All Starz Children's Academy

Sophomores

 

Approximately 2 to 3 years of age

 

Young children grow and excel in an environment that is safe, nurturing, and caring. Two-year-olds, especially, are learning all the time. Their never-ending thirst for knowledge is fostered when we provide safe ways for them to explore their environment and help them think and talk about what they are doing.

 

Our prepared environment of developmentally appropriate “learning centers” allows the children to individually choose the activities in which they are interested. These opportunities for self-directed play and exploration enable the children to experience a feeling of autonomy and success. And their growing attention spans allow them to use toys for their intended purposes, increasing the sense of accomplishment they feel after completing a puzzle or placing all the pegs in the pegboard.

 

Our Sophomore curriculum focuses on language development, the concept of sharing, fine and gross motor skills, music, creative art, dramatic play, blocks, sensory development, and an introduction to Spanish. The children continue to participate in a whole-group circle time, working on their attention span, “listening ears,” and social skills. Self-help and independence are nurtured, from coordination and climbing to self-feeding and simple dressing tasks. 

 

One of the most important life skills we work on in our Sophomore Program is potty training. Often, this process is intimidating to new parents. We make it our goal to ease you through the process and bring success to your little preschooler when he or she is ready. Working together and with plenty of positive reinforcement, potty training becomes a fun and exciting milestone for your soon-to-be “big kid.”

 

With routines and a daily schedule that they come to know and love, our Sophomores are excited to be at school each day. They bound into their classroom, greet their friends, and help mom or dad out the door so they can start playing. Mealtimes, nap time, circle time, outdoor play, art and music activities, and trips to the indoor gym make for a fun and engaging day.

 

Like their Freshmen friends, our Sophomores participate in our Music Program, which provides a weekly session with our music teacher where the children sing songs, practice finger plays, and experiment playing different instruments (drums, cymbals, shakers, xylophones, etc.). Our Sophomores are also introduced to weekly cooking projects and science experiments. The cooking projects provide opportunities for the children to help measure, mix and prepare tasty treats, while the science experiments provide opportunities to learn how the world works (i.e. what happens when you drop a roll of Mentos mints into a two-liter bottle of Diet Coke?).

 

Our older Sophomores are introduced to our Sports and Movement Program, which provides weekly opportunities for the children to learn about new sports and practice the basic skills necessary to play each particular sport. Over the course of the school year, our Sports and Movement Program exposes the children to a wide range of sports and activities and helps build coordination, self-esteem, and a life-long love of sports and fitness. Our older Sophomores are also introduced to our Spanish Program, which provides weekly opportunities for the children to practice simple words and phrases in an emergent language session.

 

The student to teacher ratio in our Sophomore Program is 9:1.

 

 

Activities

 

Cognitive activities include:

• Recognizing the letters of their name, especially the first one

• Sorting objects by color

• Counting in English and Spanish

 

Language activities include:

• Being able to say their first and last name

• Expressing needs and emotions like “I’m mad” or “I want…”

• Talking about a story the teacher just read

 

Fine motor activities include:

• Drawing circles and lines

• Using lacing cards and stringing beads

• Using Legos and other interlocking objects

 

Gross motor activities include:

• Jumping in and out of a hula hoop

• Walking on a balance beam

• Riding tricycles with and without pedals

 

Social and emotional activities include:

• Playing and sharing cooperatively with friends

• Dressing up and role playing

• Learning to wait their turn when speaking in a group

 

Independence activities include:

• Dressing and putting on coats and shoes

• Becoming familiar with and having experience with the potty

• Following classroom routines independently (i.e. washing hands, cleaning up toys)

 

Art activities include:

• Sculpting with clay and play dough

• Gluing cotton balls, tissue paper squares, etc. to paper

• Cutting with scissors

 

Music activities include:

• Dancing and movement

• Beginning to play instruments like drums

• Singing entire songs, not just parts of them

 

Spanish activities include:

• Learning colors

• Beginning to count

• Naming simple objects like body parts and family members

 

 

 

We look forward to helping your curious three-year-old begin their preschool experience.