A to Z Learning Tree

Learning Standards are the basis for the curriculum at A to Z Learning Tree.  Each month a summary of which benchmarks were taught will be sent home so you as the parent know exactly what skills your child has worked on.  The standards are used by every school district in the state for all grade levels in order to align what is learned.  Social Emotions growth is only in the Early Learning Standards, the school age standards do not cover this skill set.  Find out more at http://illinoisearlylearning.org/standards/index.htm

Listening, laughing and learning all day, every day.

Logical choices are important and logical consequences are used for teaching the children to follow the rules.

Left and right are taught in a fun way.

Looking closely  at our environment,  books, a science experiment or just ourselves allows our knowledge to expand.

Manipulatives mean any item that we use our hands with in order to learn skills.  

Money skills are taught to the four year olds.

No more diapers for preschoolers.   4 year olds must be potty trained before the start of school in the fall.   By January all  3 year olds must be in staying dry in underwear.   (By 40 mos old all children must be dry in underwear.)

Numbers and counting is more then just saying the numbers, it's also knowing which one comes next, how to count out objects and  how to recognize what the numbers look like.

Opposites are interesting.  Up and down, in and out  - we learn  by doing

Outside play is very important.  We will go outside every day that the weather permits.   In the fenced backyard there is the big climber and sports things,  in the front we use ride on toys, bikes and balls.  There's never a chance to be bored.   If it's bad weather we will use our outside time to do large motor activities inside.