Hebron Center Nursery School
Serving Our Community Since 1970

PROGRAMS

3-year old traditional (Tues/Thurs 8 or 8:30-11:15):

This session will include a morning meeting, projects based on the month’s themes and identified concepts, literature, phonemic skills, read-a-loud, music, art, cooking, snack, along with structured physical fitness movement activities and free play. Weather, letters, shapes, numbers, colors and more will be part of the Morning Meeting. Themes will be introduced throughout the school year incorporating holidays, traditions, nutrition, biological, physical and earth science, geography, art history, kitchen fun (a great way to strengthen language and pre-math skills), patterns and logical/critical thinking skills. Emphasis will also be placed on being a good friend, empathy, cooperative play, demonstrating a sense of self as a learner, kindness and our role as caretakers of the planet earth and all of which that encompasses.

Some example themes include:

· Beach Day and the discovery of the diverse ocean environment and the ABC sea

Working on pre-math & motor skills, making a healthy & yummy C salad with veggies that all begin with letter C

3-year-old extended day (Tues/Thurs 8 or 8:30-3:15/3:30):

Children will reinforce skills introduced in the morning program via broad based, open format activities. The pace will slow down sig-nificantly as we take a "big" idea and build on it. One example might be spending the afternoon making pasta dough for the Letter P. Mixing ingredients together, kneading the dough until it is soft and pliable, rolling it out, running through the hand cranked pasta ma-chine, learning a few words of Italian for the kitchen, setting up a pretend market to do some "shopping" for the healthy ingredients we will need to make a sauce utilizing fine-motor, gross-motor, counting, direction following, pre-math, language, social skills, physical movement, creative thinking and imaginative play in a really fantastic and fun way. Although the teachers will be reinforcing earlier concepts, the direction of the afternoon’s activities will be child-driven, meaning that, for example, if the students feel that they need to sail to Italy to buy the ingredients then we may need to "build" a ship to get there, or if we need money to use at the market, we may set up a bank and start printing our own money. These afternoons will be about letting kids be kids while the teacher creatively incorporates learning. Where will you child’s imagination lead them?

SOAR-
School of Academic Readiness

(4-year-old preschoolers and kindergarteners- afternoons):

Morning Kindergarteners joining this program will continue to reinforce Kindergarten skills and 4-year-old preschoolers will expand their Kindergarten preparation through a variety of fun, dynamic and age-appropriate yet challenging activities in a communal, stress-free, caring and supportive learning environment. Skills will be based on the State of Connecticut Framework for Kindergarteners that is used in the public schools and will be taught across all disciplines in both large and small group formats. Multi-level teaching strategies will be used and adjustments made to reach all students. Emphasis will be placed on reinforcing skills necessary to be successful in Kindergarten with special attention paid to phonemic skills, language, vocabulary, math skills, problem solving, spatial awareness, sight word recognition, pre-reading skills, alphabet and number activities, motor skills, community activities, rhymes and finger plays, natural and physical science (including nature’s classroom type activities), art and art history activities using a variety of medium and geography through interactive play using both indoor and outdoor instructional space. Students and teachers will also engage in outreach activities to strengthen community awareness. This will be a dynamic and exciting environment where the focus will be on empowering children to learn in a supportive, respectful and stress free environment while developing the skills necessary to excel in the first year of their formal education while never feeling like they are just doing more “work”.

4-year old traditional (Mon/Wed/Fri 8 or 8:30-11:15)

This class is structured in much the same way as our 3-year-old morning class (please see above). Additional emphasis is placed on Kindergarten preparedness with special attention paid to phonemic skills, language, vocabulary, math skills, problem solving, spatial awareness, sight recognition, pre-reading skills, alphabet and number activities, motor skills, community activities, rhymes and finger plays, natural and physical science (including nature’s classroom type activities), art and art history activities using a variety of medium and geography through interactive play and self-help skills just to name a few. Self-awareness, the ability to care for one’s needs and cooperative interaction will also be a focus.

Some example themes include:

· Studying Letter A with Abstract Artists like Joan Miro, Piet Mondrian and Jackson Pollack

· Hibernation and witnessing the Earth’s preparation for winter on the Airline Trail

· Pre-math skills reinforced in the kitchen making healthy Holiday Veggie and Bean Stew with foods native to CT and Herb and Cheese Muffins- MMMmmm

The start of being a good community member, even preschool children can make a difference

· Activities with the Seniors

Pennies for Peace