessings and prayers, and leading Shabbat, Torah and Havdalah services. They also actively learn Jewish values by doing mitzvot and giving tzedakah. TECHNOLOGY/STEM Pre-K students are immersed in technology though STEM. Science classes are taught by our science specialist and are presented as hands-on, discovery-based experiences. A strong emphasis is placed on teaching a “sense of place” so that children can begin to understand where in the city, the state, the country, the world and the solar system they are, as well as beginning to explain where we are in time. The four most basic sciences are highlighted—chemistry, physics, biology and earth science. Each Pre-K classroom is also equipped with an Apple TV. The TV’s are utilized to enhance learning in tandem with appropriate materials and lesson plans. Our Pre-K students can go on virtual tours to zoos, aquariums, and museums. They have also been able to livestream people praying at the Kotel in Jerusalem, watch the metamorphosis of a butterfly, and have grandparents who live in different countries be Mystery Readers for their class. TRANSITION INTO LOWER SCHOOL COLLABORATIVE CURRICULUM Levine Academy believes that a child’s smooth transition to Lower School is vital to the academic and developmental success of that child. That is why program continuity is of utmost importance in Levine Academy's Early Childhood. Pre-K and Kindergarten teachers, along with their respective director/ principal, collaborate on curriculum and continuously evaluate the effectiveness of the programmatic continuum. By the time the student leaves Pre-K,, he or she has a familiarity with the concepts, programs and expectations of Kindergarten. THE PROGRAMMATIC CONTINUUM FROM PRE-K TO KINDERGARTEN Social/Emotional Development Second Step Program used in Pre-K and Kindergarten, builds critical
ANN & NATE LEVINE ACADEMY
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