Pre Kindergarten
Our Pre Kindergarten 1 (3-year-olds) and Pre Kindergarten 2 (4-year-olds) classes offer young learners a rich and comprehensive curriculum and engaging learning experiences. Our curriculum includes English Language Arts, Math, Science, Social Studies, Visual and Performing Arts, Music, Modern Languages, and Physical and Health Education. Equally important is the social and emotional development of our students, which is an integral part of teaching and learning at NYA. Our current PreK student teacher ratio is 7:1.
The way in which we teach and children learn is as important as what we teach and how children learn. In PreK, our pedagogy emphasizes project-based teaching and learning. We organize the curriculum into interdisciplinary units of study that integrate multiple subject areas, making the learning experience engaging for all our students. Through project work, children actively investigate their interests, discover new ideas, and develop their own theories. In keeping with our mission and values, teachers encourage and support each child’s unique style of learning, interests and talents.
In PreK, children learn to manage emotions and regulate their behavior. They learn to control impulses, tolerate frustration, follow behavior guidelines, cope with strong emotions and delay gratification. In our nurturing and supportive environment, teachers gently guide children and help them develop positive social skills. They learn to share, wait their turn, express empathy, show kindness and respect others.
PreK students learn to establish and sustain positive relations with peers and adults. They learn to engage in increasingly complex social interaction, read and interpret emotional cues and respond appropriately. Students also learn to participate cooperatively and constructively in group situations.
Students build on what they have learned in Nursery and learn to understand and use language to communicate their thoughts, ideas, needs and feelings. They develop listening skills and learn to listen and understand increasingly complex language. Students expand their vocabularies as they learn to name and describe characteristics of familiar people, objects and animals. They learn to respond appropriately to statements and questions, and form sentences properly in spoken language. Our teachers also help students speak clearly and pronounce words correctly.
Students in this program will:
- Read a variety of rich children’s picture books from our wide selection of excellent children’s literature.
- Learn to retell stories.
- Develop varied interests and learn to enjoy reading.
- Learn to tell simple stories about objects, events and imaginary characters. As children develop this skill, they include a logical order of events and major details in their stories.
- Learn to engage in back-and-forth exchanges and learn the social rules of communicating, such as being polite, speaking clearly and taking turns.
- Learn letter sounds and the names of the letters. If they are developmentally ready, they learn to write letters too.
During the course of the PreK, students develop basic mathematical knowledge and skills. They learn number concepts, spatial relationships and shapes. We help our young learners develop an understanding of comparisons, measuring and patterns.
Students in this program will:
- Learn number concepts and spatial relationships.
- Develop an understanding of comparisons, measurement and patterns.
- Learn to count and identify beginning numbers and connect them with their quantities (1:1 correspondence).
- Learn directions related to proximity and use and respond to positional words indicating location, direction and distance.
- Learn basic shapes and describe two-and-three-dimensional shapes.
- Compare and order sets of objects according to size, length, weight, area and volume.
- Learn about measurement by by using multiples of the same unit to compare differences.
- Copy, recognize and describe patterns.
- Use simple strategies to solve mathematical problems.
Students learn about the characteristics of animals and plants, and the basic physical properties of objects and materials. They also learn about our environment and how to respect and care for it.
In Social Studies, students learn about themselves in terms of age, gender and physical traits. They also learn about other people, their characteristics and how they live. They learn about different types of families, and the different roles people play in families, school and the larger community in which they live.
New York Academy encourages our young students to express themselves creatively through visual art, dramatic play, dance and movement. Students participate in performances and plays. Visual arts activities include painting, drawing, making collages, modeling, sculpting, building and weaving. Visual arts activities improve children’s self-esteem and original thinking skills. Movement and dance facilitates expression of emotions and develops physical awareness and capabilities. Students develop language and literacy skills, self-awareness, emotional understanding, and problem-solving skills through participation in dramatic play and performances.
New York Academy guides our young students to learn to appreciate different kinds of music and enjoy different forms of musical expressions. Students listen to music, learn to sing a variety of songs and begin to move to music. Students learn to use musical instruments such as the shaker, tambourine, rhythm stick and drum.
Students develop an appreciation for modern languages through activities that grow their phonological awareness, speaking, and writing skills. They learn basic sounds and words as well as correct pronunciation and intonation.
New York Academy employs a knowledge-based and fundamental skill-set approach to physical and health education. We guide our young students to develop gross-motor and fine-motor skills. They learn balance, coordination and traveling skills, such as running, hopping, climbing and jumping. We also provide ample time for children to play freely in our Imagination Playground. During outdoor playtime, they get physical exercise and develop their imaginary and social skills as they play together. The children are introduced to concepts and practices of healthy eating and living.