Crestwood School Our Accelerated School Programs
Our Accelerated program for our Toddlers, Nursery, Pre-kindergarten and Kindergarten children is one of our most exciting innovations, introducing skills and programs that children usually do not experience until elementary school or later. These programs and skills when learned at a young age increase a child’s future academic success. All students are eligible to participate in these programs.
Art
Our art program is taught by a certified art teacher, Miss Eileen. The goal of the art program is for students to be comfortable expressing themselves creatively and to help strengthen their fine and gross motor skills. The students develop an appreciation for the arts by exploring the world of Matisse, Van Gogh and Picasso through stories, paintings, coloring, cutting, gluing and self-exploration.
Foreign Language
Through pictures, songs, puppets and games, children are introduced to Mandarin and the Chinese culture, which is taught by a native Mandarin speaking teacher, and Spanish, taught by a native and certified Spanish Teacher. Children learn not only basic language instruction but also conversational language instruction.
Our Full Day students learn about the different cultures including Mexico, Central America, South America and Spain. The children experience the diverse foods, clothing and special customs that each country has. Studying foreign language at a young age is an important stepping stone for when children receive foreign language later on in their school career. These programs help the children learn about diversity and to become more accepting of other cultures and people.
Music & Instruments
Research has proven that exposure to music at an early age is a great predictor of future academic success. Music is an important part of our Crestwood curriculum and is taught by our certified music teacher. In addition, our school director, Miss Stephanie has a degree in music and is a professional singer. Together they make sure that music is a part of the students every day learning. The children explore musical and rhythmic instruments such as clarinets, keyboards, saxophones, percussion and boomwhackers all taught by our music teacher. When children leave Crestwood, we expect they will have learned to:
- Know beginning music theory and appreciation
- Sing new songs and fingerplays
- Perform music shows (Toddler and Nursery)
- Perform end of the year musical shows both on instruments and singing (pre-k and kindergarten)
Physical Education
Utilizing our state of the art gymnasium, our Physical education teacher introduces the children to a wide variety of sports. They instill the fundamentals of sports by teaching them to play, the rules of the game and most of all sportsmanship.
In physical education we also learn the importance of having a healthy and fit body which helps us in our daily life. The children learn how to run, skip, jump and hop which are fundamental skills for the future. Our program includes but is not limited to:
- Baseball, Basketball, Soccer and Tennis Instruction
- Bike Riding and Gymnastics to strengthen fine and gross motor skills
- Students will have the added treat of using our summer camp fields, playgrounds and facilities including our carousel, ferris wheel and jumping pillow year round.
Science
The best time to introduce children to science is when they become curious about the world. Our science program, located in a separate science building, is designed to give our students a firm foundation in science by facilitating a way of observing and thinking about the world around them, while learning to communicate these ideas to others.
MIss Fro, our science teacher is well versed in different areas of science included but not limited to: Earth science, Life science and physical science. By using a child centered inquiry method, the children are encouraged to build relevant skills involving exploring, predicting,controlling variables, interpreting simple data and measuring are some of the skills that are modeled for the children.
Using a specifically designed hands-on program developed by Miss Fro and Crestwood, the children see that they learn about their world through their own actions. Using their five senses the children learn the basics of life, physical, and earth science, as well as compassionate animal care and empathetic conservation.
With the use of live animals, real science equipment and observing actual museum-like collections of preserved specimens, some of which are insects, rocks, plants, leaves, eggs, bones and feathers, the children learn about the world.
- Students learn to use stereoscopic microscopes which reveal a world of new wonders.
- They learn to use scales, magnifying glasses, binoculars, graduated cylinders and beakers.
- They experiment with solids, liquids and gases, chemical and physical reactions, mixtures, air pressure, magnetism, plants, colors, ice and animal behavior.
- The children experience gardening/farming from seed to harvest in our huge garden using real gardening tools.
- Children observe first-hand the life cycles of plants, butterflies, beetles, praying mantis, walking sticks, birds and others.
In addition to providing the children with a strong basis for further science studies, our program encourages receptive and expressive language development, confidence, risk taking, observational skills, patience and a strong basis for future math and reading skills.
