4 years – 5 years of age
Preschool Program (Level 3)
When your child reaches this stage of development, their cognitive skills are progressing at a rapid rate. Their speech and sentence structure is becoming more detailed and dialogue with peers and teachers has a continuous flow. Preschoolers will use sentences with 4-6 words and will use proper tense most of the time in their speech. They are very inquisitive asking many “why” and “how” questions. At Serenity Montessori Academy, we continue to develop language acquisition and reading readiness skills for future written language. Simultaneously, we are concentrating on enhancing fine motors skills such as pencil grip, writing, and cutting. We use the Lippincott Letterbook Series designed to introduce letter and sound correspondence, upper/lower case recognition, discrimination of vowel sounds, phonemic reading and following directions in a small group setting. The children will complete about 9 books in this series and the remaining books are completed in their kindergarten year. Assessments will be done during the first few weeks of school so your child can be placed in the proper reading and math group.
We acknowledge the different levels of processing phonetic information that occurs. Patience is the key to children learning how to read. Each child will begin to blend letters and form words at their own pace. The teachers demonstrate much enthusiasm and encouragement with every effort the child makes in reading. We want your child to have a positive attitude toward reading and find it rewarding and exciting. When a child begins to read with fluency additional reading materials will be given. Parents will be notified of any changes that may occur in their child’s group.
The things he sees are not just remembered; they form a part of his soul.
Your child will be working on the following Language and Phonics concepts during the year:
- Upper/lower case formation of the first 9 Lippincott Letterbooks and beyond
- Letter and sound correspondence for the alphabet letters
- Repetition of sound patterns in word families
- Sequencing events
- Auditory instruction with corresponding Lippincott Letterbooks CD
- Recognition of printed name
- Writing first and last name
- Blending 3-letter phonetic words
- Duplicate words from board
- Mastering the tripod pencil grip
- Hand/eye coordination when positioning letters on appropriate lines for writing
- Gradual accumulation of about 50 phonetic words
- Ability to listen to stories/answer questions/retell events
* The Montessori Movable Alphabet and Montessori Sandpaper Letters are incorporated at this stage of learning where sensorial activities aid in the concrete development of letters and words.
Fine Motor Skills
Through the continuation of Practical Life Skills and small motor coordination exercises in small group time, your child will become self-sufficient and aware of eye-hand coordination and upper body control when using their fingers for activities. The following lessons will be presented to the child when ready.
- Cutting out shapes
- Cutting curved paths
- Duplicating shapes
- Coloring within boundaries
- Draw pictures that are recognizable
- Tracing and writing name
- Near point duplication of words
- Marking an answer(circle, underline and put an “x”)
- Trace a stencil with little assistance
- Completing 8-12 piece interlocking puzzle
- Can button, zip and Velcro clothing efficiently
- Refinement of small motor coordination is continued through in Practical Life activities and lessons throughout the day. At this stage, the child will become self-sufficient in dressing and undressing, pack and unpack items from backpack, eating independently, toileting, hand washing, opening bags, lunchbox and containers, hanging up their jacket and using spoon and fork efficiently.
There has been extensive exposure of math cognition development activities presented in the Practical Life curriculum and Sensorial curriculum thus far in their development. We will continue to master sequence, recognition and quantity of numbers 1-10. We now begin parallel lessons in addition and subtraction. We acknowledge the diverse levels of mathematical processing and work at a pace that is comfortable for each child. The following concepts are areas of development that each child will be introduced to and work towards mastery throughout the year.
Never help a child with a task at which he feels he can succeed.
– Maria Montessori
- Writing/recognizing numbers in the teens
- Linear counting to 100
- Counting by 10’s
- Telephone numbers/addresses
- Simple addition/subtraction using Montessori beads
- Telling time (full hour)
- Money concepts (recognizing coins and simple combinations)
- Naming Geometric shapes and solids
- More than/less than (quantitative comparisons)
- Simple measurement concepts ( units and inches)
- Identifying fractions/identify the line of symmetry
Montessori apparatus used to enhance math concepts:
- Number rods and Cards
- Sandpaper numbers
- Pink Tower with extended Cards
- Memory play
- Montessori Addition and Subtraction beads
- Teen Board
- Fraction Insets
- Geometric solids
Parents will receive a monthly newsletter to explain upcoming concepts in Language, Practical Life and Mathematics. Critical thinking, analyzing information and drawing conclusions are areas that begin to develop at this stage when presented with prepared lessons and classroom materials to enhance their “work” period experience.