Arendell Parrot Academy

The Transition class is specially designed to provide young five-year-olds with positive learning opportunities and challenges while involving them in the exploration of the educational classroom environment.  The Transition environment includes learning centers, individualized instruction, small-group and whole-group instruction.

The reading readiness portion of the Transition program involves a phonetic approach to the alphabet, based on the Open Court Reading Program.  A wide range of materials and a variety of activities reinforce pre-reading skills and familiarize students with letters and sounds of the alphabet.  Math readiness is encouraged by incorporating hands-on activities in the instructional plan.  Students become familiar with pre-math concepts and numerals while working with manipulatives.  The science curriculum and social studies curriculum are experience-based and integrate various units involving ourselves and our world.  To enhance these units of study, Transition students are often visited in the classroom by special guests and studies are frequently culminated by experience trips.  Resource classes provide an opportunity for students to experience age-appropriate exposure to music, creative movement, physical exercise, computers and library.

The structured interactive environment of the Transition class allows each child to grow academically, intellectually and socially at a pace which is developmentally appropriate for that child.  Positive experiences prepare the Transition student with the foundation necessary for a successful kindergarten year.

Kindergarten maintains the positive, success oriented atmosphere of the Transition or Pre-school experience while moving students into a more structured group learning situation.  Children are introduced to the language arts through the Open Court curriculum.  This program involves a phonetic approach in preparing children to read.  Children learn the letters and sounds through letter and picture association on wall cards.  Picture pack cards are also used to help teach beginning sounds, sound blending, ending sounds and rhyming words. 

In Open Court, manuscript writing skills are developed through sand writing, chalkboard writing, and writing on unlined and lined paper.  Thinking skills are also enhanced through a variety of activities.  Open Court is supplemented in the kindergarten with experience charts, big books with coordinating small books for home reading enrichment, various creative writing activities and sight vocabulary words.

Mathematical concepts are taught primarily through the use of manipulatives.  Activities are designed to allow each child to work at his own level of development.  Some of these activities include understanding and writing numerals through 20, counting to 10+, counting by multiples of 10 and 5, money, telling time to hour, simple addition 0-6 and subtraction 0-6 and graphing.  Those concepts are reinforced through learning centers, small and large groups and individualized instruction. 

Many units are taught throughout the year to provide opportunities for children to expand their knowledge in the areas of science and social studies.  Some topics include family, woodland animals, circus and farm.  Holiday and seasonal studies are incorporated throughout the school year.  Several units culminate with field trips.

Through the use of a computer in each classroom, the students are able to work on math skills, reading skills and visual memory.  Weekly visits to the computer lab and science lab are important supplements to the child's overall development.  Additionally, children are exposed weekly to music, creative movement, physical education and library through the use of resource teachers.  Through art projects pertaining to units of study and an art center in each room, the children are given many opportunities to express their creativity and develop fine motor skills.  Using the Suzuki method, students have an opportunity to receive instruction in violin and/or cello.