Busy Bees Preschool Our Program and Classes

Preschool should be a place where new discoveries can be made each day! It’s our role at Busy

Bees to ensure there are many opportunities for children to learn new things and practice what

they have learned in a loving, supportive environment. The teachers facilitate learning by

mindfully presenting materials to the children and creating an environment rich in learning

opportunities. We recognize that all children are different and learn in different ways and

therefore we are successful in building self confidence and a love of learning. Busy Bees Pre-

school specializes in Early Childhood Education. All our staff are ECE professionals, dedicated

to getting to know families and helping the children in our care grow and learn. This is what

sets us apart and makes our school a beautiful place to be!

Honey Bees Class Tuesday and Thursday (2.5 and 3 year old class)

What better way to start the school day than with free play and discovery? Each day materials

are set out in thoughtful ways to foster exploration and learning. Play has been proven time

and again to be so important for a child’s Development, Socially, Intellectually and Physi-

cally. During free play children are invited by a teacher to do an activity which supports our

curriculum. We use Handwriting Without Tears® products and teaching methods. Children

in the Honey Bees class have lots of Pre-Writing experience including Roll-A-Dough (where

they form letters from play dough) and weekly practice of building letters with wood pieces.

Regular work with the wood pieces builds the language and skills that will eventually lead to

success in writing. Other activities are planned to include language and literacy , Math and

Science and Fine Motor. We also nurture social skills through our ‘Bucket Filling’ program

where kind deeds are celebrated at school and at home.

Circle Time is a wonderful opportunity for teachers to stimulate children’s thinking skills

through meaningful conversations. Props may be used including small objects (letter tubs) ,

books, felt boards, alphabet cards, number cards, shapes (shape monster), familiar and un-

usual objects. Our theme based curriculum is a wonderful way to teach children about the

natural world when we learn about farms, apples and pumpkins, insect life cycles, plant life

cycles, the seasons and more! We also plan our music time to compliment our monthly cur-

riculum.

Early Explorers—STEM Class Tuesday and Thursday afternoons (4 and 5 year olds)

STEM is an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. Our STEM class

encourages natural curiosity encourages children to question, hypothesize, observe, explore

and build. Children will have the materials to put their ideas into action, reflect on them,

then figure out how they can take this idea or process up another notch! Children well keep

Observation Journals which will be used to record what they observe from a particular experi-

ment or activity. Monthly themes include:

All About Earth—Geography/Geology/Meteorology,

Planting and Creepy Crawlies—Botany/Entomology

All About Animals—Zoology

Mad Scientists—Sensory/Chemistry

The Science of Storytelling—Journals and Technology

Totally Terrific Technology— Simple Circuits, problem solving Apps, using technology

Engaging Young Engineers—rockets, force and motion, 2D and 3D buildings

Catapults and trajectories

Math Magic—using units of measure, building and using scales

Early exposure to STEM supports children’s overall academic growth, develops early critical

thinking and reasoning skills, and enhances later interest in STEM study and careers.

You will be amazed how your child grows in intellect and confidence.

Just think, Your preschooler might just be the next best engineer, rocket scientist or doctor!

Observing Capillary Action in a Walking Rainbow.

What happens when we add 1 of each primary color to

separate jars of

water?

Observation Diary detailing what this child observed

including

Capillary action and Color Theory.

Colors blended and an entire

rainbow appeared!

Bumble Bees Class Monday, Wednesday and Friday (4 and 5 year old class)

Language and Literacy Component

The Classroom environment is print rich! We have labels for our centers and pictures and labels

on storage containers. We have at least 2 group stories each day as well as nursery rhymes or

poems. Once each week we have a ‘theme related’ language and literacy activity which could

include sequencing a story. Making a booklet, recounting information or coming up with an

idea from a story. We have MANY felt board pieces which the children use to retell stories.

We have fun with beginning and ending letter sounds. We start the school year with the be-

ginning sounds of our letters of the week. Letters of the week are not taught in alphabetical

order. Next we start at the beginning of the alphabet and this time teach the children both capi-

tal and lower case letters. Finally we spend the last few weeks exploring word families. This is

introduced in a fun, hands on way using word ladders, letter tiles, wooden clothes pegs and

letter unifix cubes to build simple 3 letter words. We also have opportunities where children

learn rhyme, opposites, position words, classifying, sequencing and prediction.

Math and Science Component

Each day at Busy Bees the children have time at our Math table. Each month we focus on a

particular mathematical concept e.g. Patterns, Weights and Measures, Ordinal Numbers, Sort-

ing, 3 D Shapes, Graphing & tallying, addition and subtraction. Each month we also do

theme related math and science activities (eg exploring pumpkins, counting and clipping ap-

ples, tasting apples and graphing our preferred apple! ).

As children begin to grasp one to one correspondence they can start making groups with small

manipulative pieces which they can add to or subtract from. We’ve found the best way to un-

derstand number concepts is hands on with small objects for counting such as acorns, corn

kernels, small eraser shapes, unifix cubes etc. At our Math table the Children also do number

writing, firstly on Chalk board, then on black construction paper with chalk. We also do a

monthly ‘fill the blank’ calendar in preparation for Kindergarten.

Fine Motor Component We have many opportunities for children to strengthen their fingers. Every day children are

invited to ‘sign in’ at Free Play. Here they are given individualized support and instruction.

We plan weekly cutting activities as well as coloring and drawing. We also practice writing

letters and numbers each week. At our Math table clipping activities, magnets and tweezers

help strengthen little fingers. We use Handwriting Without Tears to teach the children how to

write capital letters and numbers. You will notice that the letters are taught out of sequence.

Letters are divided in to different categories depending on how they are formed.

Frog Jump Capitals: FE DP BR NM

Starting Corner: HK LU VW XY Z

Center Starting: CO QG SA IT J

After beginning to write on chalk boards we progress to writing on Grey Block Paper. The block

paper helps to contain the letters within a defined space. When a child is ready we begin to

teach how to write lower case letters. Other fine motor activities include beading, lacing, peel-

ing stickers, cut and paste activities etc.