Maternelle/Cycle I (Grades PS-K)
Preschool- Prekindergarten- Kindergarten Age 3-5 known as maternelle
Cycle one places an emphasis on socialization. The program is designed to help students develop special relationships with other children and with adults. In the process they establish independent identities and gain autonomy. Additional emphasis is placed on the development of fine and gross motor skills as well as on language development. This is a unique time when children lay the foundation for all future learning. A central objective of the program is to provide a wide variety of experiences that will help students construct the knowledge that will prepare them for more systematic learning in cycles two and three.
Kindergarten is an essential period of transition. In Kindergarten the goals of cycle one are met and the precepts of cycle two are introduced to the students ready for the fundamental concepts that are specific to the first and second grades.
LEARNING TO WORK TOGETHER
Our primary objective is to teach children how to interact and to facilitate the discovery of the norms of social interaction. They will assume responsibilities according to their capabilities, account for their actions, and listen to others. They will develop language skills that will enable them to better exchange ideas and feelings.
LANGUAGE
Children are prompted and encouraged by teachers to provide oral accounts of their first experiences. Students thereby truly learn how to communicate. By interacting with the children, teachers also encourage them to make progress and apply their new language constructions. Specific language exercises also contribute to children’s awareness of syntax.
Oral expression:
- Engage self in a variety of spontaneous verbal exchanges
- Express self in a variety of situations such as dialogue, story, explanation, justification, and summary
- Enunciate well
- Use vocabulary appropriate to purpose
- Progressively learn a complex syntax structure through language games and repetition
Exploration of written language:
Through becoming acquainted with written language, children are granted access to the world of books. Books, including those that are being read to them and those that they will one day read on their own, will help establish a written language and literature culture.
PHYSICAL ACTIVITIES
Physical Activities enable harmonious motor-skills, and intellectual and emotional development. Action and language are key components in children’s development as they explore the space around them. First, children exercise their motor exploration faculties with freedom of movement and action. Gradually, they move from handling familiar situations and learn to adapt to their expanding environment. Over time, the activities gravitate toward the discovery of self, of others, and of the surrounding environment.
DISCOVERY OF THE WORLD
Children discover the world immediately around them, both natural and manmade. They will construct knowledge through observation or manipulation and will verbalize and offer critical judgments based on their experiments. Oral expression is a major component in this field of activity, which includes the discovery of the worlds of science, math, history and geography
SENSIBILITY, IMAGINATION, CREATION
In cycle one children develop their sensitivities, imaginations, and abilities to create. The main goal is to encourage children to discover the arts and to react to them emotionally. Through varied exposure to works of art, children expand their imaginations and learn to express their feelings. Children take pleasure in building, inventing, and in the exchange of ideas, feelings, and impressions.
