Pre-School
The Preschool program at Little Zion is the perfect place to begin your child’s first school experience. This is great for ages 3 years, children turning 3 before the end of the year or young four-year old’s. Our Preschool teachers are knowledgeable, experienced, and enthusiastic! They will make your child feel right at home in the classroom. Children will learn the structure and basic functioning of a classroom, from a predictable daily schedule and build understanding of how student / teacher interactions build learning. Don’t worry, children will have plenty of free play time, and will be called to a teacher’s table for a craft related to the theme of the day, or a teacher guided lesson.
Our preschool children enjoy daily circle time with songs, games, and stories. Combine that with time to run outside and release all of their energy on our playground. Throughout the year, the Preschool children will have many opportunities to enhance their fine motor skills, as well as develop socially and emotionally, while also learning about Jesus and their relationship with Him.
Children will learn some of the following:
- recognize and trace their name
- practice proper pencil grip and posture
- shapes, colors, and an early foundation for mathematics and science
Through a combination of structure and cooperative free play, children will gain all of the skills and confidence they need to prepare for the Pre-Kindergarten program whether they continue at Zion or not.
A large predictor of a child’s success in Kindergarten is their social skill set. In our Threes’ program we are helping children work in small groups, build sharing skills and grow their confidence in a school setting. This is done through modeling conflict resolution, supporting group work and encouraging independent skills. Children in our program make friends and build success by sharing ideas together
Children need activities to build muscular strength. In the Threes’ program children build their gross motor skills through dancing, the balancing beam, climbing up the giant pirate ship and a large amount of movement activities.
Growth of fine motor skills is also a focus of our program. We strengthen these skills cutting during projects, tracing letters and shapes as well as use of blocks and playdough.
When you think of Preschool, of course you think of cognitive skill development. In our Threes’ program we are challenging each child to learn more and experience the world around them. Literacy skills include name recognition, letter and sound recognition as well as reading appreciation and comprehension skills. Mathematic skills include counting, one-to-one correspondence, sorting and patterning.