Four Year Old Program

 OUR PROGRAM FOR YOUR FOUR YEAR OLD

Our program for four year olds builds on your child's love of learning and ensures that your child will have a smooth transition into kindergarten.

Learning through Play
We will build upon your child's natural curiosities through our project-based, hands-on learning approach. We design the learning to emerge from the children's interests and help develop all the children's intelligences (based upon Howard Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences)—mathematical logical, linguistic, intrapersonal, interpersonal, naturalist, visual-spacial, musical and bodily-kinesthetic. Teachers select a topic to explore that is of interest to the students. Then the teachers initiate the project by asking the children what they already know about the topic and what most interests them about the project. The teachers design the daily experiences to maximize the children's engagement in the project, and ensure they are learning the critical knowledge and skills for their age group. Guest speakers and walking field trips are incorporated to help enhance the breadth and depth of the project. We continually assess their learning through observing and gathering their personal efforts for their own portfolio.

Incorporating the Arts
We believe learning through the arts as well as having an appreciation for the arts is critical for all learners. Therefore, our related arts program enables our children to engage with artists once a week on an eight-week basis. The current offerings of Related Arts include: music and movement, visual art, physical education and gardening.

Preparation for Kindergarten
We ensure that your child is well-prepared for kindergarten by helping to build those critical communication and problem solving skills, as well helping them meet the other Common Core State Standards, in an exciting classroom environment. When we ask kindergarten teachers what they want from us in terms of preparing children for their classrooms, here are the following skills they say are most critical:
• Taking care of their personal belongings and basic self-help skills
• Being able to sit, listen and understand during circle time (up to 30 minutes)
• Following multiple step directions
• Asking questions, especially when instructions are unclear
• Getting along with their peers
Kindergarten teachers say that letter and number recognition is much less important as that is what the kindergarten curriculum will teach the students. The above articulated skills are so critical because without those, it is very difficult for your child to learn what is being taught. We do expect that most if not all children will recognize and/or write the alphabet, as well as numbers and writing their name and many children will be writing and reading if they are ready. However, at the MCPK are primary focus is on the 21st Century skills of creativity and innovation, critical thinking and problem solving, collaboration and communication, which are the skills necessary to begin a successful career in school and in life.