Preschool Units of Study

All About Me

Essential Questions
Who am I?  Where am I?
Why?

    This unit centers on the child’s social, emotional, physical, and cognitive introduction to the first, pre-requisite year of school, and permeates the entire year, as the pre-requisite Preschool curriculum and developmental skill base spirals throughout the year.  This first unit focuses primarily on learning how to be at school for the first time, be independent of your mommy and daddy, and learn what it means to trust a different caretaker, in a societal group, other than your family, namely, your class.  This unit delves into the processes for playing and working, together as a group, as we learn how to resolve conflicts, solve problems, and use words to describe how we feel. This unit serves, as well, to introduce a child to the process for being productive in Preschool by making appropriate choices, negotiating the physical limitations of the classroom space, and largely explores the concepts of the physical and perceptual development of the young child.

Autumn

Essential Questions
What is a season?
What is nature?
What is the connection between nature and me?

    The seasonal change, that is autumn, provides any number of opportunities for Preschoolers to explore the changes in the natural surroundings of our campus, outside the Little White House.  Largely through observation, the children each begin to use their own, individual skill base, to study and explore the outdoors, as we build our environmental, outdoor classroom space.  The changing weather, the changes in the colors of the leaves, and squirrels and their habitats, are the areas of thematic study that generate the continuation of each child’s pre-requisite maturational growth for learning.

 

Thanksgiving

Essential Questions
What is Thanksgiving?
Who celebrates Thanksgiving?

    The Thanksgiving unit provides abundant opportunity to explore the relationship between the Wampanoag Native Americans and the Pilgrims.  Geography is introduced, as we learn that the earth is made up of continents and oceans, one of which the Pilgrims crossed to come to what we now know as America.

 

Winter Holidays

Essential Questions
What is a holiday?
What holiday does our family celebrate?

December is a short, but very rich month in Preschool with the advent of Christmas, Chanukah and Kwanzaa. The children and their families learn from one another the rich practices of each of these celebrations.

 

Winter and Environmental Sustainability

Essential Questions
What is winter?
How do we care for our outside animal friends?

    This unit delves into the seasonal changes of snow and ice, as we learn to protect and care for those animals that inhabit the campus, who do not migrate or hibernate, rather adapt to the climate and landscape of our location.  As we begin to prepare ourselves for the winter, the preschoolers learn to adapt the outdoor classroom space for the winter.  Observation and discussion are encouraged that generate interest for a more mature skill base that has to this point, been maturing.

Black History Month and Patriotism

Essential Questions
What is Africa?
What is North America?
What is patriotism?

    It is during the month of February when we establish, formally, the contributions of those African Americans who have made a difference in our lives and in our world.  It is also the month we spend learning about the country in which we live, the flag that flies in our classroom and our pledge to it.  As they become less egocentric, the children begin to build a relationship to all things patriotic.  During the month of February, we study the work of the great children’s author, Ezra Jack Keats, as well as, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.

Big Cats Of The World

Essential Questions
What is a big cat?
Why is it important to care for these large animals?
Where in the world do big cats live?

    This unit has its basis in geography, as we discuss the best way to travel to Africa to study the Lion. From Africa we travel to Asia where we meet the tiger.  It is then that we return, through our pretend travels, to America to meet the big cats that are indigenous to our geographical location. We compare and contrast the African Savannah to the Rainforests of Asia through discovery and exploration.

 

Birds, Butterflies and Bees

Essential Questions
What is spring?
What is a life cycle?
How does our environment change?
How do these creatures contribute to that?
What is our continued responsibility to them?

    During this unit we discover and explore the emergent signs of spring.  The children study the life cycle of birds, butterflies and bees begin to identify them by how they look, how they sound, and how they live.

 

Flowers, and Things That Grow From The Ground

Essential Questions
How do flowers, plants, and trees, grow?
What is underground?
What is the life cycle of a plant?


    How flowers, plants and trees grow forms the foundation of this unit.  Through scientific investigation, the children learn about the parts of the flowers, plants, and trees, that grow below the ground and which parts grow above the ground.  Identification of Dandelions, Sunflowers, Tulips and Daisies enable discrimination.  The life cycle of these flowers from seed to germination is discovered through a variety of scientific explorations.