L.E.A.P.® Curriculum
for Preschoolers
Our approach to preschool education
(3 to 5 years old)
Preschoolers are growing up—potty trained and ready to conquer the world! At this stage, they absorb all of the information around them and are eager to master the new skills they acquire. That’s why we equip our preschool classrooms with challenging equipment and toys to help satisfy the children’s appetite for knowledge.
Our preschools are broken up into three completely separate classes according to chronological age and developmental stage. We do this to provide an environment where children can be independent and exercise a variety of personal, social, and emotional skills with children at similar stages of development.
What our curriculum for preschool includes
- Vital cognitive skills, such as matching, sequencing, storytelling, and writing are all incorporated into the preschooler’s daily routine.
- Preschoolers are introduced to Fun With Phonics®, an early reading program.
- Preschoolers are also introduced to a foreign language for the first time with our L.E.A.P. into Spanish® or L.E.A.P. into Mandarin® program.
- Socio-dramatic play is encouraged at our Make Believe Boulevard®.
- Hands-on STEM activities that encourage problem solving and critical thinking skills.
- Introduction to our philanthropy curriculum that teaches the values of selflessness and helping others.
Our curriculum components
L.E.A.P.® Books: Preschool 1, 2 and 3
These are designed to help our preschoolers—who are used to their workbooks by now—make an even greater connection with the curriculum themes.
For example, when learning about the weather, L.E.A.P. workbooks offer cross-curricular activities in which preschoolers use math skills to count snowflakes, or science skills to predict the weather.
Journal Writing: Preschool 2 and 3
In My First Journal, children in Preschool 2 are building on the skills they’ve acquired from previous stages and learning the basics of expressing themselves using writing tools.
As they advance into Preschool 3, they will assemble in small groups weekly and complete a journal entry that allows them to think creatively and exhibit self-expression, as well as work on sentence formation.
Our preschool curriculum
Fun With Phonics®
At this stage, the Fun with Phonics program builds on the phonemic awareness of the early stages and immerses the preschoolers in even greater activities. Knowing that each child is an individual, with their own abilities and ways of learning, our Phonics program caters to all learning styles.
Our phonics program teaches preschoolers the connection between letters and sounds through poems, rhymes and songs, but also through videos, and they have fun learning to act out the letter. Our goal is to meet the children where they are by giving them a variety of tools to expand their knowledge. By the end of their Preschool 3 year, children will be fully ready for a kindergarten class and be prepared to tackle reading as well as language arts.
American Sign Language
As part of their early childhood education, our preschoolers build on their skills in American Sign Language for children, it becomes about more than knowing to ask for things or express emotions—they’re learning to sign in connection with their lessons about the world. When learning about travel, for example, parents are always amazed at how their children can sign words like “passport” or “suitcase.”
At the beginning of every month, those signs are printed and sent home with families to extend the lesson in American Sign Language. The parents are also kept abreast of the Sign Language Alphabet as a resource and can connect pictures to descriptions of the sign language in order to practice communicating with the children.
Technology and L.E.A.P.® Interactive
We see technology as necessary knowledge for the modern world. That’s why our Technology and
L.E.A.P. Interactive® early childhood education programs introduce our children to our proprietary L.E.A.P. Interactive board, as well as L.E.A.P. Interactive workbooks, giving them hands-on learning through cutting edge technology. Using digital tools, they apply learned concepts such as tracing, tapping and dragging, or circling to focus attention on lessons.
Lessons are brought to life through applications such as Google Earth™ and real-time videos that reinforce learning through exploration and discovery. These state-of-the-art digital tools let students travel through the world as they learn about places like Mount Rushmore, the Golden Gate Bridge or the Pyramids of Egypt without leaving the safety and comfort of the classroom.
Foreign languages
We believe exposure to other cultures is an important part of a child’s early development—so we offer our Centers a choice of a Spanish or Mandarin program, to immerse preschoolers in learning a foreign language.
Our proprietary foreign language characters help establish a connection between the language and its country’s culture. Tito Toro, our Spanish bull mascot, teaches basic Spanish words and how to explore Spain and its culture—like food, music, traditions and vocabulary. Ping Panda introduces the children to Mandarin, to the Chinese culture and its traditions.
Manners and philanthropy
As our philanthropic characters, Grace Greyhound and Charity Chihuahua say, “It doesn’t matter how big or small you are, it’s the size of your heart that matters.” Our manners and philanthropy programs work together to build a foundation of kindness and good behavior in order to foster the desire to help and do good in our communities.
To build on those early manners, preschoolers are introduced to our philanthropy curriculum and learn the importance of donating to causes, helping raise funds for charity, behaving in public spaces and showing kindness and compassion to their peers, and the meaning of gratitude. Our goal is to form kind-hearted individuals who add value to their community and make a difference in the world as they grow up.
