School Readiness Program for preschool children ages 3-5.

Lessons differentiated to meet the specific learning needs of your child. At Early Learners, we set a strong academic foundation using evidence-based teaching strategies that best prepare your child for a successful school experience.

Literacy:

Our School Readiness Literacy Program is designed to help young children develop foundational literacy skills in preparation for formal schooling. These programs aim to foster a love of reading and writing, while building key skills that support early literacy development. They focus on a broad range of language and literacy skills, including vocabulary development, phonological awareness, letter recognition and early reading comprehension.

Key components of our Literacy Program:

• Phonological Awareness:
  • Sounds of Language: Activities to help children recognise and manipulate sounds in words, such as rhyming, syllable counting and blending sounds.
  • Phonemic Awareness: Understanding and identifying individual sounds (phonemes) within words is critical for early reading and spelling.
• Letter Recognition and Letter-Sound Correspondence:
  • Alphabet Knowledge: Teaching children to recognise both uppercase and lowercase letters and associate them with their corresponding sounds.
  • Letter-Sound Matching: Helping children connect sounds with letters (e.g., "b" makes the /b/ sound) is foundational for decoding words in reading.
• Vocabulary Development:
  • Building Word Knowledge: Expanding children's vocabulary through reading aloud, discussions, and engaging in language-rich activities.
  • Contextual Learning: Encouraging children to learn new words through stories and real-world experiences.
• Early Reading and Writing Skills:
  • Reading Simple Texts: Introducing children to simple books, using repetitive and predictable text to help them make connections between spoken and written words.
  • Prewriting Skills: Encouraging early attempts at writing by drawing, tracing and practicing writing letters, words, sentences and their name.
• Listening and Comprehension:
  • Storytelling and Retelling: Fostering an understanding of story structure through listening to stories and encouraging children to retell stories in their own words.
  • Comprehension Skills: Asking questions before, during and after reading to improve children's understanding and recall.

Numeracy:

Our School Readiness Numeracy program is designed to help young children develop foundational math skills that are essential for success in formal schooling. The program focuses on building a strong understanding of basic numeracy concepts, such as number recognition, counting, shapes, patterns, and early problem-solving. By engaging children in hands-on, interactive activities, the program fosters a positive attitude toward math and supports cognitive development.

Key Components of our Numeracy Program:

Number Recognition and Counting:

• Number Identification: Teaching children to recognise and name numbers, both in numerical form and in word form.
• Counting: Helping children count objects, actions, and events in a sequences, starting from 1 and progressing to higher numbers.
• One-to-One Correspondence: Teaching children to match each number to a single object, reinforcing the concept that numbers represent quantities.

Understanding of Quantities:

• Comparing numbers: Helping children understand concepts like more, less and equal by comparing groups of objects.
• Greater Than/Less Than: Introducing early concepts of numerical comparison, using visual or simple activities to identify larger or smaller numbers.
• Number Order: Reinforcing the concept of number sequences, such as counting forwards and backwards, and understanding the concept of "before" and "after" in number order.

Basic Addition and Subtraction:

• Early Problem Solving: Introducing simple addition and subtraction through hands-on activities (e.g., using blocks or fingers to add and take away).
• Understanding "Parts" and "Wholes": Helping children understand the idea of combining groups (addition) and separating groups (subtraction) in everyday situations.
• Visual Representations: Using visuals like number lines, counters, or pictures to make early math operations more tangible.

Shapes and Spatial Awareness:

• Shape Recognition: Teaching children to identify and name basic shapes such as circles, squares, triangles and rectangles.
• Attributes of Shapes: Discussing the properties of shapes (e.g., sides, angles) and helping children recognise them in their environment.
• Spatial Relationships: Helping children understand concepts like in, on, under, beside, above, and below through physical movement and activities.

Patterns and Sequences:

• Identifying Patterns: Introducing simple patterns (e.g., AB, ABC, or repeating colour patterns) and helping children recognise and replicate them.
• Extending Patterns: Teaching children how to extend and predict patterns, laying the foundation for more complex math concepts.

Measurement and Comparison:

• Measuring Objects: Introducing basic measurement concepts using non-standard units (e.g., how many blocks long something is) and simple tools (e.g., rulers).
• Comparing Sizes: Helping children compare objects based on size, weight, and volume, using terms like "big," "small," "heavy," "light", "tall," and "short."

Problem-Solving and Logical Thinking:

• Simple word Problems: Introducing basic math problems in the form of stories or situations that require children to apply their numeracy skills.
• Exploration through Play: Encouraging children to use math during playtime, such as sorting objects, counting items, or building with blocks, which promotes problem-solving and reasoning.

Math Language Development:

• Math Vocabulary: Introducing children to essential math - related vocabulary, such as "number," "count," "add," "subtract," "more," "less," and "same."
• Discussion and Communication: Encouraging children to talk about their math thinking and explaining how they arrived at answers, which helps develop mathematical reasoning.

Prewriting and Fine Motor:

Prewriting and fine motor skills are crucial for young children to develop before they enter school, as they form the foundation for later academic tasks such as writing, drawing and using tools. These skills help children gain control over their hands and fingers, which is essential for writing letters, numbers and performing other school-related tasks.

Fine motor skills involve the small muscles of the hands and fingers, which are used for precise movements like cutting with scissors, buttoning shirts or grasping a pencil. Activities that develop fine motor skills also promote hand-eye coordination and dexterity.

Pre-writing skills are the foundational movements and understandings that children need before they begin writing letters or numbers. These skills develop through activities that strengthen hand-eye coordination and teach control over writing tools.

Key components of our program to enhance prewriting and fine motor development for school readiness include:

• Pencil Grip and Control: Teaching children how to hold a pencil correctly (using the thumb, index and middle fingers) and practice controlled strokes through tracing and drawing.
• Gripping and manipulating objects: Learning how to properly hold a pencil or crayon with a tripod grip (thumb and first two fingers) ensures comfort and precision when writing.
• Using scissors effectively: Developing the ability to cut along lines or shapes, strengthening hand muscles.
• Hand-eye coordination: The ability to coordinate hand movements with what the eyes see, such as picking up small objects or threading beads.

Brain Training:

Brain training for school readiness is a structured approach designed to help young children develop the cognitive skills they need to succeed in a formal learning environment. These skills include memory, attention, problem-solving, language development, and social-emotional regulation. Through engaging, age-appropriate activities, children improve their ability to focus, follow directions, work in groups, and manage tasks, setting the foundation for academic success.

Key elements of brain training for school readiness include:

• Memory exercises: Activities like matching games or storytelling to enhance recall and retention.
• Attention-building tasks: Games that require children to concentrate, such as puzzles or simple instruction-following activities.
• Language development: Activities like reading aloud, vocabulary games, and conversations that expand communication skills.
• Problem-solving: Interactive activities that encourage critical thinking and finding solutions, like sorting games or basic math concepts.

A comprehensive School Readiness Literacy Program prepares children not just to decode words, but to understand the role of literacy in everyday life and to feel confident as early learners. By nurturing early literacy skills, children are more likely to succeed academically and develop a lifelong love for learning.