Preschool Learning Objectives

The preschool programs will be taught by a Sioux City Community School District Early Childhood Special Education Teacher and supported by two/three Para-Educators.

This will offer the opportunity for children with and without disabilities to learn and play together in an integrated setting. The Sioux City Community School District also offers another special education programming for preschool children.

Curriculum

The curriculum framework is based on the Creative Curriculum, GOLD Assessment, the State of Iowa Board of Education Early Learning Standards, and by each student’s Individual Education Plan – IEP (if applicable). Plans are tailored to meet each individual student’s educational needs.

Creative Curriculum Philosophy

At the heart of the Teaching Strategies approach to early childhood education is The Creative Curriculum®, the country’s leading scientifically based, comprehensive curriculum for programs serving children from birth to age 5.

We believe that the curriculum should be integrated with high-quality assessment, professional development, and family connection resources to create a well-rounded program that addresses the needs of early childhood education professionals, children, and their families.

The Creative Curriculum® helps you plan and implement a developmentally appropriate program that promotes children’s social-emotional development and learning in the core areas of literacy, mathematics, science, and social studies.

It combines the latest research and the freshest ideas into a forward-thinking approach to learning–one that honors creativity and respects the role that teachers play in making learning exciting and relevant for every child in their classrooms.

Our unique approach is designed to inspire teachers, to help them create a high-quality learning environment and, most of all, to support their important efforts as they open doors to successful learning.

With The Creative Curriculum®, every program can put together a complete system that promotes positive outcomes for all children, including English-language learners, children with disabilities, and advanced learners. More information on Creative Curriculum can be found here.

Curriculum Objectives Include

Social-Emotional

  • Regulates own emotions and behaviors

    • Manages feelings

    • Follows limits and expectations

    • Takes care of own needs appropriately

  • Establishes and sustains positive relationships

    • Forms relationships with adults

    • Responds to emotional cues

    • Interacts with peers

    • Makes friends

  • Participates cooperatively and constructively in group situations

    • Balances needs and rights of self and others

    • Solves social problems

Physical

  • Demonstrates traveling skills

  • Demonstrates balancing skills

  • Demonstrates gross-motor manipulative skills

  • Demonstrates fine-motor strength and coordination

    • Uses fingers and hands

    • Uses writing and drawing tools

Language

  • Listens to and understands increasingly complex language

    • Comprehends language

    • Follows directions

  • Uses language to express thoughts and needs

    • Uses an expanding expressive vocabulary

    • Speaks clearly

    • Uses conventional grammar

    • Tells about another time or place

  • Uses appropriate conversational and other communication skills

    • Engages in conversations

    • Uses social rules of language

Cognitive

  • Demonstrates positive approaches to learning

    • Attends and engages

    • Persists

    • Solves problems

    • Shows curiosity and motivation

    • Shows flexibility and inventiveness in thinking

  • Remembers and connects experiences

    • Recognizes and recalls

    • Makes connections

  • Uses classification skills

  • Uses symbols and images to represent something not present

    • Thinks symbolically

    • Engages in sociodramatic play

Literacy

  • Demonstrates phonological awareness

    • Notices and discriminates rhyme

    • Notices and discriminates alliteration

    • Notices and discriminates smaller and smaller units of sound

  • Demonstrates knowledge of the alphabet

    • Identifies and names letters

    • Uses letter-sound knowledge

  • Demonstrates knowledge of print and its uses

    • Uses and appreciates books

    • Uses print concepts

  • Comprehends and responds to books and other texts

    • Interacts during read-aloud and book conversations

    • Uses emergent reading skills

    • Retells stories

  • Demonstrates emergent writing skills

    • Writes name

    • Writes to convey meaning

Mathematics

  • Uses number concepts and operations

    • Counts

    • Quantifies

    • Connects numerals with their quantities

  • Explores and describes spatial relationships and shapes

    • Understands spatial relationships

    • Understands shapes

  • Compares and measures

  • Demonstrates knowledge of patterns

Science and Technology

  • Uses scientific inquiry skills

  • Demonstrates knowledge of the characteristics of living things

  • Demonstrates knowledge of the physical properties of objects and materials

  • Demonstrates knowledge of Earth’s environment

  • Uses tools and other technology to perform tasks

Social Studies

  • Demonstrates knowledge about self

  • Shows basic understanding of people and how they live

  • Explores change related to familiar people or places

  • Demonstrates simple geographic knowledge

The Arts

  • Explores the visual arts

  • Explores musical concepts and expression

  • Explores dance and movement concepts

  • Explores drama through actions and language

English Language Acquisition

  • Demonstrates progress in listening to and understanding English

  • Demonstrates progress in speaking English