Physical fitness programs
TLE® makes physical fitness an important part of education, teaching our children healthy habits that will last a lifetime. Starting at the toddler age, children are learning to move their bodies, as well as to keep their bodies and minds healthy by starting to identify healthy choices.
In addition to those foundational lessons, preschoolers will also engage in more advanced stages and learning to take ownership of their health—by tracking their own heart rate before and after exercise in order to understand the importance of cardiovascular health and learning to sort between healthy and unhealthy foods.
Our programs for preschoolers
6:30–8:00 Early Arrival Program
8:00–9:00 Greeting the Children/Parent Communication/
Free-Choice Centers
Art, Sensory, Language, Math, Fine Motor Skills, Computers, Science; Child-Initiated Activities
9:00-9:15 Snack Time
Nutritious snack will be served; Manners Matter, Potty Time, Etc.
9:15-9:30 Circle Time
Attendance, Weather, Calendar, Sign Language, Daily Preview of Activities
9:30-10:00 Playground Time
Gross Motor Skills: Coordination, Balance, Tossing Balls, Etc.; Child-Initiated Activities
10:00-10:45 Free Choice Centers
Art, Sensory, Language, Math, Fine Motor Skills, Computers, Science, Child-Initiated Activities
Art & Sensory
Creative Activities to Enhance Emotional Development; Finger Painting, Pasting, Sand and Water Table, Clay, Crayons, Water Colors, Etc. (Other Teacher-Directed Activities, e.g, L.E.A.P.® books, Journals, L.E.A.P.® into Foreign Languages, Fun with Phonics®, Etc.
10:45-11:00 L.E.A.P.® Books, Fun with Phonics® and Journals
In Small Groups of 4-5 Students, Teacher-Initiated Activities
11:00–11:30 L.E.A.P.® Interactive
Hands-On Technology with Interactive Board, Interactive Theme Based Lessons, Real-Time Videos, Workbook Connections
11:30-12:00 Make Believe Boulevard®
Child Initiated Activities
12:00-2:30 Lunch/Rest Time/Quiet Activities
2:30-2:45 Wake Up/Mat Clean Up/ Toileting/Hand Washing
2:45-3:00 Snack Time
Nutritious snack will be served; Manners Matter, Etc.
3:00-3:30 Playground Time
Gross Motor Skills: Coordination, Balance, Tossing Balls, Etc.; Child-Initiated Activities
3:30-4:00 Philanthropy with Grace the Greyhound® and Charity Chihuahua®
2-3 Days a Week; Other Days Will Be Child-Initiated Activities
4:00-4:15 Circle Time
Review of the Day’s Activities
4:15-4:30 Music
Rhythmic Movement, Singing, Listening, Dancing, Social Interaction
Physical Fitness with Flexi Flamingo®
Children Will Engage in Physical Exercise and Routine, and Discuss Healthy Bodies and Nutrition
4:30-4:45 L.E.A.P.® into Foreign Languages
4:45-5:30 Free-Choice Centers
Art, Sensory, Language, Math, Fine Motor Skills, Computers, Science, Child-Initiated Activities
5:30-6:30 Fine Motor Skills, Parent Pick-Up
Our year-end preschool milestones
While each day is a fun new adventure at TLE®, the lessons and early childhood curriculum are preparing your preschooler to meet important end-of-year milestones — to ensure that your child develops at the right pace.
For our preschoolers, some of those goals are:
- Be exposed to all the letters and sounds to develop a strong language foundation for preschool-level reading and writing.
- Complete journal entries that allow them to gain confidence in letter formation and handwriting as they progress throughout the writing process.
- Compare and group like objects by a variety of attributes, as well as become confident with math concepts such as numbers 1-30, skip counting, etc.
- Be immersed in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) activities that invite them to think critically and experiment with hands-on learning.
Enrichment Programs for preschool
From six weeks to six years old, our little learners benefit from mandatory early childhood education enrichment programs implemented through our very own Charlie Choo Choo Enrichment Program. They’re provided in kit formats that are taken home at the end of the unit, giving families an opportunity to extend their children’s learning experience.
Movin’ N Groovin’ and Super Soccer
Movin’ N Groovin’ is an enrichment poffered in addition to our physical fitness program. It focuses on healthy habits and offers additional ways of staying healthy and fit. Our Super Soccer program introduces the children to the team-building skills found in soccer as they learn to pass the ball to a teammate, dribble and score.
Dancing Feet, Music 4
Me and Yippee 4 Yoga
These three child enrichment programs encourage children to move their bodies, develop their physical and intellectual muscles, and reinforce previously learned strategies to convert stress into positive and healthy energy.
Talent Sprouts®
Dramatic play takes center stage in Talent Sprouts®. In addition to further developing their fine and gross motor skills children also pretend and act out different characters, animals, and imaginary and real-world situations.