It is our school philosophy that the whole child is cared for as an individual and as part of the school community in a loving environment.  Our program has been created and refined since 1973 with the thought in mind that the child’s needs are met in a well-rounded program that strengthens cognitive, social, emotional, physical, moral, and equally important the creative development of each child.  The Pre-Kindergarten program builds on skills that have been introduced to the children in the earlier years.  In addition to those skills previously developed, we add to the program readiness skills that develop a love of writing, math, phonics, reading, art, dramatic play, music, physical development, an awareness of the world through our unit on global social studies, and the ability to express themselves through their work, art and projects.  We understand fully that your child needs to have certain skills mastered to prepare them for Kindergarten.  However, we do not overlook that they are four and five year olds and they need a nurturing, loving, supportive environment which allows them to flourish and grow as well as learn. We believe that Ann and Andy’s offers your child(ren) this.

 

We do this by allowing the children to develop in academic areas at their own pace with support and enrichment focusing on their individual needs.  In the area of math, we concentrate on number recognition of numbers 1-15, meaningful counting, one-to-corresponding, comparing more/less/same, understanding ordinal number 1-5 and a weekly homework assignment. In the area of phonics, we concentrate on this through songs, weekly letter recognition, word of the week list, and a weekly homework assignment. In the area of writing and reading, we accomplish this through reading to them, workbooks, journal writing, illustrating stories after outside activities such as apple picking, theatre trips, growing butterflies, playland, and their end of the year thoughts of their school experience.  In the area of the global social studies unit, we delve into a new and exciting country with each new letter.  While doing this, they learn about a new culture, the contributions that country has made to the world.  Our goal is to help the children to be aware of the similarities and differences.  As future world leaders teaching tolerance and understanding from an early age can only benefit everyone.

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We know from experience that academic theories come and go, but ours is tried and true and sets the foundation for success in elementary school.  Our students experience a structured daily routine which includes opportunities to engage in large group, small group and child initiated activities. Second, our curriculum content incorporates educational activities that foster social, emotional, physical, language and cognitive development, while also emphasizing cultural awareness.  Lastly, our preschoolers participate in our Child Care Enrichment Program which includes extra curricular activities such as Gymnastics, Yoga, Talk-N-Drum (American Sign Language Spanish Courses, Soccer, Holistic Kids, Library, as well as, Intergenerational Program.

 

We feel the graduates of Ann and Andy have acquired the necessary skills to have a successful Kindergarten experience in part because they graduate from here with a positive self-image, the readiness skills needed, a love of learning and the support from home.  We hope this is helpful when making your decision about choosing a school for your child.