Pre-School Program
FREE PLAY
Pear Tree Explorers play freely and are able to decide which toys, games or activities that they would enjoy playing with. This gives them the freedom of choice as well as teaches children to share with others and allows them to exercise patience to wait their turn when necessary.
LANGUAGE ARTS
Pear Tree Explorers absorb language daily. At Pear Tree Explorers Home Child Care, Inc., we help to expand vocabulary by use of flash cards daily. This is our way to engage our children so that they can improve their ability to communicate verbally.
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Also, in language development, we assist children so that they learn to distinguish same from different, classifying what belongs together (based on one or more characteristics), sequencing, one to one correspondence (basis for counting), spatial relationships (up/down, in/out), cause and effect and through use of materials that stimulate reasoning (more or less, balancing heavy or light, pointing out the name of different shapes/colors, etc.)
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S.T.E.A.M
SCIENCE (AND NATURE)
Pear Tree Explorers are curious and fascinated by the natural world around them. At Pear Tree Explorers Home Child Care, Inc., our secure and spacious outdoor play area allows children to explore nature as well as develop lifelong interest in and concern for our environment. We provide lots of fun materials and activities that teach our growing children important lessons about our earth, planting, living things, and natural objects.
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Annually, we host our Pear Tree Explorers Fall Festival right in our backyard where we have many fun activities as well as live farm animals including ponies, goats, chickens, rabbits, sheep, donkeys, etc. Children truly love to pet and play with all of the animals and pony rides.
Other examples of science activities include indoor lessons about cooking and baking. Our children experiment with magnets, gardening and many more fun age appropriate science activities.
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TECHNOLOGY
Pear Tree Explorers enjoy learning through use of audio-visual technology used in a developmentally appropriate manner which add to their learning experience. Children are introduced to current and historic forms of technology that provide fun ways of learning. For example, record players, cassette players with headsets, compact disc CD players, Digital Versatile Disk DVD players, tablets, digital projector, etc.)
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All audio-visual activities provide educational instructions with entertainment value and are assigned by and supervised by classroom leader.
All audio-visual activities are non-violent, culturally sensitive and child friendly. Materials that depict a biased or prejudice attitude towards any group of people (race, culture, religion, ability, gender, profession, etc.) are strictly prohibited. Materials that include usage of vial language or inappropriate slang are also prohibited.
Audiobooks are a way that Pear Tree Explorers use their listening skills in order to hear fun storytelling.
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ENGINEERING
Pear Tree Explorers enjoy various ways of building, designing, and experimenting with hands on activities. These are amazing things that our toddlers and preschoolers enjoy because it allows them to apply math, science and/or art to create things of their own. Some activities include building blocks, sensory slime, play dough, fashion design, tie-dying but we also enjoy using recycled objects such as paper towel rolls, old clothing, etc to create very interesting projects.
ARTS
Pear Tree Explorers have an exciting assortment of very fun and very interesting art activities. These art activities include visual art, performing art, applied art, and dramatic play. Visual art activities encourage the development of a variety of skills for example fine motor skills, they allow children to experiment with colors, shapes, lines and spaces through painting, coloring drawing, etc. Performing arts provides the platform for children to develop self-awareness, self-confidence and the conviction
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to express themselves in a creative way (ie various types of dance techniques, show and tell, etc.). Applied arts allow children to create things of use such as a necklace or oven mitten. Dramatic play occurs when children are acting out a role whether it be with small figurines, playing dress up or children playing with baby dolls.
Pear Tree Explorers enjoy movement and music. We offer an assortment of musical instruments to play with and our children find music not only fun but therapeutic.
Lifelong neighbors in our community of Cambria Heights, Rosedale, Laurelton (and other surrounding areas) come to play live musical instruments with songs that are fun for the children to sing along with or dance to.
- Improv Dance
At Pear Tree Explorers, children love to express themselves through improvisational dancing. We create a pressure free environment where children feel comfortable to be themselves. Through improvisational dance, children release their inhibitions and submit to how nature moves them. We practice this technique with and without music. Improvisation dancing can be very calming, upbeat, moderate which gives children a variety to of modes to tap into. During times of distress and uncertainty, improvisational dancing is such a fun way for children to channel their personal creativity by tuning into themselves while escaping difficult times.
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MATHEMATICS
Pear Tree Explorers enjoy hands-on opportunities to explore quantity, size and shape. We provide fun games and activities to engage our children for number recognition, counting, measuring, comparing quantities, matching, recognizing shapes, etc.
READING
Pear Tree Explorers spend a significant amount of time in developing close relationships with reading books. This is a vital process towards early childhood literacy. At Pear Tree Explorer Home Child Care, Inc., we are committed to preparing children for lifelong literacy.
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Our staff spend time throughout every day, reading books and observing while children attempt at reading emergent reader books. Also, each month, we have volunteer parent/ family members who come to read books as well. This is extremely exciting and fun for all of the children as they share these learning moments with a loved one while at school.
Our Pre-Schoolers learn sight words during their daily lesson time. As they become familiar with sight words, they apply what they learn when reading emergent reader books. This is an amazing transition as our children learn to become independent readers.
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SOCIAL STUDIES
Pear Tree Explorers love to learn about cultures, historic facts, current events, geography, etc. It is especially important us as residents of our diverse and complex city, New York City, that our children at Pear Tree Explorers Home Child Care, Inc. have knowledge, respect and compassion for differences in cultures, traditions, ways of life, etc. Each month, we assign a country of the month where children learn interesting social facts. We equip our children to be socially aware and to take pride in their own cultural identities.