Preschool curriculum

Question. Create. Explore.

The Lycée preschool curriculum, also known as "Maternelle," is designed to provide young children with a strong foundation in learning while fostering curiosity, creativity, and social development. It is structured around five key domains: language acquisition, physical activity and well-being, artistic and cultural exploration, mathematics and scientific discovery, and social and emotional development. Emphasis is placed on oral language development and the development of bilingualism, preparing children to read and write in two languages by encouraging vocabulary expansion, comprehension, and communication skills.

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Lycée AT glance

The progression

Our bilingual, academic curriculum blends the best practices of the U.S education system with the high standards of the French national curriculum, the Cycle System of learning.

Cycle 1 (Maternelle) of the Cycle System guides a child's learning in Preschool.

U.S. Grades: Preschool (Age 3), Pre-K (Age 4), Kindergarten
French Equivalent: Petite Section, Moyenne Section, Grande Section
French Immersion: 80%

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Two preschoolers are riding bikes at recess

The approach

Through play-based and hands-on activities, children develop early cognitive and motor skills while learning to work collaboratively. The curriculum promotes exploration and inquiry, allowing children to discover the world around them through age-appropriate lessons in numbers, shapes, and natural sciences. Artistic expression is encouraged through music, visual arts, and storytelling, fostering creativity and an appreciation for cultural diversity.

the acquisition of bilingualism

Children are naturally curious about language and eager to communicate with their surroundings. At the Lycée's Preschool, teachers nurture this curiosity by encouraging children to speak through articulation, repetition, reformulation, and correction, gradually helping them move from spontaneous expressions to participating in more organized group conversations. Students learn to express opinions, ask questions, and effectively communicate in the classroom's language. The program also introduces children to writing by exploring stories of increasing complexity, teaching them the purpose of written language as a way to share information and spark imagination. Through activities that connect letters to sounds and fine motor skill exercises like guiding a pen and forming shapes, children build foundational writing skills that naturally progress toward cursive writing.

The curriculum fosters comfort with English as a tool for connection, self-expression, and participation in group experiences. Introductory math and reading concepts are introduced through songs, games, and stories, inspiring a joy for learning while nurturing listening skills, positive peer interactions, and curiosity. Students build foundational language skills, phonological awareness, and social-emotional growth that prepare them for future academic success.

As they progress, students strengthen their language abilities and develop listening comprehension and oral expression. Teachers gradually increase the complexity of activities while supporting emotional development. Concepts in math, writing, and reading are introduced in engaging ways, encouraging students to participate actively, approach challenges with confidence, and complete academic tasks independently.

social and emotional development

Social and emotional learning is a cornerstone of the curriculum, with a focus on cultivating empathy, respect for others, and independence. The Lycée preschool program prepares children not only for academic success but also for active participation in a global, multicultural society. It is a comprehensive approach that nurtures the whole child, blending academic preparation with the joy of discovery and personal growth.

PHYSICAL AND ARTISTIC ACTIVITIES

The practice of physical and artistic activities contributes to the motor, sensory, emotional, intellectual and relational development of children . These activities mobilize, stimulate, enrich the imagination and are the opportunity to experience emotions and new sensations. They allow children to explore their physical abilities, expand and refine their motor skills, improve their balance and experience the pleasure of movement and effort to better know and respect their body.

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Start Exploring the world: time and space

START EXPLORING THE WORLD : TIME AND SPACE

In the Early Learning program, children will gradually develop awareness of time and space. They acquire temporal references and understand the concept of duration. A daily routine is key : its organization and rituals provide children with the first stable elements of a chronology, allowing they to anticipate or recall. The notion of duration starts around age four when children cannot yet measure time strictly speaking, but can visualize with hourglasses for example.

Experiencing space is related to movement, distances and spatial references developed in the course of school activities to explore, navigate, distinguish between fixed and mobile elements. From the observation of familiar environments (class, school, neighborhood ...)children are led to discover less familiar ones (countryside, city, sea, mountain ...), to learn about human constructions (houses, shops, monuments, roads, bridges ...), countries, cultures... These explorations are opportunities for questioning, producing images, searching for information, learning to respect one's environment and other's cultures and languages.

Structured thinking: exploring shapes, sizes and organized suites

STRUCTURED THINKING : EXPLORING SHAPES, SIZES AND ORGANIZED SUITES

Children can intuitively compare and approximate. At school they start to discriminate small quantities. They learn to count and gradually to understand that numbers allow both to express quantities as well as a rank or position in a list. This learning takes time and confrontation with many situations involving pre-numerical and then numerical activities.

The Early learning program invites students who intuitively discern forms (square, triangle ...) and dimensions (length, capacity, mass, area ...)to build knowledge and skills. They are familiarized with plane shapes, objects of space, magnitudes through observation and manipulation. Activities are always supported by language to identify and describe characteristics. Although they remain limited, these activities are a first approach to algebra and geometry.

Exploring the world: objects and matter

EXPLORING THE WORLD : OBJECTS AND MATTER

As part of the Early Learning program, children begin to understand what distinguishes the living from the non-living. They learn about and manipulate animals and plants. They discover the cycles of life, identify, name or group animals according to their characteristics (hair, feathers, scales ...), their modes of movement (walking, crawling, flight, swimming ...), their living environments, etc. They learn to identify and name the different parts of the body and are introduced to the importance of a healthy lifestyle and good nutrition (taste week). They develop their sensory skills.

Throughout the program, children discover natural (water, wood, earth, sand, air ...) and made by man materials (paper, cardboard, semolina, fabric, etc.). Activities include to mixing, transforming, heating or cooling while observing their effect and building the related vocabulary. They are playfully introduced to physical phenomena they will study much later such as gravity, the attraction between two poles, the effects of light, etc.).

New technologies are used wisely by the teacher and support other learnings through research or introduction to coding.

Two programs working together

In our Early learning program, teachers work together sharing resources, tools, practices and materials, presenting children with varied while comprehensive experiences. Situations of problem solving, story telling, playing,... are selected according to the needs of the group and those of each child. Modern technologies will find their rightful place in the classroom, provided that their objective is to support the learning activity.

Learn more about our approach to bilingualism

The value of playtime

Playtime is important in preschool as it feeds all subjects of learning. It allows children to exercise their autonomy; to re-enact reality and explore fiction developing their imagination; to exercise motor skills and to experiment with various social rules and roles. It promotes communication with others and the building of friendships. Teachers make sure to reserve time for free play, observing the group to get to better understand personalities and what children focus on at the moment. Structured play periods with specific learning objectives are also used to support learning.

A partnership between home and school

The success of the Early Learning program is rooted in a constructive dialogue between families and our academic teams, based on trust and a regular exchange of information in the interest of the well-being and overall success of the child. Times of exchange are as many opportunities for parents to better understand the way to school operates and the program is implemented.

Evaluations in Preschool

Evaluations are a time for parents to regularly assess their child's progress with their teacher. They are based on a careful observation and interpretation of what the child says or does during the day. Beyond the results, teachers also strive to emphasize the progress that is made. Parents and teachers get a chance to identify conjointly the child's successes, to keep track of his/her progress and set new goals. Teachers are attentive to what children can do on their own, with the help of an adult or with that of the other children, taking into account differences in age and maturity within the group.

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