The 3-year-old age group is now starting to trust that their parents and teachers will take good care of them.  This trust gives them the confidence to become independent and, in turn, feel pride at being able to do the same activities that adults do.  They will begin to focus more on adults and children outside the family, and have a desire to explore their surroundings.   Our classroom environment gives each child many opportunities to be curious and explore all of their senses, as well as develop positive relationships with others.

The Teacher:

Angela Clark -   This preschool class is taught by Miss Angela, who has been teaching at Chutes 'N Ladders since January of 2009.  She began with the older toddlers in the 2-year-old room, and moved on to teach the pre-k children this year.  Miss Angela does an amazing job of keeping the children engaged in learning by always including fun activities.  She is currently enrolled at Manatee Community College in the process of obtaining an associate's degree in early childhood education.  Recent training includes the 6-hour curriculum training Recipes for Success.  This curriculum integrates the use of food in lesson plans to meet early learning standards.  Look through this photo album to see pictures of Angela's latest activity, based on the Eric Carle book The Hungry Caterpillar. Each child brought in a fruit mentioned in the book to share with the class.  This lesson incoporated teaching fine motor skills with the use of a plastic knife, the social skill of sharing, as well as the importance of eating healthy fruits for snack.

The Schedule:
The daily schedule establishes the consistency that helps young children to predict the sequence of events during the day, enabling them to feel more secure and more in control of their day.  Our schedule offers a range of many different activities throughout the day, such as active and quiet times, large-group and small-group activities, indoor and outdoor playtimes, and both child-directed and teacher-directed activities.  The children are engaged in story time during both am snack and lunch time.

Please click to view our daily schedule.
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The Classroom:

    The deep sea classroom is divided into many different interest areas for the children to explore during free choice time.  Our interest areas include Creative Arts, Discovery, Blocks, Dramatic Play, Library/Quiet Area, Hands-on Learning, and Puzzles and Games.  Here are a few pictures of us enjoying our learning environment.  More photos can be viewed at our photo gallery.