Dear Pre-k parent,

Welcome to Pre-K! This year Pre-K will have a new curriculum, FrogStreet Excel. The following paragraphs highlight parts of the curriculum: The Excel Pre-K curriculum supports every aspect of your child’s development—physical, social, emotional, cognitive, and linguistic. One important focus is the development of language and literacy skills. The program is supported by an impressive body of research on how young children develop early literacy and pre-reading skills. Children learn skills through playful, child-centered activities that ensure they maintain their love of language as they develop their ability to decipher it. Excel Pre-K honors this joyful approach to learning. Woven into intriguing themes, language and literacy activities are designed to purposefully address the following. Another focus of this program is mathematics skills. As society continues to adapt to the 21st century’s technological expansion, our country’s economic vitality and positioning as a global competitor increasingly hinges on our children’s interest and competency in mathematics. To meet that challenge, Excel Pre-K draws upon an impressive body of research that outlines how young children as early as three are capable of engaging and exploring fundamental, yet surprisingly complex, mathematical ideas. This program provides purposeful, engaging mathematical investigations and activities that build upon your child’s informal understandings of patterns, number, measurement, and shape. Your child will soon be joining a new family—their School Family. School Family is a term I use to describe the classroom environment in my program Conscious Discipline®. The School Family does not and cannot replace the home family, but it can, in partnership with you, help to create the best possible learning experience for your child. Each child enters school with three important questions: • Am I safe? • Am I loved? • What can I learn? I am looking forward to an exciting new year.

Suzanne Ouellette