Preschool Curriculum

Daily Schedule

At The Raleigh School, we believe that children learn best within the context of a stable community group that follows a stable and predictable daily routine. Therefore, each teacher generates and follows a daily schedule to give structure to the learning environment. The following schedule is an example of what a typical daily routine might look like for our preschool children.

Daily Schedule
Time	Activity
9:00 am	Arrival Children enter the classroom and are greeted by teachers, helped to put away personal items in cubbies, and begin work in open centers.
9:30 am	Circle Children and teachers come together for group time: share news, sing songs, count children, talk about the topic for the day, read a book, begin an investigation.
10:00 am	Centers Children choose from activities prepared for them by the teachers within the context of the classroom centers (blocks, books and reading, creation station, dramatic play, easels, gardens, math/manipulatives, sensory bins, scribble/writing table, science/discovery, patio play, project work, woodworking).
11:00 am	Snack Children and adults sit together for “family-style” snack and conversation.
11:15 am	Outside Children play together outside while supervised by adults.
11:45 am	Close Children return to classroom for closing circle, review, and goodbyes.

Example Plan for Four-Year-Old Classes: Nocturnal Animals/Spiders

Theme Emphasis

Allow children the opportunity to learn characteristics of different spiders.

Question of the Day at Check-in: Critical Thinking Exercise

Do you know how many legs a spider has?
(Child answers by writing name in either the “yes”, “no”, or “not sure” column.)

“Must Do” at Open Centers: Paper and Pencil/“School-Prep” Activity

Draw “weblines” to match the uppercase letters with their lowercase letters in the web

Circle Activities: Self-Expression, Listening to Others, Group Problem Solving

Content Activity: web children’s responses to the following question:

• What do you know about spiders?
• Facts to include: 8 legs, many eyes, orb weavers, poisonous, egg-laying, types of food sources, good for environment, not insects.
• Movement Activity: use a ball of yarn to lay a web on the floor as children roll across the circle to one another

Drama: Exercises Imagination, Cooperative Creativity, Flexible Thinking

Act out The Very Busy Spider

Reading/Storytime: Theme Development, Reading Appreciation, Print Recognition, Vocabulary Development, Follow the Development of Thoughts and Ideas in Plot Context, Event Memory, Auditory Discrimination

• The Very Busy Spider
• Charlotte’s Web
• Spooky Spider Saves Halloween
• Spider Facts
• Eensy Weensy Spider
• Anansi
• Spider, Spider

Music/Movement: Self-Expression, Creative Expression, Music Appreciation

• There’s a Spider on the Floor
• Eensy Weensy Spider
• 5 Little Spiders
• Sign Language for Spider

Centers: Theme Extension, Thinking, Practicing Skills, Working Together

(Notes in parentheses describe some of the major developmental tasks that are generally practiced and accomplished within the named center.)

Playdough	— spider cookie cutters (develop fine motor strength and coordination, creative modeling and expression, opportunities for conversation)
Sensory	— shredded paper with small spider tongs to move spiders (develop fine motor strength and coordination, explore attributes and functions of physical materials, opportunities for conversation)
Math	— patterning with spider and insect play figures (opportunities to learn about symmetry, order, and design, to create and repeat patterns, to classify objects by single or multiple attributes, to use logical reasoning)
Floor	— spider/insect puzzle (improve hand-eye coordination, develop understanding of space and size relationships, look at relationship of part to whole, exercise body core muscles)
Literacy	— write and add on story to create class book(Spooky Spider’s Halloween) (experiment with writing letters and words, print recognition, theme development, expression of personal ideas, ordering events, story illustration)
Art	— use rolling marble/paint in a pan to make a web hand print for spider — weave webs using paper plates and yarn — stuff large trash bag to make giant class spider (self-expression and creativity, communicate ideas through concrete mediums, develop and control small muscles, construct a design plan and attempt to implement that plan)
Cooking	— Ritz cracker spiders (peanut butter/pretzels for legs) (practice following multi-step directions, opportunities to discuss nutritional concepts, explore effects of heat and cold on foods, try and appreciate new foods, practice with counting, comparison, and measurement)

