Ages: 5 – 6 years
The Excellence Class is a vital place, tended by knowledgeable adults who nurture young minds with engaging and relevant experiences. In the Excellence Class, the children explore the world around them, encounter new ideas, make new friends and continue to develop active, inquiring minds that will lead them to become life-long learners.
Through projects that are initiated by their own interests, children use what they know and expand their knowledge and skills in language, reading, writing, math, social studies and science within a context that is meaningful to them.
Some of the components of the Excellence Class curriculum include:
- Language Arts (phonetics, rhymes, speaking and listening, vocabulary, journal writing, etc.)
- Math (patterns and classification, numbers and number sense, graphs, computation, etc.)
- Character development (encourages the development of moral capabilities through concrete and hands-on activities).
The program is 5 days a week from 8:15am to 2:00pm (lunch included) with the option of After School Clubs. The Excellence Class has one head teacher, one co-teacher and a shared nanny for each class.
Program of Inquiry
Play
Transdisciplinary Theme: Who We Are
Central Idea: We use play to make meaningful connections and come to new understandings in our lives
Journeys
Transdisciplinary Theme: Where We Are in Place and Time
Central Idea: Journeys provide experiences that can lead to new opportunities
Passionate Communicators
Transdisciplinary Theme: How We Express Ourselves
Central Idea: Sharing our feelings and ideas drives us to develop effective was to communicate
Air
Transdisciplinary Theme: How the World Works
Central Idea: Air has many properties which we observe and use
Cooperative Communities
Transdisciplinary Theme: How We Organize Ourselves
Central idea: Communities provide services to meet people’s needs
Caring for Living Things
Transdisciplinary Theme: Sharing the Planet
Central Idea: Living things have certain requirements in order to live, grow and stay healthy