Modules

Tiny Smurfs
18 to 24 months
Toddlerhood - Potty Training

Toddlerhood is the time of life when personality and sense of self, begin to unfold.

We set limits for behaviour control so that they can explore their environment safely. We provide an abundance of opportunity for our toddler's physical development, such as climbing, running and throwing balls.

Fine motor skill development is encouraged through art activities such as colouring-in, painting, playdough, lego blocks and paging through books and magazines.

Social and emotional growth is vital at this age and to develop this we encourage children to learn to become social and relate to other people. Although most of the time the children still do parallel play, we follow routines and are consistent in our daily programme which then enables the children to know and do what is expected of them.

Because toddlers love adult companionship, we ensure that there is a great deal of communication between our toddlers and caregivers. Receptive language is stimulated through flashcards, singing and storytelling.

During potty training, children are encouraged to sit on the potty while listening to a story, looking at flash cards or singing songs. Children are regularly taken to the potty during the day.

Time is made for plenty of outdoor play on jungle gyms, slides and swings.

Supplied by Parents (daily)

• 4 Pull-up Nappies
• Bottle or non-spill cup
• 2 sets of spare clothes
• 2 sets of underwear for potty training
• Barrier cream

Supplied by Parents (annually)

• 20 x toilet rolls
• 2 x boxes of tissues (200's)
• 2 x liquid hand soap
• 3 x wet wipes (80's)

All personal items sent to school must be clearly marked with your child's name.

Wandering Smurfs
2-3 years

Play is a child's work; it's the process through which a child gains knowledge of the surrounding world. Exploring and experimenting helps children find out how things work and children gradually gain knowledge and understanding.

Play is still a very important part at this age, for the reason that it is a significant part of the development and a way to learn social rules and allow children to express their emotions in a non-threatening situation.

Furthermore, social and emotional development is very important as children need to be shown correct behaviour and how to play together as they move from parallel play to co-operative play.

A routine of class and school is followed each day, whereby children are taught and participate in the following areas: -

• Learning of colours, shapes and counting,
• Artwork such as colouring, painting, pasting and writing patterns (dot to dot),
• Storytime, which develops English vocabulary and understanding,
• A new song is taught each week,
• Discussions on the weekly theme,
• In this classroom, we have a teacher as well as a teacher's aide, as toilet training is still necessary.

Supplied by Parents (annually)

• 20 x toilet rolls
• 2 x boxes of tissues (200's)
• 2 x liquid hand soap
• 3 x wet wipes (80's)

All personal items sent to school must be clearly marked with your child's name.

Happy Smurfs
3-4 years

Children of this age are energetic, enthusiastic and eager to learn. Amidst the fun, we place emphasis on Fine Motor Development, which is the way in which the small movements of the small muscles of the hands, wrists, fingers, toes, eyes and tongue are used.

Hand-eye co-ordination:
This is the ability to use the eyes to control the movements of the hands when executing a specific task.

Hand-toe co-ordination:
This refers to the ability to use the eyes to control the movements of the toes when executing a specific task.

Dexterity:
This is the accurate movement or manipulation of the fingers.

To improve these fine motor developments, the children are taught through play and work activities, such as: -

• Painting 'designs' on paper.
• Feeding themselves without messing and drinking without spilling.
• Moulding clay into balls, cakes and strips and is able to name his products.
• The building of easy puzzles.
• Drawing in circular movements.
• Stringing beads.
• Building blocks.
• Cutting on a line with a pair of scissors.
• Drawing a square using crayons.
• Introduction to printing alphabetic letters and numbers.
• Colouring in.
• Cutting pictures out and paste them onto paper.
• Buttoning up his/her own buttons.
• Tying shoelaces.
• Independent washes and drying of hands.

A routine of class and school is followed each day, and children participate in daily storytelling and singing as well as discussions around the respective weekly theme.

