Pre-School
We are a developmentally-based program for pre-school students. We provide an enriched program where American Sign Language and/or spoken English are used to support and facilitate instruction. Emphasis on learning all aspects of the pre-school curriculum in a natural, interactive environment is the focus. Auditory training, movement, speech and computers are included in this well-rounded program.
Through a child-centered and child-initiated approach, we facilitate active learning with hands-on manipulative activities. These work to promote and enhance academic development, positive self-esteem and prepare the children to become lifelong learners. While using a team approach, we strive to individualize our curriculum in order to meet the unique needs of each student. This helps to prepare our students for the Boston Public School Citywide Learning Standards and Curriculum Frameworks. In addition, the development of question forms allows our students a strong foundation for answering key questions in English Language Arts, Mathematics, Social Studies and Science.
Kindergarten is an area where we see growth and progress in many areas of each child's development.
The English Language Arts program develops students' reading, writing, communication and critical thinking skills. The classroom environment is structured to provide a language-rich, stimulating atmosphere within the structure of the Workshop approach, where opportunities for children to interact and participate in an integrated program is both interesting and developmentally appropriate.
Objectives/Standards
The objectives and standards are based upon the Boston Public School's Kindergarten standards. These include: ability to retell a story, story structure, identification of problem/solution, characters, setting, sequence of events, making predictions as well as relating stories to personal experiences, other people and other stories. Also included are the craft of writing, the conventions of writing, concepts of print (punctuation, capitalization), identification of upper and lower case letters, conventional and inventive spelling, and response to simple and key questions. The formation of letters, both upper and lower case, is also a focus.
The Math curriculum used within the Kindergarten is TERC Investigations. TERC is activity based and uses a wide variety of manipulatives found within activity centers in the classroom. Objectives for students include working toward meeting the Kindergarten/Benchmarks created at Horace Mann based on the Math Standards of Boston Public Schools.
Social studies connects to literacy. Kindergarten students will:
Students will focus on identifying the elements of the visual arts. We will explore types of lines, different shapes and names of primary and secondary colors. We will use a variety of 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional media including fingerpaint, poster paint, glue, paper, cardboard and recycle materials.
The overall goal of the physical education program is to assist each student to become a physically educated person. The definition of a physically educated person, according to the National Association for Sport and Physical Education, is a person who has learned skills necessary to perform a variety of physical activities, is physically fit, participates regularly in physical activity, knows the implications of and benefits from involvement in physical activity, and values physcial activity and its contribution to a healthy lifestyle.