The LEAP Curriculum

Curriculum Matrix For Our Toddler, Preschool, & Transitional Kindergarten Programs

Below you will find a brief overview of the LEAP curriculum goals that children work on throughout the year in different areas. Carefully chosen and planned activities are used to incorporate learning in each area listed below. Please click on the green dots below to learn more about these goals and see pictures of these activities in action. To find out more details regarding our Curriculum and preschool programs in MA, please call or e-mail our Admissions office to schedule a visit!

An Immersive Learning Experience Across a Wide Range of Educational Goals:

Young Toddler/Toddler

Lower Preschool

Upper Preschool/Transitional Kindergarten

Social/Emotional Skills

Goals:

Feels secure in relationships with others
Displays pride in accomplishments
Experiences and expresses a range of emotions
Progresses in regulating his or her feelings and behavior
Begins to learn ways to say good-bye to parents

Learning Skills

Goals:

Follows simple directions
Persists with trial-and-error approaches to solve a problem
Creates and carries out plan for solving simple problems
Begins to understand that certain behaviors can cause results

Math

Goals:

Shows interest in matching and sorting
Shows awareness of simple patterns
Matches and sorts according to color, shape or size
Recognizes and creates simple patterns

Science

Goals:

Experiments with various wet and dry materials to discover their properties
Discovers living things found in nature
Asks questions and develops inquiry skills
Observes and identifies living things and begins to identify their basic needs

Imaginative Play Skills

Goals:

Actively participates in dramatizing familiar activities
Begins to use pretend and dramatic play to act out familiar scenes

Literacy & Language

Goals:

Verbal

Demonstrates understanding of spoken (or signed) language
Develops expressive language
Engages in social communication
Demonstrates phonological awareness

Reading

Shows motivation to read
Increases knowledge about books
Recognizes familiar print
Demonstrates knowledge that a symbol can represent something else

Writing

Makes purposeful marks on paper
Understands writing is a way of communicating
Develops emergent writing skills

Group Skills

Goals:

Is exposed and encouraged to participate in short group activities
Begins to recognize individual preferences and differences
Begins to explore and become aware of the immediate community
Notices similarities and differences in others

Physical Skills

Goals:

Develops large motor skills such as jumping, climbing up and down, throwing and hopping
Is exposed to a variety of sensory materials to develop fine motor skills; including sand, water, shaving cream, and finger paints
Coordinates eye and hand movements
Controls small muscles in hand

Expressive Arts

Goals:

Is exposed to a variety of art media to develop fine motor skills; including paints, crayons, scissors and paper
Responds to and participates in music, rhythm and songs

Lower Preschool

Social/Emotional Skills

Goals:

Exhibit confidence in own abilities
Able to express needs and feeling in an age appropriate way
Form meaningful relationships with peers
Show an interest in sharing toys and materials
Works cooperatively with peers to complete a task
Respond positively when conflict resolution skills are modeled by a teacher

Learning Skills

Goals:

Demonstrate interest in exploring
Show curiosity and a desire to learn
Use creativity and imagination

Math

Goals:

Participate in sorting, comparing, and describing activities
Connect many kinds of concrete objects and actions to numbers
Classify objects by similarities and differences
Begin to recognize a sequence of events (beginning, middle, end)
Use concrete objects to solve simple math problems (addition & subtraction) using comparative language (more than, less than, equal to)

Science

Goals:

Prediction about changes in materials or objects based on past experiences
Manipulate a variety of familiar and unfamiliar objects to observe, describe, and compare their properties using appropriate language
Use their sense of sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste to explore their environment using sensory vocabulary
Experiment with concept of balance
Explore and identify simple machines through play

Imaginative Play Skills

Goals:

Assume a pretend role
Pretend with props and objects
Interact with other children in imaginative play

Literacy & Language

Goals:

Verbal

Generate questions and gathers information to answer their questions in various ways
Makes up stories
Engage actively in read-aloud activities

