What do we do at Erie First Pre-K?

The information below will help you build an understanding of what your child will do in his or her classroom each day. We encourage you to read the information and then you’ll be able to ask your child with confidence, “What did you do in school today?”

• Literacy Development helps youngsters build an understanding of language and literature. It includes listening, speaking, reading and writing activities. These activities help build skills in areas such as communication, vocabulary, letter recognition and comprehension. Story time is designed to help youngsters develop an appreciation and enjoyment of literature.

• Math activities include hands-on and real-life experiences. They also help youngsters develop awareness of numbers, geometry, patterns, measurement and graphs.

• Manipulatives activities help students improve visual perception, hand-eye coordination, as well as problem solving and social skills.

• Circle Time is a group gathering during which the day’s plans, ideas and observations are shared. Circle activities are designated to stimulate youngsters’ thinking, enrich their social skills and expand their attention spans.

• Art activities help youngsters creatively express their thoughts and feelings. They help reinforce fine motor and concept development in areas such as colors, shapes and size relationships.

• Dramatic play (pretend play) activities help children express themselves, practice life skills, improve social skills, increase self-esteem, build vocabulary and solve problems. And, well; dramatic play is just plain fun!

• Bible time is an important time of the day. We will introduce children to the knowledge of Jesus and His great love for them. In addition, we want to equip each of them, individually, with the future tools they need to be successful in school, life and relationships. We often act out the stories, which makes it “come alive” for students!

• Music & Movement promote youngsters’ listening skills, creative expression and social skills. In music children can explore sound, volume, tempo and rhythm.

• Science activities offer children many hands-on opportunities for observation, exploration, investigation, making predictions and experimentation.

• Sand, water & texture tub activities allow youngsters to experiment with textures and the properties of different substances. These activities also promote the development of other skills, such as math, science and language.

• Block play gives children experience with many different concepts, such as shape and size discrimination, spatial relationship, number skills, balance, organization, cause and effect and classification. Cooperative play skills, problem solving and creativity are also promoted in block play.

• Gross-motor activities give children the opportunity to use their muscles–as well as their imaginations–as they engage in fun, healthy exercises, such as running, jumping and climbing.

• Fine-motor activities help improve small-muscle development and hand-eye coordination. Some common items that can be used in developing skills include puzzles, laces, pegboards and crayons.

• Discovery Bag is designed to spark curiosity, allow students to engage their higher-level critical thinking skills as well as increase self-esteem while talking in front of their peers. During this time, the pre-assigned child will bring the item from home that starts with the sound/letter of the week. This child will then give clues to their classmates and teachers as to what the object in the bag is. The child will also answer “yes/no” questions posed by their inquisitive classmates.