We Are Very Happy to Have Your Child in Our Preprimary Division and Hope to Work Closely
PREPRIMARY
STUDENT PARENT HANDBOOK 2011-2012
ASSOCIAÇÃO ESCOLA GRADUADA DE SÃO PAULO
PREPRIMARY DIVISION
Av. Pres Giovanni Gronchi,4710
CEP 05724-002 São Paulo –SP
Telephone: (011) 3747-4808
Fax: (011) 3742-9358
TABLE OF CONTENTS
The Graded Mission…………………………………………….
The Preschool Program…………………………………………
Montessori Philosophy………………………………………….
Montessori Curriculum………………………………………….
The Daily Routine………………………………………………
Acceptance Policy………………………………………………
Questions Parents Ask………………………………………….
How to Prepare your Child for Preschool………………………
Procedures……………………………………………………...
We are very happy to have your child in our Preprimary division and hope to work closely with you to help develop the social and academic skills your child will need in life. The experience children have in their first years of schooling is a lasting one and can determine the attitude they will establish toward learning. Young children, especially, need to feel accepted, liked, safe and challenged. This is the kind of environment we will always strive to offer them. We hope that you will work closely with us to make your child’s first school experience one of excellence.
school Mission
Graded School seeks to provide an excellent individual education, and strives to prepare students to maximize their potentials as responsible citizens in an increasingly pluralistic society. The school provides a high quality, English language based, American style education to children of the international and Brazilian communities. Through its policies and programs Graded endorses the value of diversity and the virtues of environmental and cultural awareness.
Organization
Graded School is a private, co-educational, non-denominational, not-for-profit day school for children ages 2 through 18. The school is divided into 4 divisions: Preprimary for ages 2-6; Elementary, covering grades 1-5; Middle School, grades 6-8; and High School encompassing grades 9-12. Graded seeks to provide a high quality American style educational program with English as the primary language of instruction. In addition, the school provides an athletic and fine arts program, and promotes involvement in community service.
The school highly values close teacher-student relations and small classes to ensure that students can succeed within a challenging and culturally integrated academic environment. Programs are designed to provide a match between student needs, educational opportunities and school resources. In the Middle and High School the program is essentially college preparatory in nature. Students prepare for an American High School Diploma and have the opportunity to prepare for a Brazilian High School Diploma, and/or the International Baccalaureate Diploma.
Graded School is committed to excellence in all aspects of its operation, to financial independence and to interaction with the community. The school seeks to promote exemplary standards of teaching and learning by developing an outstanding faculty, utilizing the best available resources and facilities, and cultivate an exciting learning environment in which students are motivated to fulfill their individual potentials.
Core Educational Expectations
To foster a humanistic learning community, we value and
support these Graded Core Educational Expectations.
We will strive to demonstrate ethical behavior in personal and social actions.
* We will work together to better understand our role and responsibilities
as global citizens.
* We will take responsibility for personal actions and act with fairness,
honesty, and integrity.
* We will show respect to ourselves and others.
We will demonstrate effective communication skills.
* We will work on positive intrapersonal and interpersonal skills.
* We will communicate with clarity, purpose, and understanding of
audience.
* We can recognize, analyze, and use various forms of communication.
We will demonstrate effective creative, critical and analytical skills.
* We will generate new and creative ideas by taking considered risks in
a variety of contexts.
* We will be able to use, evaluate, and refine multiple strategies for
problem solving.
We will strive toward intellectual curiosity and risk-taking.
* We will develop a thirst for knowledge and love of learning that will
enrich our lives beyond school.
We will maximize our potential in educational and personal contexts
* We will strive to commit ourselves to creating quality work.
* We will be able to use a variety of learning strategies, personal skills,
and time management skills to enhance learning.
* We will strive to find a healthy balance between the variety of elements
and activities in our lives.
We will try to integrate and apply knowledge between subjects and our personal experiences.
* We can use and assess a variety of information sources and
information gathering techniques.
* We will develop a holistic view of knowledge.
* We will develop a thirst for knowledge and love of learning that will
enrich our lives beyond school.
We will maximize our potential in educational and personal contexts
* We will strive to commit ourselves to creating quality work.
* We will be able to use a variety of learning strategies, personal skills,
and time management skills to enhance learning.
* We will strive to find a healthy balance between the variety of elements
and activities in our lives.
We will try to integrate and apply knowlegde between subjects and our personal experiences.
* We can use and assess a variety of information sources and
information gathering techniques.
* We will develop a holistic view of knowledge.
RESPECT VALUES
These expectations guide individual, collective, and institutional behavior at Graded.
- We work together to better understand our role and responsibilities as global citizens.
- We take responsibility for personal actions and act with fairness, honesty, and integrity.
- We show respect for ourselves and for others.
