Ms. Guity & Ms. Valles 3K
Young children learn through play, experiences, and positive relationships. Our programs help children develop language, skills, and knowledge of the world.
In our early childhood classrooms, you can expect your child to:
- Begin to discover what makes them unique and learn to play with others.
- Learn and practice new concepts.
- Show curiosity, ask questions, and share creative ideas.
- Grow and become a member of the classroom community.
- Safely explore new ideas and materials, which will better prepare them for language, math, and scientific thinking.
In a typical classroom day, your toddler or preschooler will learn in many different ways, including but not limited to:
- Short whole group and small group activities
- Choice time where they are able to work with a variety of materials
- Outdoor playtime
- Rest/naptime
- Meal and snack time
These experiences lay the foundation for your child's future successes in school and life by building on the five key parts of a child's development:
- Early social and emotional skills, such as sharing, solving social problems, and expressing and managing their feelings
- Learning skills such as problem solving, imaginative thinking, and persistence
- Pre-reading and writing skills, such as understanding that letters have meaning and can be combined to form words, and that reading and writing can be used to share information and ideas
- Early math skills, such as learning about numbers, shapes, sorting and patterns
- Physical strength and coordination skills, such as running and being able to use paint brushes and crayons
Explorations: Instructional Guidance for 3-K
Grounded in the Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework(Open external link), Explorations provide instructional opportunities for 3-K for All teaching staff, children, and families to connect, explore materials, and learn together. Explorations invite engagement in comprehensive, in-depth, play-based learning across domains. Topics and activities in Explorations begin with routines and the classroom community then progress to more abstract ideas throughout the year.
Explorations are grounded in research on developmental expectations as described in the Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework: Ages Birth to Five (ELOF), which outlines the skills, behaviors and concepts programs foster as they engage with our youngest learners. By using the three Explorations as written, programs will support all of the preschool goals included in the framework.
The three Explorations are designed to be implemented in 3-K for All classrooms over the course of the ten-month program year.
