Curriculum

Language and literacy development focus on children’s growing abilities to use oral and written language to convey feelings and desires, interact with others, ask questions, contemplate the world around them, represent what they know, and talk about imaginary situations. Children develop oral language, listening skills, vocabulary, letter recognition, rhymes, phonics, reading readiness, writing skills, and a positive attitude about reading. Early and emergent writers and readers use a variety of means to communicate, such as conventional signs and symbols (scribbles, mock letters, letters), visual art forms (painting and drawing) and other materials, such as blocks, clay and collage.

Mathematics focuses on children’s emerging abilities to coordinate thinking processes and mental frameworks around mathematical concepts and problem-solving. Through active participation in a variety of experiences, children begin to develop an awareness of numbers and operations, geometry and spatial sense, patterns and relationships, and measurement.

Science and nature education provide open-ended experiences that expose children to the possibilities that exist within the physical and natural world. By participating in these experiences, children practice observing, investigating, predicting, questioning, hypothesizing, and solving problems. As they explore, children begin to deepen their understanding of the characteristics of living things, the physical properties of objects and materials, and properties of our earth. Nature education provides children with a foundation for a lifelong relationship between themselves, the earth and its natural resources. Learn more about our outdoor education program.

Experiences in technology and innovation are intentionally integrated throughout our preschool program. The children explore our innovation spaces and are guided by passionate faculty members. These interactions provide effective, engaging, and appropriate ways for our youngest minds to be their most creative selves. 

Children begin to learn about themselves and others in relation to the world around them. They learn about different family structures, cultures, their immediate school community and the community at large. By doing this, they develop a sense of place and are able to question and explore how they can contribute to the life of the community.

Children are exposed to a broad variety of media, which helps build fine motor control, cognitive skills and creativity. They explore painting, cutting, stamping, clay building, stitching, beading, collage, and more in our art studio.

As a culmination of the school year, classes present an art show each spring to their parents and guests. This represents their growth through the year, presenting their use of multiple mediums. 

Music offers children the opportunity to express themselves melodically and rhythmically. Children respond to a variety of songs, finger plays and instruments as they discover different ways to use their voices and bodies. Students improve auditory discrimination and auditory memory, verbal expression and motor skills. They learn about beat, rhythm, tempo and melody from teachers who specialize in music education.

Children use their bodies to move expressively as they develop a sense of where their body is in space, as well as in relation to others. They develop small and large muscle control, eye-hand coordination, and improve collaboration/teamwork skills through a multitude of activities and games.

Our pre-kindergarten curriculum reflects the developing skills of this older age group. Students explore letters/sounds and the joy of stories through their circle times and daily activities. Reading and writing readiness, oral comprehension, beginning vocabulary development and introduction to phonological and phonemic awareness skills are interspersed into lessons. Specific reading skills are individualized for those students who are ready. All students are encouraged to build a love of literature and story-telling.

In our pre-kindergarten classroom students develop a conceptual understanding of how numbers are used in the world. They learn how to use number theory to classify, quantify, sequence, make patterns and predict outcomes. Classroom and playground activities build a curiosity around how math works and provide a foundation for kindergarten and beyond.

Science and nature education provide open-ended experiences that expose children to the possibilities that exist within the physical and natural world. By participating in these experiences, children practice observing, investigating, predicting, questioning, hypothesizing, and solving problems. As they explore, children begin to deepen their understanding of the characteristics of living things, the physical properties of objects and materials, and properties of our earth. Nature education provides children with a foundation for a lifelong relationship between themselves, the earth and its natural resources. Learn more about our outdoor education program.

Experiences in technology and innovation are intentionally integrated throughout our preschool and pre-kindergarten program. The children explore our innovation spaces and are guided by faculty members who specialize in technology at Roland Park Country School. These interactions provide effective, engaging, and appropriate ways for our youngest minds to be their most creative selves. We encourage this creativity through collaborative problem-solving, early engineering and programming concepts, robotics, and digital art.

Our Pre-kindergarten students enjoy time “tinkering” and creating innovative projects of their own design through their maker-space time. They enjoy early coding opportunities through play with Bee Bots.

Children begin to learn about themselves and others in relation to the world around them. They learn about different family structures, cultures, their immediate school community and the community at large. By doing this, they develop a sense of place and are able to question and explore how they can contribute to the life of the community.

Our pre-kindergarten students explore the world outside their classroom with activities designed to connect them to the community of RPCS. They share time with older students in the school through book shares and Lower School Morning Meeting. During this transitional year, students are encouraged to share their family story and grow in their appreciation of each other’s unique qualities and cultures. As they prepare to move to other school settings, care is taken to build understanding of their responsibility to the environment and classmates.

Children are exposed to a broad variety of media, which helps build fine motor control, cognitive skills and creativity. They explore painting, cutting, stamping, clay building, stitching, beading, collage, and more in our art studio.

As a culmination of the school year, the pre-k classes present an art show each spring to their parents and guests. This represents their growth through the year, presenting their use of multiple mediums. 

Music offers children the opportunity to express themselves melodically and rhythmically. Children respond to a variety of songs, finger plays and instruments as they discover different ways to use their voices and bodies. Students improve auditory discrimination and auditory memory, verbal expression and motor skills. They learn about beat, rhythm, tempo and melody from teachers who specialize in music education.

Our pre-kindergarten students are given a greater role at parent events and help lead the other students in their musical performances. 

Children use their bodies to move expressively as they develop a sense of where their body is in space, as well as in relation to others. They develop small and large muscle control, eye-hand coordination, and improve collaboration/teamwork skills through a multitude of activities and games.