PreK: The Self, The Family, The School
The Self
 Four- and five-year-old children are extremely egocentric. They understand the world through their own experiences, needs and desires. We address this developmental stage by beginning the year with an exploration of each child’s likes, dislikes, feelings, physical attributes, and interests. As they learn about themselves, they get to know each other, finding similarities and appreciating differences.
The Family
Four- and five-year-old children understand the world within the context of family. Traditions, celebrations, foods, and lifestyles are introduced and experienced in everyday family life. The PreK curriculum acknowledges this by inviting parents, siblings, and relatives to visit the classroom. Each family chooses something to share with the group. This sharing ranges from reading a favorite story to preparing a food for a special holiday. The wide range of celebrations, traditions, music, and food that is brought into the classroom broadens the children’s understanding of the world.
The School
As the youngest students in the school, the PreK children are focused mainly about life in the classroom. However, as they prepare to move on to kindergarten, the children are ready to learn about the wider community. Through visits with people in the school and observations of different classrooms, the children begin to develop a sense of themselves in relation to the whole school. Gathering information about classroom pets, interviewing the principal or kitchen staff, and making observational drawings of each classroom, the children get to know the people and places that make up Fieldston Lower.
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