Bright Stars Preschool

Preschool

Program

Bright Stars Preschool is packed with endless learning opportunities, which foster a well balanced program of academics and social skill development. Play is the central learning avenue in our program. Play provides children with the opportunity to develop a deeper understanding of the world around them. Play also encourages children to keep an open mind to new ideas and other points of view. It helps children intellectually, physically, socially and emotionally excel, creating a well-balanced life style, and setting them up for future success.

In addition to our play, there will be time in each day for stand alone lessons. These are mini lessons, where the children are required to listen and watch the demonstration and then take part in an activity to practice these new skills. These mini lessons not only introduce and review important academic skills but they introduce proper school etiquette.

Our two primary language arts programs will be Handwriting Without Tears (HWT) and Jolly Phonics.

Handwriting without Tears is an award-winning handwriting/printing curriculum that has helped millions of children develop school readiness skills and succeed in handwriting/printing.

Children and teachers succeed with the Handwriting Without Tears program. Here’s why:

	Letter and Number style is developmentally appropriate and easy to read.
	Multisensory teaching strategies appeal to all learning styles.
	Student lessons take only 10-15 minutes a day.
	HWT enables children to write with ease and confidence

Jolly Phonics focuses on teaching the letter sounds in an enjoyable, multi-sensory way and enables children to use them to read and write words. Each sound has an action which helps children remember the letter(s) that represent it.

Our primary math program is the Power of Ten. The Power of Ten program offers an innovative and creative way of teaching and learning numbers and how to use them in daily activities. The concepts will be primarily taught through the use of games and child exploration. We will also use the Handwriting Without Tears program to build upon basic number concepts.

Our inquiry program is designed to focus on the total growth of the developing child. This program encourages children to take control of their learning through the power of questions and action plans. The teacher introduces a theme and captures the students interests, from there the students are taught how to ask in depth questions. These questions are what guide the teaching and learning in the classroom. An inquiry program encourages the children’s natural curiosity and empowers the children to take action or come to conclusions through experimentation and discovery. We will focus on eight units of inquiry this year. Each unit will last for ten classes and on the tenth day we will have a celebration, which will summarize our leaning in a fun and creative way.

At Bright Stars Preschool the teacher : student ratio is low enabling teachers to provide individualized programs for each child, providing them with appropriate and engaging activities based on their age and skill level. Research supports that all children learn at different rates and in different ways. In addition to the variety of learning styles, each child brings different skills and experiences to our school, so offering your child an individualized program allows them to grow and feel successful every step of the way. These individual programs are then supervised very closely so progress can be celebrated and frustration can be avoided. These specific learning opportunities will provide the children with a solid academic foundation, setting them up for success in later school years. Early successes also build a strong sense of pride, self confidence and love of learning.

In addition to offering a unique program of academics and play. We are also proud to be affiliated with Big Plans for Little Kids. This organization provides occupational and speech therapy to children with mild / moderate delays. They work closely with both the teachers of Bright Stars Preschool and the families to ensure all children's needs are met.