Example Plan for Three-Year-Old Classes: Leaves

Theme Emphasis

Children will observe

1. as native trees change colors over time
2. how plants react to cold and decreased sunlight

Children will gain greater appreciation for their natural environment

Circle Activities: Self-Expression, Listening to Others, Group Problem Solving

• Take a walk in the woods to collect leaves
• Examine leaves collected by children
• Classify by color, freshness, size, shape, other categories named by children
• Discuss origin, purpose of leaves
• Appreciate differences, beauty of leaves

Reading/Storytime: Theme Development, Reading Appreciation, Print Recognition, Vocabulary Development, Follow the Development of Thoughts and Ideas in Plot Context, Event Memory, Auditory Discrimination

• Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf
• Leaf Man
• Autumn Leaves
• Tree for All Seasons
• Leaf Jumpers
• It’s Fall

Music/Movement: Self-Expression, Creative Expression, Music Appreciation

• Leaves Are Falling
• I Like to Rake my Leaves

Centers: Theme Extension, Thinking, Practicing Skills, Working Together

(Notes in parentheses describe some of the major developmental tasks that are generally practiced and accomplished within the named center.)

Playdough	— leaf cookie cutters — leaves for impressions (develop fine motor strength and coordination, creative modeling and expression, opportunities for conversation)
Sensory	— leaves on light table — fill table with leaves collected on nature walk (develop fine motor strength and coordination, explore attributes and functions of physical materials, opportunities for conversation)
Math	— bin of leaves for sorting/patterning (opportunities to learn about symmetry, order, and design, to create and repeat patterns, to classify objects by single or multiple attributes, to use logical reasoning)
Literacy	— names on leaf shapes — paper bag leaf puppets — class book, “What are the Leaves Covering?” (experiment with writing letters and words, print recognition, theme development, expression of personal ideas, ordering events, story illustration)
Art	— leaf rubbing — tree sponge painting — making leaf people — mount leaves on contact paper — leaf wreath (self-expression and creativity, communicate ideas through concrete mediums, develop and control small muscles, construct a design plan and attempt to implement that plan)

Example Plan for Two-Year-Old Classes: Apples

Theme Emphasis

In classes for two-year-olds, the themes are scaffolding for the larger goals of social development (attention to others, language usage, independence, self-help) and sensory exploration (using senses to explore and discover, developing and practicing fine and gross motor skills, beginning the processes of thinking and experimenting). The focus of any theme is to have a concrete launching pad for communication, thinking, and exploring.

Circle Activities: Self-Expression, Listening to Others, Group Problem Solving

Look at different types of apples, examining and discussing size, color, texture skin, stem, meat, and seeds.

Reading/Storytime: Theme Development, Reading Appreciation, Print Recognition, Vocabulary Development, Follow the Development of Thoughts and Ideas in Plot Context, Event Memory, Auditory Discrimination

• Apple Pie Tree
• Ten Apples on Top
• Apples & Pumpkins
• Farmer Annie
• Little Mouse and the Big Red Apple

Music/Movement: Self-Expression, Creative Expression, Music Appreciation

• Two Little Apples
• Move to Apple Poem

Centers: Theme Extension, Thinking, Practicing Skills, Working Together

(Notes in parentheses describe some of the major developmental tasks that are generally practiced and accomplished within the named center.)

Sensory	— apple washing, peeling, mashing — tasting different types of apples and applesauce — washing apples in water table — plant seeds (develop fine motor strength and coordination, explore attributes and functions of physical materials, opportunities for conversation)
Math	— apple puzzles — sorting apples by color/size — floating apples in water table (opportunities to learn about symmetry, order, and design, to create and repeat patterns, to classify objects by single or multiple attributes, to use logical reasoning)
Cooking	— applesauce — apple muffins/bread (practice following one-step directions, opportunities to discuss nutritional concepts, explore effects of heat and cold on foods, try and appreciate new foods, practice with counting, comparison, and measurement)
Art	— making apple stamp pictures — apple collages with tissue paper/glue (self-expression and creativity, communicate ideas through concrete mediums, develop and control small muscles, construct a design plan and attempt to implement that plan)