Paradigm’s preschool program offers year-round sections of 3-Year-Old Preschool and 4-Year-Old Preschool. We follow the same cut-off dates that are used to determine eligibility for Kindergarten in Michigan. To be eligible for 3-Year-Old Preschool, students must turn 3 years old on or before September 1st of the current school year. To be eligible for 4-Year-Old Preschool, students must turn 4 years old on or before September 1st of the current school year.
Paradigm’s Preschool Program
Preschoolers are like sponges soaking up all the knowledge our talented teachers present to them! In 3 Pre, our learners will start working on becoming familiar with how letters work. Children will learn how to identify letters by name and by sound, form them with a pencil, and explore them in some other unique ways! We will cover a new letter each week. We start by teaching the lowercase letters because that is what we see the most when we read. Children will quickly become familiar with and recognize the letters in their names. The children will be involved in phonics lessons to help master the letter sounds not just individually but also in blends and chunks.
Our 3-Year-Old Preschoolers will focus on numeral recognition and will practice number concepts through the use of math centers and games. They will learn to recognize numerals 1-10, put the numerals 1-10 in order, and form the numerals 1-10 on paper with a pencil. They will also be introduced to patterns and will work towards understanding an ABAB pattern.
3-Year-Old Preschoolers will explore germs and how they spread. Classes will talk a lot about proper hygiene, covering sneezes and coughs with elbows, and how to thoroughly wash hands. Proper use of tissue and how to be mindful of not spreading germs in our classroom will be practiced.
For our 4-Year-Old Preschoolers, it’s time to rule the school!
4 Year Old Preschoolers will be reviewing letters and letter sounds. They will continue with phonics lessons and recognize chunks and blends in words as they work their way up to reading and writing sight words.
They quickly learn and practice the hard and soft sounds of all the letters. We recognize writing as an important component of learning to read, so our 4’s practice writing in many different ways every day! Those reading enter into teacher-guided reading groups with leveled books that they take home to read to their family members. Preschoolers learn a variety of things, such as:
- explore a world map and learn a song to identify all of the continents
- Master color mixers as they learn about primary and secondary colors
- Explore healthy living through exercise, good hygiene, and learning about My Plate’s healthy food group choices
They discuss the life cycle of the frog to learn the difference between solids, liquids, and gasses and use fun activities to find out about the difference between pushes and pulls. Four-year-old preschoolers also work on life skills like zipping, tying shoes, wiping noses, and buttoning. All of that is just the tip of the iceberg as our 4-year-old students prepare to enter Kindergarten!
