The Sun Room

4 & 5 Years

In our Sun Room 4 and 5 year olds are truly ready to be challenged in this Pre-Kindergarten. Every effort is made to fully understand the abilities of each child.

Developmentally appropriate activities that facilitate skills in reading and writing readiness, math and problem solving are provided. Sun Room children are becoming increasingly more adept at cooperative play. The Sun Room offers wonderful opportunities for meaningful social experiences. Friendships deepen and become more significant.

Activities in music, movement, dance, dramatics and art are also an integral part of the Sun Room program.

The Sun Room Readiness & Language Arts Language Arts Objectives:

To plant the seed and nurture growth of the love of reading
To encourage and expand the use of language
To offer both the whole language and phonetic approach to reading
To develop specific skills as they pertain to the developmental readiness of each child
To educate in a way that allows the social, emotional, and academic growth of a child in a positive and fun learning environment.

Pre-Reading & Literacy Skills

Exposure to the alphabet
Working from left to right
Working from top to bottom
Introduce the concept of rhyming
Introduce the concept of opposites
Basic sequencing
First and last name recognition
Name upper case letters
Name lower case letters
Associate consonants with sounds
Identify beginning consonant sounds (when developmentally appropriate)
Identify ending consonant sounds (when developmentally appropriate)
Introduce short vowels and sight words (when developmentally appropriate)

Whole Language

Participate in a shared reading experience
Use children’s experience and prior knowledge to extrapolate meaning and comprehension from books and thematic activities
Share experiences and share ideas
Oral listening comprehension
Understand main idea of story
Follow and retain sequence of story events
Begin to stay focused on a topic of discussion
Recall information from listening to stories and discussion

Active Listening/ Listening Comprehension

Listen and respond appropriately to simple oral directions
Actively listen to fully understand instructions or daily messages and agenda
Listen attentively when teacher speaks or reads
Listen to make predictions about stories read aloud
Listen to rhymes and songs to begin developing an understanding of letter / sound relationships
Connect messages heard to prior knowledge and experiences

Fine Motor Skills & Handwriting

Encourage the use of various writing tools (pencils, crayons, markers)
Tracing from left to right
Tracing straight, curved, or slanted lines
Hold pencil with appropriate three-point grip
Use ‘pinch and flip’ lesson
Begin to form letters correctly
Use of variety of Montessori based activities to exercise and strengthen muscles used in printing
Foster correct scissor grip and cutting skills

The Wizard Room- Math

Numeration

Fractions & Decimals

Algebra

Geometry

Measurement

Data Analysis & Probability

Problem Solving

Art

Children have a natural love of shape, color, pattern and texture. All children enjoy the creative manipulation of materials. When children are encouraged to experiment with a wide variety of media under the guidance of an effective teacher they can benefit from increased self esteem and joy of self expression as well as a wide variety of other cognitive, physical, emotional and social skills.

Art activities include drawing, painting, clay, play dough, exploration with sand, water and other textures, collage (both individually and in a group) print making, and sculpture.

Children are gradually exposed to increasingly more challenging skills and experiences involving pleasurable sensorial activities. Teachers extend the children's natural abilities by acknowledging their efforts in a supportive, non- judgmental way and with descriptive remarks, i.e., "You used so many different lines and colors in your design", rather than "What is that?"

Creative Movement

Our Lower School Creative Movement Program is rooted in the belief that learning through the arts not only educates students by elevates them to a deeper awareness of themselves and of the world around them. Children work together during each stage class dancing, pretending, singing, sharing, and learning the value of teamwork!

Lower School Stage classes are formatted to help students explore the basic four elements of dance. Whenever a person moves, the body uses space, force, and time. The children enjoy participating in the different lessons designed to help them discover the exciting possibilities inherent in the combination of these elements.

Each week the stages become an indoor playground for your child's imagination as they dramatize, pretend, and 'become' everything from shy sea creatures silently watching the sunlight glitter on the waves as they glide gracefully through water, to determined ducklings braving navigating their way out from inside their shells, eager to see the world for the first time! We dance through the seasons, paint our favorite colors on the surface of the moon, help frowning frogs find friends, and even drive our cars (with caution of course!) to some delightfully dear destinations.

The Mat Room

The early childhood years are a critical time for the development of physical skills. At Sundance our developmentally appropriate Mat Room program is designed to help children build a foundation of basic gross motor skills (throwing, catching, kicking, balancing, skipping, galloping, etc.). These skills are invaluable lifetime tools that children need and use to successfully participate in regular physical activity. Our main goal is to help children strengthen the sense of what they can do and to challenge them to do even more!

Music

The primary goal of early music education is to develop the ability to perform, to create, to listen to music with understanding and most of all develop a passion for music. At Sundance our students will develop the ability to sing on tune and tap out and recognize the beat or rhythm to a song. Similar to learning a language, musical ability develops during the first five years of a child’s life.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT OUR MUSIC PROGRAM