Overview
At Heights Christian Schools we provide a remarkably challenging and comprehensive preschool program for children ages 2-6 that fully prepares students in each area of development for success at the next level.
Preschool-aged children are information seekers and explorers by design. They are constantly taking in information about our world as they strive for independence and autonomy.
Because preschool students typically learn best through play, our days are filled with investigation, exploration, and discovery designed to help each child reach their greatest potential in all developmental areas including: Language and Literacy, Math and Science Concepts, Creative Expression, Self and Community Awareness, and Large and Small Motor Development.
Biblical Integration
Children are instructed in the basic concepts of Christian belief and conduct, without a denominational slant. Bible instruction is not limited to a given time-period. Bible truths are integrated throughout the day as they apply, with faculty and staff leading by example. All children also attend chapel on a weekly basis. During chapel, the children sing, pray, and enjoy Bible stories and special speakers.
Learning Modalities
Children are instructed in the basic concepts of Christian belief and conduct, without a denominational slant. Bible truths are taught during Bible time and are also integrated throughout the day. Our preschool teachers are expected to lead by example, carefully modeling the love of Christ.
The Bible says that children are wonderfully and fearfully made. Each is unique in many ways, including the way that they learn. At Heights Christian Schools, we employ many techniques and strategies to ensure that we are meeting the needs of every student entrusted to us.
- Some students are visual learners. These students learn best through demonstrations and opportunities to see. They often make lists, learn through descriptions, recognize sight words and often remember faces but forget names.
- Some students are auditory learners. These students learn best through listening, and prefer verbal instructions. They enjoy dialogues, discussions and plays; they like to talk! These students often remember names but forget faces.
- Some students are kinesthetic learners, and they learn best by doing. Energetic, these students prefer to do rather than to watch or listen. They often like to draw or doodle to remember, and generally do best when they are active.
Since every classroom is comprised of students with a variety of learning styles, our teachers endeavor to reach all learners by organizing activities around all of the different modalities. This results in students that are engaged, encouraged and learning to be successful in school!
Language and Literacy
From the moment they are born, children begin developing language skills. In the area of language and literacy development, our program teaches syllables, names of sounds and letters, words linked to content, new words, how to respond to questions, and how to have discussions and share ideas.
From the very youngest age, language development can be seen as grunts and coos are transformed into actual words and multiple word phrases. Our classrooms provide a language-rich environment that encourages each child’s progress toward achievement of key developmental milestones. The transition from toddler to little kid is an exciting time as vocabularies multiply and comprehension of words and sentences expand. Classroom experiences are designed to contribute to the development of each child’s listening, speaking, pre-reading and pre-writing skills. Once mastered, these skills contribute to success in all learning domains including vocabulary building, phonemic awareness and reading readiness.
Handwriting Without Tears
AT HCS preschools, we use Handwriting Without Tears from the Get Set for School’s Readiness and Writing curriculum. This is geared for our Pre-K & TK students.
Based on more than 25 years of success with the very popular Handwriting Without Tears, this program complements and expands our current curriculum designed to prepare young learners for school. Writing requires skills that are essential for school; physical, language, cognitive, social, and perceptual.
The Handwriting Without Tears uses music, movement and multi-sensory manipulatives to teach all the core readiness skills including pencil grip, letter and number recognition, number and capital letter formation, and body awareness!
Number and Math Concepts
Math instruction is vital in the early years of a child’s education. Children naturally use math, in very practical ways, even before they are able to describe what they are doing. They know, for example, that they have one mouth and two hands before they recognize 1 and 2. They know they want more even before they know the word “more.” As we actively engage with our children, we build on and elaborate children’s mathematical ideas, teaching them words and symbols for what they already know.
Our program provides activities that help children acquire critical early math skills. These activities are organized into five groups of related learning skills: Numbers and Operations: I Know How Many; Geometry: Places and Shapes; Patterns and Algebra: See It, Repeat It; Measurement and Time: Short and Tall, Big and Small; and Data Representation and Probability: We Can Show What We Know. Children receive the instruction and support they need to learn and reinforce skills, make connections, and play independently.
Science Concepts and Scientific Method
Science is part of everything young children do every day; children are captivated by the natural world around them and by physical events. Preschool age children are constantly investigating, experimenting, hypothesizing, exploring, discovering and learning how and why things do what they do.
At Heights Christian Schools, we use these opportunities throughout the year to nurture our students’ natural curiosity, wonder, and engagement with the world God made for us. By cultivating this sense of wonder, we help children to become scientific thinkers. Children can learn to use the scientific method in their everyday life. The questions that they ask about insects flying, making a shadow or mixing paints are transformed into hypotheses about their world.
As their cognitive abilities develop, students are increasingly able to advance their critical thinking skills, develop and test their own notions, and engage in multi-step, hands-on experiments both cooperatively and independently. The opportunity to communicate their findings, either informally in conversations or through the documentation of results, leads children to ask new questions and to continue the cycle of scientific investigation.
Festivities
Throughout the year, there will be many opportunities for the children to celebrate at preschool. Examples include a harvest celebration, Thanksgiving feast, birthday party for Jesus, Valentines party, Dr. Seuss’s birthday, Easter celebration, and more! Parent volunteers are always appreciated during these festivities!
Additionally, parents will be invited by their child on special occasions to join them at preschool. Examples include Mommy-N-Me (to celebrate Mother’s Day), Daddy-N-Me (to celebrate Father’s Day), and the Christmas Program (a chance for preschoolers to perform!). Please make every effort to attend these special events!
Licensing
Facility #191595276 – Infant Center
Facility #191591834 – Preschool
We are licensed by the state of California, Department of Social Services. The California Department of Social Services has the right to interview children and/or staff and has the right to inspect and audit childcare records relating to the operation of our preschool without prior consent (Title 22, 101200).
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