Our three and four year olds make up our Pre-K program. At this age, children are mainly interested in two things; playing and making friends with others. Play is like “fireworks” to the brain. It helps child development physically, cognitively, socially, and emotionally. Independent play also builds critical thinking skills, self-reliance and
confidence for life. This is one of the many reasons why the Frog Street Pre-K curriculum is a good fit for this class. The students build on the math, science, language and literacy skills that they already learned in the previous classes and are to be able to build, navigate and forge real friendships with their peers. Threes and fours are also naturally, endlessly curious and this is the age that you may start to hear the classic question, “Why?” Our Pre-K teachers are always ready to answer these questions and follow them up with many open-ended questions of their own. They know that this is standard practice in order to get their children to a higher order of thinking, as well as building language skills through multiple exchanges during the conversation. These teacher/child interactions build the child’s confidence and fosters their self-esteem. Our teachers use constant praise and positive attention when interacting with their students. Responding to children with warmth and interest helps children feel secure and valued. Praise helps children feel good about themselves which boosts their confidence and can also encourage good behavior in children. When a child is confident with himself/herself and feels safe with those around him, he/she is more able to talk about his/her feelings, resolve conflicts when they arise, and express emotions.
