The Fives program offers students the gift of time to develop a strong foundation of academic and social skills for a successful Kindergarten year. The Fives curriculum is taught in a small, personalized classroom environment, and uses a hands-on-approach to learning designed to help younger learners adjust to the social and academic demands of school. Our low 8:1 student teacher ratio ensures small class sizes and individualized attention to meet the developmental stage of each child. A further benefit of the program is access to the services and facilities that all RA students in K-Grade 8 enjoy. Students study math and science in our Kitchen Lab, art and music in our studios, perform in Turner Hall, and attend classes in our library and full-sized gymnasium.

Students in Landmark - Ridgefield's Fives program build confidence in a variety of areas. They work on developing reading and writing skills, perform science experiments and investigate the many centers in their classroom. Each month they explore a different theme such as life underground, mother nature's nocturnal habitat, extreme earth science, nursery rhymes and fairy tales, or the human body in depth.

Social & Emotional Development
Social and emotional development is a main focus of our Fives program. We encourage children to be independent, make choices and accept the results of their actions. Children learn that they will be held accountable for their behavior and use of materials. They will be praised for a job well done.

We encourage children to help each other and cooperate. We also teach them to stand up for themselves and their ideas in a kind but firm way. We help our students recognize and name their emotions and find productive ways to manage them.

Respect, cooperation, patience and kindness are very important life skills. We support and encourage our students to practice these behaviors and develop into the best people they can be. We teach and model the concepts of sharing and being a good friend while children learn to function as an individual and as a member of a group.

Themes
Every six weeks, we focus our learning around a new theme, such as the human body, extreme weather, life underground, fairy tales and more. We incorporate these topics in all of our activities and share fun facts and concepts to help our students explore the world around them.

 

Free Choice Time
Each day begins with free choice time where your child can try different games, sensory activities or make their own fun. This time allows them to make decisions and interact with their peers while exploring the classroom. During this critical time, children socialize with their friends and practice sharing, cooperating and compromising. Students are responsible for the care and clean up of classroom materials, which encourages accountability.

Literacy
All children are readers. Recognizing and supporting the skills that take your child from an emergent reader to a fluent and expressive one is a joyful part of the Landmark experience. In our Fives program we encourage children to build decoding skills and provide the foundation for our phonics based reading program. As children progress, consonant-vowel blends, three letter words, short vowel books, long vowel books and digraphs are introduced during individualized instruction. Phonics games, activities, and stories are used to reinforce these concepts and give children the ability to decipher new words. Combined with an awareness of other skills, such as picture and content clues, sequencing and sight words, children develop a variety of strategies to approach reading with confidence.

Our students learn to write and spell using Fundations, a research-based phonics program. This technique supports fine motor skills while teaching students the letters and letter sounds. Journals are used to foster an interest in writing and inventive spelling, while documenting their fine motor growth over the course of the year.

Math
Math skills are developed every day in a variety of ways. As our students cook, build towering structures or scoop sand, they are learning the value of mathematics. Children practice counting and recognizing numerals from zero to twenty while learning how to manipulate them and see numbers in everyday activities. We focus on one-to-one correspondence, number sense, geometry, problem solving, graphing, patterning and sorting using games, manipulatives and our Smart Boards.

Science
Preschoolers are naturally curious and our programs allow students to wonder, ask questions and seek answers about the natural world through observations, experimentation and the use of equipment. They collect and interpret basic data while discovering the world around them. Students in the 5s program attend Science class once a week.

Recess
Recess is a vital part of our day. If children have not moved their bodies they cannot focus on academic tasks. Our students have play time outside every day. In cold weather, hot weather and even on misty days we take the opportunity to move our bodies, practice our motor skills, learn cooperative play and laugh! Our playground has a rubber surface, large sandbox, developmentally appropriate climbing structures and toys for this age group.

Technology
Our classrooms are equipped with the latest technology allowing our students to expand their learning through various thoughtful and developmentally appropriate media. We use Smart Boards, iPads and digital cameras in our classrooms to complement the curriculum. Special visits to RA’s “Little Bridge” computer lab add green screen, Photoshop and other digital media elements to our program.

Art
Exposure to various art mediums and projects builds eye-hand coordination, promotes spatial awareness, encourages sensory exploration and reinforces concepts from our classrooms. To children, the process of creation is the most important part of their art experience. Students in the 5s program attend Art class once a week.

Music & Movement
Our music program incorporates the use of both new and familiar songs, tunes, echo lyrics, rhythm instruments and movement to learn the patterns of song. Classroom themes are reinforced as children have fun learning key musical terms and principles. Students in the 5s program attend Music class twice a week.

Physical Education
Learning to move and control your body is an important skill. Our physical education program will help your child develop large motor skills and coordination through various locomotor exercises (walking, running, hopping, etc). Activities focus on eye-hand and eye-foot coordination using balls, bean bags, hula hoops, a parachute and more. Students in the 5s program attend PE class in the Gym twice a week.

World Language
Most children are learning English as their primary language. In the Fives, we expose them to French as a second language. Songs, games and interactive activities that complement the classroom theme encourage our students to practice and build vocabulary. Students in the 5s program attend French class twice a week.