Academics
Pre-Kindergarten
Philosophy
We believe that teachers and students are active participants in shaping the educational experience in our program. The students have hands on experiences with people, nature, art, and music, events, and ideas. The students' interests and choices are at the heart of our program. Teachers offer physical, emotional, and intellectual support to help students gain knowledge, develop creative problem solving skills, and become lifelong learners.
The students take the first step in the learning process by making choices in their projects and following through on their plans and decisions. Our program takes in to consideration that each child develops at his/her own pace and we use 58 key developmental indicators to measure each student's individual progress
Inspiration
“Education is a social process; education is growth; education is not preparation for life but is life itself.”
- John Dewey
- John Dewey
American Educator and Philosopher
Curriculum - Embedded in our Families and Community
Our Values:
🔅Appreciate childhood as an unique and valuable stage
🔅Base our work on knowledge of how children develop and grow
🔅Appreciate the bond between the child and family
🔅Children are best understood through family, culture, community, and society
🔅Respect dignity, worth, uniqueness of each individual
🔅Respect diversity
🔅Children and adults achieve their full potential through relationships
Reflection
Three Ohana Mornings are held for families to work with their child on small group activities they have done in that particular trimester. Teachers are available to share information with the families and answer questions.
Semester Celebrations are held at the end of the semester.
This involves parents viewing their child’s work posted around the classroom, a slideshow of the children’s experiences and projects. This is a time to individually ask teachers questions.
Na Pua Keiki News
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"What is a line?"
Read MoreThrough this study of lines, our Na Pua Keiki are creating learning contexts that can be staged for the development of meaningful actions. One line leads to another in this invitation, as it provides an opportunity to expand creative thinking. The concepts and values students keep in mind are: lines can outline shapes, represent paths, connect or define separation; lines do not have to be something visible or tangible; they can exist in our imagination and memory; there are many types of lines, and to know them is to know a grammar that amplifies our perceptions and actions. Just one week into the study, Na Pua Keiki teachers can hear the wonderment and noticing in their students. On Walking Wednesday Makana said, “There are lines everywhere in nature.” We also manipulated and followed lines in a few small group activities.. -
'Ohana Morning
`Ohana Morning is a time for our students to reflect on their learning experiences with their families. This week, students reflected on their work with their teachers and contributed to the learning displays. The students and families walked through our learning gallery as students shared their work. This reflection time helps students to make sense of material/experiences in relation to oneself, others, and the conditions that shaped the material/experiences. This helps them to reimagine material/experience for future personal or social interests. Additionally, it allows our students to see the importance of their own learning process and motivates them to learn, and to enjoy the learning process.Read More -
Revisiting Hanchett Ranch
The power of revisiting places in our community is that we become an integral part of the community during our time spent there. This time at Hanchett Ranch, Na Pua Keiki experienced the things they can learn on a ranch. They took a wagon ride around the fields looking for and exploring the animals there. They learned important skills on safe greetings and approaches with horses, how to identify their ways of communication, and how to lead them. Na Pua Keiki also enjoyed ranch-friendly nature art, and found pumpkins in the makeshift pumpkin patch. Real projects in real communities increase engagement and agency for our students.Read More -
Flower Playdough
Children love contributing and doing purposeful work - it builds confidence and a sense of belonging. The students went in search of flowers to add to their playdough. They selected a beautiful rainbow tree from which to collect their flowers. As the children kneaded their dough and sprinkled in their flowers, they were noticing change in the playdough. Some noticed that the flowers were changing the color of their dough, some notice it changed the texture, and some discovered they could use the dough and the flowers in imaginative ways. The children were using their pincer grips, developing their fine motor skills. They’re also practicing mathematical concepts of comparing/contrasting and more/less as they mixed the flowers into their playdough.Read More -
Tinkering!
In Na Pua Keiki, we have a tinker area. What is tinkering anyhow? Tinkering is “using stuff”, the open-ended exploration of materials, generally an internally motivated process. It is the process of creating something from an idea in your mind. Tinkering encourages children to use their hands, senses, tools, and skills to investigate, understand, and even change their world. It builds children’s capacity and enthusiasm about using their own ingenuity to create, to use tools, and to make.Read More -
Big Ideas of Early Mathematics: Counting
This small group activity “Bears on the Boat” is used to find out “how many” bears are in their collection. They are able to freely explore counting the bears so they can state “how many” bears are in their boat. Creating a variety of hands on materials in their every day experiences will improve their strategies in counting.Read More
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