Writing

Use writing tools for self-expression
Begin to recognize own name
Become aware of print and symbols in the classroom environment
Listen to, recite, sing, and dramatize a variety of age-appropriate literature
Develop familiarity with the forms of alphabet letters, print, and letter forms
Use own words or illustrations to describe experiences, tell imaginative stories, or communicate information
Makes increasingly representational drawings
Uses emergent writing skills for many purposes

Reading

Enjoy listening to stories and looking at books
Able to listen to a story and respond to questions about it
Demonstrate the ability to use a book (Director, page-turning)

Group Skills

Goals:

Able to participate in small group experiences (games, table activities, freeplay)
Able to participate in large group experiences (circle, specialists, story time)

Physical Skills

Goals:

Demonstrates increasing gross motor control and coordination
Demonstrates increased balance and agility
Uses small muscles for self-help skills such as pouring and zipping
Uses classroom materials, such as manipulatives and toys to develop hand grasp and flexibility, finger dexterity

Expressive Arts

Goals:

Uses creativity and imagination
Express themselves freely through movements
Play instruments using different beats, tempos, dynamics and interpretation
Explore variety of materials of media to create two- and three-dimensional artwork
Uses creativity and imagination to explore Theatre Arts, Movement & Dance, Music

Upper Preschool/Transitional Kindergarten

Social/Emotional Skills

Goals:

To exhibit a positive attitude
To demonstrate cooperation and prosocial behavior

Learning Skills

Goals:

Demonstrates an interest in exploring classroom materials
Uses multiple strategies and planning skills to accomplish goals
Shows curiosity and a desire to learn
Uses creativity and imagination

Math

Goals:

Recognizes patterns and is able to repeat them
Makes comparisons (more/less, large/small)
Demonstrates appropriate number sense and counting skills

Science

Goals:

Record observations and share ideas through representations/drawings
Compare and contrast natural materials using descriptive language
Observe and describe predictable life cycles
Observe and describe natural habits and basic needs of plants and animals
Demonstrates an ability to predict cause and effect outcome

Imaginative Play Skills

Goals:

Interacts with other children in imaginative play
Sustains imaginative play

Literacy & Language

Goals:

Verbal

Talks with other children during daily activities
Participates in group discussions appropriately
Engage actively in read-aloud activities by asking questions, offering ideas, predicting or retelling
Makes up stories
Generate questions and gather information to gains answers in various ways

Reading

Recognizes letters in own name and most other letters in the alphabet
Recognizes own name and other sight words
Identifies rhyming words
Listen to, recite, sing, and dramatize a variety of age-appropriate literature
Develop familiarity with the forms of alphabet letters, awareness of print, and letter forms.
Use emergent writing skills to make letters in many settings and for many purposes
Use their own words or illustrations to describe their experiences, tell imaginative stories, or communicate information
Listen to, identify, and manipulate language sounds to develop auditory discrimination and phonemic awareness.

Writing

Makes increasingly representational drawings
Imitates recognizable letters and numbers
Demonstrates an interest in using writing for a purpose (making signs, sending letters)
Use emergent writing skills to make letters for many purposes
Listen to, identify, and manipulate language sounds to develop auditory discrimination and phonemic awareness.
Writes own name

Group Skills

Goals:

Able to follow 2-3 step directions
To become aware of schedules and routines:
To demonstrate self-help skills

Physical Skills

Goals:

Throws and object in an intended direction
Build upper body strength and stability to gain controlled movements of shoulders
Strengthens hand grasp and flexibility
Use hand-eye coordination, visual perception and tracking, and visual motor skills in play activities

Expressive Arts

Goals:

Use dramatic play, costumes and props to pretend to be someone else
Use props to explore space and movement
Experiment with the use of texture, shapes and forms, pattern and symmetry in artwork
Uses creativity and imagination to explore Theatre Arts, Movement & Dance, Music