Supplied by Parents (annually)

• 20 x toilet rolls
• 2 x boxes of tissues (200's)
• 2 x liquid hand soap
• 3 x wet wipes (80's)

All personal items sent to school must be clearly marked with your child's name.

Wise Smurfs
4 to 5 years

Children of this age are great conversationalists and love to talk about the details of all sorts of scientific and important subjects. Children need to find out about all aspects of life and talking about things is a very important way of understanding how the world works.

At this age, children are developing confidence in their physical ability and we continue to assist with fine motor development. Children are furthermore assisted to use tools and instruments correctly and with ease.

In this class, children are taught through play and work activities, such as: -

• Drawing, tracing, colouring, copying.
• Alphabet and writing patterns.
• Introduction to phonic sounds of the alphabet.
• Number understanding, recognition and ordering.
• Exploration of shapes
• Sewing of wool through holes in a card.
• Match form with form, size with size.
• Build jigsaw puzzles.
• Tying of shoelaces.
• Buttoning up of buttons

A routine of class and school is followed each day, and children participate in daily storytelling and singing as well as discussions around the respective weekly theme.

By the age of 4 years, a child is generally showing a preference for using either their right or left hand. Approximately 90% of all children are right-handed. If a child is left-handed, it is not recommended that you force them to use their right hand. A child will have fewer emotional upsets and perform better at drawing, cutting, writing and other fine motor activities if allowed to use the hand she prefers.

Supplied by Parents (annually)

• 20 x toilet rolls
• 2 x boxes of tissues (200's)
• 2 x liquid hand soap
• 3 x wet wipes (80's)
• 1 x 2L empty ice-cream container
  ​

All personal items sent to school must be clearly marked with your child's name.

Smart Smurfs
5 to 6 years
Grade R / Grade 0

Grade R is a PRE-primary year which gets our children ready for the 3Rs (Reading, wRiting and aRithmetic) of primary school by developing their pre-reading, pre-writing and pre-numeracy skills.

For example, before children can learn to read they need to understand how a book works, understand the relationship between words and pictures in a book, and realise that words on a page have meaning and are made up of sounds.

Before children can learn how to write they need to know how to hold a pen or pencil, understand that text works from left to right and from top to bottom, and realise that drawings and writing convey a message.

Before children can learn numeracy skills, they need to understand that numbers represent quantities, that objects can be sorted and grouped, and that things can be shared.

Each child completes 2 workbooks - the ACE Grade R learning programme, which is a complete learning programme based on the Revised National Curriculum Statements which integrates the three learning programmes of the foundation phase, Literacy, Numeracy and Life Skills.

All these skills are learned through play, which is the real work of children in Grade R; skills such as: -

• Playing with building blocks and doing jigsaw puzzles.
• Number understanding and recognition and ordering
• Drawing and playing with modelling clay
• Drawing of the story.
• Alphabet and writing patterns.
• Fantasy play and story-telling.
• Introduction to phonic sounds of the alphabet.
• Rhyming words

We have a well-structured daily programme with blocks of time for each activity. These activities include routines for everything from eating and toilet times and outside play to different types of classroom activities. Each routine is an opportunity for learning important life-skills.

When children know the order of events in a school day, they are always prepared for what comes next. Grade R helps the children to adjust to classroom routines and to understand what is expected of them at different points in the school day.

At the end of ear year, our Grade R children are presented with a Graduation Certificate and Photos, followed by a Graduation ceremony.

Grade R does not just prepare children for Grade 1; it prepares children for a lifetime of learning. The R in Grade R stands for Reception. It is the year that our children are received into the scary world of 'big' school. If their reception is warm and fun, they will have an excellent foundation for coping with school and enjoying learning.

Supplied by Parents (annually)

• 20 x toilet rolls
• 2 x boxes of tissues (200's)
• 2 x liquid hand soap
• 3 x wet wipes (80's)

All personal items sent to school must be clearly marked with your child's name.