Preschool

The Importance of Strong Beginnings

PRESCHOOL
Language Arts | Mathematics | Science | Social Studies | Art | Music | Physical Education | Technology

The First Steps in Your Child’ s 14-year Experience

Preschool at Bridgeway Academy includes two options, each tailored to the developmental abilities of three- and four-year-olds. As the children advance through the preschool curriculum, the programs become more structured, but remain flexible to promote students’ individual abilities and interests.

Built into the program are character-building stories and Bible stories designed to not only provide essential instruction, but also to build your child’s listening comprehension skills.

Staying true to the mission of our school, Bridgeway’s early childhood program provides the foundations of an excellent education dedicated to the whole child academically, socially, spiritually, emotionally and physically.

Our enriched program supports maximizing each student’s potential through instilling a love of learning, developing his or her listening and auditory processing skills, and encouraging independent thinking skills while also building Biblical foundations and character.
Exploration and hands-on activities introduce academic concepts in listening, speaking, reading readiness, writing, mathematics, social studies and science.

Preschool H- Based on the perfect source, the Bible, this program outlines lessons based on a Biblical concept. Activities and academic subjects such as social studies, language arts, math, phonics and science flow from each Biblical theme. Students will grow with these enduring lessons packed with arts and crafts, music, story times, field trips and other exciting learning activities. The program teaches students the importance of God, who is the beginning of all things. With its built-in flexibility, you can teach lessons on any days you choose, and five lessons are provided per week. Each lesson is formulated to flow smoothly and discusses the same subject throughout. This complete curriculum contains 180 lessons within two student books, two teacher’s guides, a sing along music CD and a resource packet, which contains basic flashcards and other manipulatives.

Preschool A- A full-year kindergarten program featuring a complete scope and sequence of concepts and skills needed to prepare K3-K5 children to read.

Sixty colorful student workbooks filled with Bible and animal pictures, coordination development activities and full-color picture stories encourage a love for reading. With this program, your child learns the phonetic sounds for all letters so that when he is ready to learn to read, he will do so. He will also learn social skills, the wonders of God’s world and the reality of God’s love.

Built into the program are character-building stories and Bible stories designed to not only provide essential instruction, but also to build your child’s listening comprehension skills.

Preschool Academic Course Offerings:

LANGUAGE ARTS- Bridgeway’s preschool language arts curriculum is centered on reading readiness, listening, thinking and problem-solving skills.

At the preschool level, parents read to their children every day to build language development, listening skills and an appreciation for literature. Parents are also provided with questioning techniques designed to develop their child’s cognitive and critical thinking skills.

Handwriting is also introduced in preschool. Students learn how to hold a pencil, write upper and lowercase letters, practice their first and last names, and write numbers and words.

MATHEMATICS- Concepts include numeral recognition, counting, shapes, patterns, measurement, time, money and the calendar. Students learn through discovery, manipulatives, discussion of concepts and strategies, ensuring a connection for deeper understanding of the basic material, games for practice, and thinking and problem-solving skills.

The main objectives for the year include following directions, recognizing basic shapes, recognizing and understanding the value of numbers (especially 0-10), the use of rote counting and counting of objects.

Parents can also implement hands-on activities such as the use of rulers, yardsticks, blocks, shape stamps, calendar and games to contribute to the students’ understanding of mathematical concepts.

SCIENCE- The preschool science program at Bridgeway Academy instills an awareness of our environment, weather, the seasons, our solar system and water science. Physical science focuses on units of measurement. In Life Science, the students learn about nutrition and health and living things including animals, plants and insects.

SOCIAL STUDIES- The social studies program in our preschool division involves our students in the understanding of the concept of community and its varying stages the home, the neighborhood, the larger community beyond the home and its community helpers.

ART- The preschool art curriculum provides various opportunities for individual experimentation and self-expression with open-ended materials and various craft projects. Art, at this level, corresponds with each letter sound and/or
character story.

Objectives for our preschool and pre-kindergarten students include:

• using various art media such as crayons, paint, glue, stamps, play dough and markers
• developing small muscle (fine motor) skills using scissors
• recognizing and exploring color and the combinations of colors and shapes

MUSIC- Music is vital to our early childhood program and is included in the Preschool with ACE and Christi program. Character songs that correlate with the letter sound and its representative animal are used to reinforce letter sounds as well as character traits.

PHYSICAL EDUCATION- Encouraging physical movement, gross motor development and eye-hand coordination, the preschool physical education program emphasizes the importance and appreciation for physical activity and movement. Children in preschool and pre-kindergarten participate in many physical education activities through creative play, creative movement, gym time and recess times throughout the week.

TECHNOLOGY- Preschoolers have the opportunity to use technology on a daily basis through our Bridgeway Members site. Computer games and enhancements may be used to reinforce and practice readiness concepts taught in Language Arts, Mathematics, Science and Art.