Our Curriculum | San Francisco International Preschool

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

Language

Children are naturally interested in the languages they hear. They make spontaneous attempts to reproduce sounds, forms and structures in order to communicate with their surroundings. The teacher will encourage students to speak, by carefully articulating, repeating, proposing a reformulation, at times translating, and constantly correcting to improve vocabulary and sentence structures. S/he will invite students to move progressively beyond the spontaneous spoken word to slowly participate in more organized group conversations. They learn to express an opinion or formulate a question effectively communicating with others in the language of the class.

The Preschool program at the Lycée also familiarizes children with writing and the written language. The teacher will read stories that are increasingly long and complex. Children start to discover the function of writing as a way to share or recall information that triggers one's imagination. They also grasp the relationship between the letters they learn to identify and the sounds they represent, in both languages. From learning to hold and guide a pen to controlling lines and drawing shapes then letters, graphic exercises practice fine motor skills that will naturally lead to practicing cursive writing.

English in Preschool at the Lycée

The curriculum is designed to foster comfort with English as a means to connect to others, express feelings, needs, and to join group experiences. Introductory math and reading concepts are introduced through songs, games and stories, instilling a joy of learning. Above all, students develop the ability to listen to others, join in routines, interact positively with peers, and develop their natural curiosity.

Through the years, students solidify their language skills and continue to construct the phonological awareness that will prepare them for reading in Gr1. Teachers continuously monitor and support their social and emotional development, while gradually increasing the complexity of activities and concentration time. Language instruction is focused on building listening comprehension skills and fostering more sophisticated oral expression. Basic math, emergent writing and beginning reading concepts are introduced through songs, games, activities and stories. Students are active participants in group learning activities and discussions who can confidently approach new challenges and complete academic tasks independently.

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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.

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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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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