- We treat everyone equitably and fairly, respecting and embracing the diversity of all, including gender, race, ethnicity, nationality, socio-economic status, sexual orientation, religion, language, abilities and disabilities.
We will reflect on our own attitudes and actions in order to continue learning how to meet these expectations.
SCHOOL EVENTS
The school year is highlighted by several important events. During the first month, August, we will invite you to an Open House when you will have the opportunity to meet your child’s teachers and find out about our curriculum.
In October we have a Halloween costume parade throughout the school and parties in the classrooms. Parent-Teacher conferences are also set for this time of the year – shortly after 1st quarter Report Cards.
The PTA sponsors a fabulous Thanksgiving dinner in November with a full day of entertainment. The Holiday Season is celebrated with a concert in December.
Our traditional International Month activities take place generally in April and a traditional FestaJunina in May/June
.
During Second Semester, we have Parent-Teacher conferences in April, following 3rd quarter Report Cards.
We would like to encourage you to participate as much as possible in our school events.
The Preschool Program
Graded’s Preprimary consists of 7 classrooms serving children from 3 to 6 years of age in the following classes:
Half-day sessions
For children 3 to 4 years of age, morning sessions
(8:10 a.m. - 12:00 a.m.).
Full day sessions
For children 5 to 6 years of age( 8:10 a.m. to 3:05 p.m.) Children in our K-4 half-day program will be considered for a full day program when they turn 5 years of age. The child's maturity and readiness to accompany the full day K-5 program will be the determining factor. The decision for this extended day is determined by teacher and administration.
Transition - 1
For children 6 years of age in need of additional time before entering first grade. Students selected for T-1 are generally of sufficient age for first grade at time of acceptance. The curriculum for this classroom stresses strongly oral language development, pre-reading and beginning reading skills. Advanced kindergarten students are also considered for this classroom.
Students are eligible for first grade if they are six years old on or before September 30 and fulfill basic skill requirements for beginning first grade.
Montessori Philosophy
Dr. Montessori was born in Italy in 1870. A brilliant student, she was the first woman admitted to and graduated from a medical school in Italy. She specialized in child development. Through years of observation, research and directing child centers, Montessori developed an educational approach formulated on an underlying philosophy based on the dignity and spiritual worth of the child.
Montessori proposed that the child has a natural curiosity and love for knowledge. The educator’s task is to motivate this internal desire, supply the materials for manipulation and help the child perfect his/her natural tools for learning.
Each child has his/her own periods of interest and readiness for learning. Montessori called these periods “sensitive periods”. The sensitive periods are phases of a child’s life when one specific skill or characteristic is more intense or dominant. The phases are different from each other and its appearance will vary from one child to another. The Montessori method permits a child to use his/her “sensitive periods” by choosing work under close teacher observation and guidance as needed.
The teacher’s role is that of a directress. The Directress is a keen observer of the individual interests and needs, and of the progress of each child. She/he is trained to recognize the periods of readiness and present the correct usage of the materials corresponding to his/her abilities. The directress will redirect the child who chooses materials that are above his abilities. This is because failure is discouraging. The teacher will also encourage those children who are hesitant, for the child should always be challenged to work at his utmost capacity.
In a Montessori classroom there is always a busy hum, due to the many different activities that go on at the same time.
Self-discipline is acquired through absorption in meaningful activity. The busy child seldom misbehaves. The misbehaving child is led by the teacher to choose work that will fully absorb his attention.
The Montessori program is purposefully structured from simple to complex. The younger children will work with materials designed to prepare them for future work with the more advance materials. The child of 3 will work with materials to develop his concentration, coordination and working habits. These skills are necessary for reading, writing and calculating later on.
The environment is carefully prepared. It is designed to put the children at ease, to allow them freedom of choice, of movement. The materials are attractive, placed on low shelves, at the child’s level. The children also work on rugs on the floor, which is a natural and comfortable position for them.
There is a general atmosphere of respect, for one’s self, others and the environment.
Because of the individual levels of work and respect for each child’s abilities, a non-competitive atmosphere is fostered. Competition should only take place after the child has gained enough confidence in his basic skills.
Children work at different paces and mature at different rates. The Montessori environment does not hinder the more advanced nor stress the child needing time to develop. It nourishes the child’s desire to learn, giving the child the freedom to develop at his/her own rate through the manipulation of educating materials.
The basic goals of a Montessori classroom are to foster:
*Independence
* Awareness of environment
* Concentration
* A sense of order
* Task completion
* An ability to sequence
* Perceptual Motor Development.
* Foundations for written language and math.
The Montessori Curriculum
The Montessori curriculum encompasses seven basic disciplines. The four major areas for concentration are Practical Life, Sensorial, Mathematics and Language. The Social Studies (Geography and History) and Physical Sciences complement the four basic areas. The materials in each area are designed to lead the child from simple to complex skills through the individual use of the materials and opportunities for experimentation. Preprimary children learn through a multisensory approach.
