Philosophy of EducationForest Hill Nature Preschool seeks to provide a loving, caring environment to help each child
in our program grow in their love of God, self, and others. We seek to cultivate children's natural sense of wonder and build experiences that provide children with a solid educational foundation for learning throughout the elementary years. Our curriculum incorporates both structured and unstructured learning experiences. The children participate in lessons during shared circle time that teach and reinforce developmentally appropriate concepts. Our youngest learners focus on language-building experiences, counting, recognizing shapes, colors, and numbers. Our older children are learning alphabet concepts, mathematical concepts such as patterning, sequencing, graphing, and number relationships, and book and print concepts. We incorporate art, music, literature, and bible stories into all age levels. 3-Year old children are learning to relate to others socially and eager to actively explore the world around them. Play is their primary vehicle for understanding the world around them. Children play alone and with friends. Through play they act out new and familiar experiences, and begin to relate to the world around them in a meaningful way. Our goal is to nurture the whole child—to help each individual student grow and learn. 
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Personal and Social Development
**Practice using manners and cooperating with peers and adults **Practice self-control **Respond to the feelings of others and choose actions appropriately **Participate in group activities **Demonstrate taking turns and sharing **Exhibit independence in self-care—dressing/undressing, blowing nose, washing hands, feeding/eating **Follow 3-step directions (pick up the toy, put the toy away and sit down at the table) **Begin to play simple games **Participate in creative dramatics using puppets, dress up clothes, blocks, and other props **Develop a positive self-image Physical Development **Begin to demonstrate independence with toileting **Develop gross motor control by running, jumping, marching, climbing, skipping and using playground equipment **Develop fine motor control by writing with crayon and markers, painting with large and small brushes, stringing beads, manipulating large and small blocks, puzzles, and play dough, and using glue and scissors **Move creatively to different types of music **Begin to develop eye-hand coordination Language Development **Speak and express ideas in a social group by asking question, retelling stories, role playing, and participating in creative play **Listen to short stories and simple poems and develop a love for books **Engage in simple conversations with peers and adults **Recognize first name **Begin to hold a crayon/marker correctly for writing **Begin to recognize letters **Begin to use upper case letters in writing **Tell full name, age, and gender **Participate in simple songs and fingerplays with the group **Participate in show and tell Mathematics Development **Recognize and label shapes **Match shapes **Begin to classify objects into groups **Match sets of objects 0-5 **Recognize numbers 0-10 **Understand opposites Science Development **Begin to form an understanding of the natural world through firsthand sensory experiences **Understand that there are many different kinds of animals and that they move in different ways **Begin to understand the growth cycle for plants **Understand and identify seasons **Understand and identify five senses **Recognize and identify parts of the body |