Senior Preschool Curriculum

ENGLISH - Ministry Standards / Overall Expectations

By the end of the senior preschool, children will learn:
Communication by talking, listening, and speaking to others for a variety of purposes and in a variety of contexts;
Demonstrate understanding and critical awareness of a variety of written material that is read by and with the teacher;
Use reading strategies that are appropriate for beginning readers in order to make sense of a variety of written materials.
Communicate in writing, using strategies that are appropriate for beginners;
Demonstrate a beginning understanding and critical awareness of media texts;

PHONICA:
To match the initial letters of words to letter sounds (medial and final sounds)
To recognize the short and long sounds of the five vowels
Short vowel families Prefixes, constant blends, silent letters, and digraphs

WRITING:
To continue developing the motor skills (handwriting, forming curves, lines, and shapes).
To further develop hand-eye coordination.
To build comprehension of vowels, syllable words, word spacing, margins, and simple sentences and punctuation.

READING:

Our reading program is highly individualized, and our school dedicates one-on-one to each student to further enhance their reading skills development.

Our English teacher will have the task of teaching your child how to read, while our Literature teacher is responsible for reading to your child and instilling a love of books.
By the end of Term 1 in SK, 70% of our students are reading. Reinforcing letter recognition and letter formation (lowercase and uppercase).
Reading words based on phonics, sight vocabulary, word recognition, and classification.

VOCABULARY:
Placing letters and words in alphabetical order.
Dictionary introduction.
Reviewing and reinforcing the understanding of opposites, homophones, synonyms, rhyming, plurals, and singulars.

TENSE:
Recognizing past, present, and future tenses.

ENGLISH ORAL COMMUNICATION

Our school has developed a unique and specialized program that has proven successful in developing English language communication.

OBJECTIVES INCLUDE:

Phonological awareness (receiving and distinguishing word sounds)
Morphology (interpreting parts of words that convey meaning)
Semantics (knowing the meaning of words)
Sentence comprehension (understanding sentences and structures)
Discourse comprehension (interpretation of reading beyond the sentence level)
Active working memory
and so much more!

Overall, the program aims to help our children develop strong communication
skills to prepare them for further learning in Grade 1.

MATHEMATICS - Ministry Standards

By the end of Senior Preschool, children will:
Demonstrate an understanding of numbers, using concrete materials to explore and investigate counting, quantity, and number relationships.
Measure and compare length, mass, capacity, area, temperature of objects/materials, and the passage of time using non-standard units.
Describe, sort, classify, and compare shapes and figures.
Explore, recognize, describe, and create patterns.
Sort, classify, and display a variety of concrete objects, collect data, and explore the concept of probability in everyday contexts.

Our SP Math program exceeds Ministry of Education standards:

TERM 1: SEPTEMBER – DECEMBER
Number Sense and Numeration

Rote counting to 30 (and beyond) and recognizing numerals 0 to 30 (and beyond)
Number recognition, printing numerals
Classifying numbers into sets (e.g., even/odd)

Patterning

Identifying/reproducing simple patterns (e.g., shape/size/color/ order)

Data Management and Probability

Comparing two or more familiar objects using graphs
Using grids (e.g., Bingo, charts, etc.)

TERM2: JANUARY-JUNE
Number Sense and Numeration

Rote counting (by 10s, 5s, and 2s)
Sets (greater than/less than/equal to)
Value comparison
Basic addition and subtraction facts

Data Management and Probability

Using simple board games
Using language or probability

Geometry and Special Sense

Sorting shapes according to attributes(e.g., color, size, characteristics)
Knowing 2 and 3-dimensional shapes

Measurement

Using non-standard measuring devices appropriately
Using measurement terms
Identifying Canadian coins
Comparing attributes (e.g., full/empty, light/heavy)
Measuring the height and width of objects
Learning basics about time/clocks

GEOGRAPHY

Teaching basic geography in SP is about developing knowledge, skills, and understanding of the wider world children live in. Children will study the following subjects:

Why do we need Geography?
What is a map?
Colors of the map: blue, green, yellow, brown
Continents: their shapes and location
How to show objects on the map
Tales from different continents and oceans (based on “Kid’s Map of the World”).
The four directions of the compass
Finding routes and directions
Locating and placing the objects on the map
A bird’s-eye view of the objects
Drawing a map using symbols

NATURE

TERM 1 SEPTEMBER – DECEMBER

Seasons
Living and nonliving things
Fruits and vegetables
Farm animals, wild animals, and their habitats
Birds and insects

TERM 2 JANUARY – JUNE

Community helpers
Transportation
Introduction to Anatomy
Fish
Flowers
24-hour clock
Time and clock

SCIENCE

By the end of SP, children will:

Demonstrate an awareness of the natural and human-made environment through hands-on investigations
Conduct simple investigations through free exploration and guided activity using inquiry skills
Demonstrate an understanding of and care for the natural world

FRENCH

Your child will develop their French skills in each of the following areas:

Simple expressions
Simple statements
Questions
Conversations
Some basic short conversation lines will be memorized by the students, such as being able to ask and respond to basic questions. Some short conversations with two or more students will also be memorized, some with puppets.
Songs with beginner’s vocabulary
Students will be taught approximately 10 words from each of the following
groups. They will make booklets and practice repeating the words as they look at the objects or pictures:
1. Colors
2. Numbers 1-10
3. Food
4. Animals
5. Toys
6. School items
7. Places
8. Nature
9. Family
10. Weather
11. Clothing
12. Verbs – students will learn to use some verbs. Emphasis will be placed on
verbs ending in ER and others; students will be able to identify 10-20 verbs
by the end of the year. There will be some use of the irregular verbs.

MUSIC

The essence of musical education for preschoolers is to guide the child in comprehending music; to show them how to interact with music, thereby preparing them for future musical activities. Our lessons will enhance the hearing and sense of rhythm development, and the child’s ability to intone properly. We will also work on developing children’s creativity and their sense of play. During our Music classes, the students will be introduced to the basics of musical literacy.

During our lessons, we combine different strategies to help children develop their creativity
Our program includes an introduction to the masterpieces of great Russian and foreign classical composers – Tchaikovsky, Glinka, Prokofiev, Beethoven, Mozart, Gaiden, Bach, etc.
Singing:
Songs from favourite cartoons
Songs about friendship
Songs related to important calendar dates
Musical Literacy:
Symphonic orchestra
Instruments used in the orchestra
Opera, Symphony, Suita, Ballet

ART

Students will learn the following in each category:

Materials and Methods

How to use art materials and equipment in a safe and appropriate manner
To increase fine manual motor skills through the use of materials and equipment
To create two and three-dimensional artworks exploring a variety of media, techniques, and processes

Color

To recognize “cold” and “warm” colors
How to mix primary colors to make a secondary color
To paint a simplified color wheel using the above

Content

To communicate about visual elements in works of art
To describe general subjects and categories such as landscape, still life, and portrait
To add personal touches to artwork

Art History

To recognize that the visual arts have a history
To be exposed to some particular artists

PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND DANCE

Gym classes are held for two hours per week
One hour for Dance class
One hour for Physical Education, including a variety of sports such as tennis, soccer, basketball, ball hockey, etc.
We teach students the importance of stretching and warming up before and after all exercises.

Established 2003 (BSID # 668410)