Four Year Old Program
Our 4’s Program is available to students who turn 4 years old in the current year. Students attend five days per week. Students attend from 8:50am - 11:50am. There is a qualified Lead Teacher and Assistant Teacher in the classroom with a maximum of 15 students.
The robust curriculum for the 4’s program, which emphasizes learning through playing, also prepares the students for kindergarten with a focus on literacy and math. Subject areas include:
Art: Includes projects that are self-expressive and process-oriented, including easel painting and collage, as well as teacher-directed projects utilizing various mediums and resources.
Character Development: Focus on developing respect, cooperation, sharing, patience and being a good friend. Demonstrates ability to function both as an individual and as a member of a group.
Expressive Language: we encourage the use of language to effectively communicate thoughts and ideas. Our teachers listen and respond to what children have to say. They extend children’s comments into more descriptive, grammatically correct statements thus providing the model for elaborative thinking.
Receptive Language: the goal in this area is to promote understanding through listening and thinking. Themes are the vehicle by which our teachers provide extensive experiences in this area. Themes are interdisciplinary in that they include experiences in the arts as well as content areas. Themes extend children’s knowledge, create connections with known concepts and provide experiences in listening and thinking.
Pre-Literacy Skills: Experiences are provided which develop oral language comprehension, an awareness of and playfulness with sounds of language (phoenemic awareness) and a foundation in concepts of print and letter knowledge. The teachers use Ez Write, a well-known, multi-sensory program that teaches the proper formation of upper and lower case letters and their sounds using a developmental teaching sequence. Children play, build, color, and learn as they develop the following skills: language proficiency, fine and gross motor control, color and shape awareness, letter and number recognition, and counting.
Math: Number identification, counting, measuring (often reinforced during cooking lessons), patterning, sorting, and graphing. Recognizes and solves problems through active exploration. We also use hands-on, real-world examples of numbers including calendars and dates, clocks and currency.
Music: Incorporates the use of new and familiar songs, tunes, and echo songs. Along with the use of rhythm.
Daily Routine
A typical day at The Hitchcock School includes a variety of different learning experiences. We gradually introduce more routine to the children during the school year and as they progress from the Three’s class to the Four’s class. Each classroom plans a daily schedule which generally includes the following types of activities:
Circle Time – Children learn to interact in a group, are assigned weekly jobs (door holder, line leader, etc.) that foster a sense of empowerment and independence, and discuss everyday events such as the calendar and the weather.
Center Time – This is a critical element of a developmentally appropriate preschool program; children move among a variety of learning centers, including blocks, manipulatives, sensory table, art, dramatic play, discovery, and a reading area. Teachers facilitate and support children in cooperative play.
Snack – We are a peanut-free school due to the many children who have allergies to nuts.
Story Time – By reading and discussing a book together, children learn to ask questions, listen to other people’s opinions, and use their imaginations. Fostering a love of books and reading is a core element of the curriculum.
Outdoor or Indoor Play – As long as weather permits, we head outside for some fresh air each day in our newly designed playground. Our indoor gym is spacious and bright and is used in inclement weather.