The important difference the Montessori curriculum provides is the creation of an environment in which all materials are available, visible and inviting to the child. Thus, as Dr. Montessori observed, the child naturally gravitates toward activities in which he/she has a readiness and need to participate.
Enriching the basic academic areas are the art, music and perceptual motor development areas, also geared to the individual growth of the child.
Practical Life
“A child’s work”, Dr. Montessori wrote, “is to create the man he will become. An adult works to perfect the environment but a child works to perfect himself”.
The practical life exercises have several basic aims: independence, awareness of the environment, concentration, sense of order and task completion. Through concentration and order the child is being prepared for future academic work. The contact with a real environment results in an orientation towards reality. Tasks such as scrubbing a table are meant to provide the gross motor skills that must precede the more delicate manipulations and the precise coordination required for more advanced activities such as reading and writing.
Sensorial
The importance of the sensorial area is to refine and train the child’s senses, allowing the child to establish order and to clarify what he senses. These exercises teach the child to become a precise observer.
The child being most sensitive to the impressions of the environment is able to distinguish, categorize and relate new information to what he already knows, developing a conscious knowledge.
The visual sense is related to the perception of color, form and dimension.
The tactile sense discriminates the feel of rough-smooth, hot-cold, light-heavy and the stereognostic sense helps us define what we feel by form.
The auditory sense is the perceiving of sounds, loud-soft, high-low and gradation of tones.
The gustatory and olfactory senses are defined through tasting and smellingexperiences.
Mathematics
In the Mathematics program the child is introduced to basic concepts through concrete experiences. Dr. Maria Montessori demonstrated, through her work, that if a child of a young age has access to mathematical equipment he/she can easily and joyfully learn many concepts and skills of arithmetic.
A Montessori environment uses concrete and very precise materials to introduce to the child all types of quantities, patterns and relationships found in math. There is a direct connection between the sensorial materials and mathematics.
Language
In our environments many activities prepare a child for reading and writing. The language curriculum consists of oral language, pre-writing activities and pre-reading activities, such as word building, which lead to reading and writing.
Oral language precedes written language. Correct speech and pronunciation are essential tools for reading. During a child’s first year of life, as he/she proceeds through crying, cooing, babbling, echoing and eventually the first production of meaningful words he is developing an “inner language”, an understanding of vocabulary that the child is not yet ready to express. A child spends the second year of his/her life bringing this “inner language” to a stage of “expressive language”. A child learning a foreign language must also go through this process.
There is a widely accepted opinion that all children learn a second language easily. It is true that children between birth and 5 are in a “sensitive period” for learning languages, (particularly between birth and 3 is this facility “sensitive”). However, there are still differences in the ability of children to learn a foreign language. Attitude and influence in the home are important factors. The oral language activities implemented here at GradedSchool have been constructed to complement the curriculum and expand upon vocabulary in all areas of the curriculum. Books are available to interested parents. Also, our website for Lower School, ELL, will provide many links to interesting information regarding language acquisition.
The first step a child takes toward reading is the multisensory exercise of tracing the sandpaper letters. As the child traces the letter he/she repeats the sound of the letter. In this way the child feels the shape with his/her finger, feels the shape with his arm muscles, sees and hears the letter. When a child begins to recognize sounds he/she begins identifying sounds in words. Many activities are created for the child to practice this essential skill, leading eventually to the writing of letters, production of words and reading. Word recognition of names, familiar objects, and reading together are whole language activities which complement the phonemic awareness exercises.
Physical And Social Sciences
The Science materials in a Montessori classroom are constructed by the teacher following a basic curriculum open to all the experiences which bring a child’s world closer to him. The purpose of the preschool science curriculum is to bring the child’s reality into perspective, to allow the child to manipulate the materials that help discover the natural laws of nature.
The Social Sciences (Geography and History) consist of materials created to give the child a concrete experience which will enhance his/her understanding of the land, its many shapes, and the water forms. The child can feel a globe with a rough brown land surface and a smooth blue water surface, and can construct puzzle maps of the world and its continents.
Time is not fully understood by the child but the concept that time passes and we grow and change is taught through time lines. The concept of day and night, the seasons and the hours are all taught with concrete manipulative materials.
The Physical Sciences includes materials that increase awareness of detail and the vocabulary the child needs to express what he experiences. The oral language curriculum specifically relates to this area and the Social Studies. Within this area the child matches cards showing the parts of trees, fruits or animals. At the same time the child can be sorting types of animals and plants or discovering the difference between vertebrates and invertebrates. Other prepared activities allow the child to discover magnetic and non-magnetic materials through experimentation or the properties of objects that float compared to those that do not.