Pre – K: Ages 3 – 4 years
Timings:
Mondays – Fridays
8:00 am – 2:30 pm
We know that early childhood education sets the foundation for a child’s future. It is well researched that the first three years of life are the most fundamental in a human’s development and their potential. However, the second most crucial phase in a child’s life is between 3 – 6 years of age. While 80% of a child’s brain is formed by age 3, 90% of a child’s brain is formed by age 6. Keeping this in mind, the Pre-K class is designed to provide a dynamic range of activities to help stimulate your child’s senses and unleash their innate curiosity through our international curriculum (IB & Montessori) for holistic development – social, emotional, physical, cognitive, language and creative.
Social & Emotional Development:
At Kai, we understand that a smooth transition from home to school is crucial, and in response to this, we make sure that your child has a safe and hygienic learning environment for your child to explore and engage with warm and vibrant facilitators with whom they can develop secure relationships – a crucial foundation for learning and life-long happiness.
We have a clear plan to support both the child and parent with the transition and settling in process, while also helping to establish healthy routines. Becoming familiar with and comfortable in the school environment, peers and teachers is always the first priority.
Once settled, the teachers plan for opportunities for your child to gain a sense of self-esteem, self-worth, self-confidence and aspects of independence. We also begin our day together, as a family, by eating breakfast together and learning from others for good table manners, taking turns, sharing, caring for ourselves and for our environment.
Participating in circle time to share experiences and feelings adds to a child’s social and emotional development, as well as having various times in the day to interact with peers across different age groups to either learn from or role model.
Throughout the year, Kai students have different programs to be a part of to come together with their parents, friends and greater community.
Physical Development:
Physical development at this age is evolving and our teachers prepare the environment with curated resources and scientifically designed Montessori materials, which encourage both fine and gross motor skills. Children also have a plethora of space on our sprawling 2 acre campus, such as the sandpit, balancers, tunnel, rock climbing wall, indoor slide, athletic track or the very popular climbing mound, to provide a variety of opportunities for each child to explore and thrive in their physical development.
Cognitive Development:
This area focuses on how a child constructs their thought processes; children will begin to gather, sort, and process information around them, using the data to develop perception and thinking skills. The areas of cognitive development include attention, remembering, information processing, problem solving, reasoning, decision-making and language development.
Age appropriate Montessori materials for remembering and problem solving begin to prepare the child for more advanced activities as they grow, particularly in math, language and culture. Once a child has settled into the school, he or she is presented with the initial Montessori Practical Life exercises, as well as the first 4 of the International Baccalaureate* transdisciplinary themes. It is during this year that the IB program officially commences and all learning is integrated within the theme.
Transdisciplinary Themes for Pre-K (theme across disciplines/subjects)
Who We Are
Central idea: Relationships contribute to shaping our identity.
How We Express Ourselves
Central idea: Communicating our feelings, thoughts and ideas allows us to understand each other.
How the World Works
Central idea: Travel brings communities together
Sharing the Planet
Central idea: Living things go through a process of growth and change
Also in line with the Montessori and IB philosophies, at Kai we follow the child, which allows time for him or her to process, repeat and master activities on their own, while also differentiating the activity according to the child’s individual pace.
Our approach as an IB school is to teach through open ended guided inquiry approaches, which are hands-on and provides meaningful play and exploration of the many different learning environments that Kai has to offer – there are several learning connections for the children to make within the school’s purpose-built premise.
Language Development:
At Kai, we provide each child a language rich environment which provides exposure to new sounds and vocabulary through exploration of their senses and new experiences. This provides children the important environment for their listening skills, comprehension, vocabulary building and focus on phonics.
To further language and brain development, our international curriculum ensures experiences for the children to enhance their mother tongue, should it not be the working language of the school, and additionally be exposed to both Hindi and Spanish as additional languages.
Through the physical development of fine motor skills, Kai teachers prepare the children for these as pre-writing skills, such as vision, hand-eye coordination, muscle memory and developing the hand and finger muscles through the various Montessori material presentations and individual practice. This is also the year where children are introduced to the sandpaper letters and rainbow writing, among other concepts. This is a key foundation year for both language and math development.
Creative Development:
The future for our children is yet to be seen. With several careers that don’t yet exist, and areas such as technology continuously advancing, Kai ensures that each child’s innate creativity is nurtured and developed. This includes opportunities for creating and responding through exploration of art, dance, music and other learning experiences. Each of these classes are integrated into the current IB transdisciplinary themes to be able to make real world connections and view themes and ideas holistically.
Additional Aspects of the Program:
Our standards follow a 1:10 student teacher ratio for this age group, along with a support staff helper. Kai strives to give each child the attention and support to grow, develop and achieve their milestones. We also believe in creating opportunities for our little ones to begin to develop life attributes, skills & values, such as curiosity, sharing and independence through the IB Learner Profile.
