Students Thrive at SLC’s Exciting & Intensive Pre-K Program
Focus on Fun While Learning Necessary Academic & Life Skills
The Pre-K Program at Smithfield Learning Center (SLC) is designed as an exciting kindergarten preparation curriculum for students aged four to five who are expected to enroll in a formal kindergarten program within the year or two following admission to our program. Our teachers place an intensive focus on getting the students excited and prepared for their entry into kindergarten.
We maintain a focus on fun while teaching our students the skills necessary to succeed in school and in life. Our pre-K day is a balanced experience that includes professional teacher instruction and academic curriculum work, free play, outdoor play, rest time, and mealtime. Our learning environment was carefully designed to provide the ideal structure and materials to help your child learn best. We continue to foster independence, self-esteem, and proper social behaviors, as well as assisting with a successful transition to the more structured environment of kindergarten.
Our main focus areas include language and literacy, executive function, social and emotional development, physical health & development, cognitive development, and creative expression.
We Focus on Enhancing Language Expression and Literacy
Our focus on enhancing each student’s language and literacy skills includes practice telling stories with a beginning, middle, and end, writing his name and all of the other letters of the alphabet, describing items by using descriptive words, and expressing himself with written words and drawings.
Executive Function: Persistence, Focus, Staminaand Commitment
Smithfield Learning Center is committed to helping our students enhance their executive functions by encouraging each student to work on multi-step tasks that require planning, recognize the feelings of others and respond appropriately, recall thoughts and information about past experiences, and complete challenges and activities that require persistence, focus, stamina, and commitment.
We Teach Respect and Successful Social &Emotional Development
To best encourage our students’ social and emotional development, we assist our students with using appropriate words to express their feelings and work through conflict in a socially acceptable manner, recognize and accept the differences and similarities between various people and gain an appreciation for diversity. We continue to practice turn-taking and sharing behavior, interacting with peers and adults in a respectful manner, learning how and when to help and offer assistance, and develop the skills to successfully meet and interact with different peer and adult personalities.
Promoting Ideal Physical Health & Development WithStamina and Diet
The staff and teachers of Smithfield Learning Center work hard to promote the ideal physical health and development of all of our students. At the pre-K level, we work with the children to help them coordinate their movements to successfully throw and catch a ball, navigate obstacles, climb, develop stamina to complete at least two hours of physical activity per day, and understand how exercise and a healthy diet can benefit the body. We continue to work to further develop fine motor skills such as scissor use and writing, as well.
