Preschool
The education center was designed with your child in mind. Our goal is to provide our students with a quality academic education while at the same time maintaining our family atmosphere. With this combination, we are able to provide a fun, safe, and caring environment which is the foundation of a child’s educational journey.
We will share experiences throughout the year that will enable your child to grow socially, emotionally, cognitively, and physically as an atmosphere of friendship, kindness and caring will permeate your child’s day.
Our philosophy towards Early Child Education is that children learn best through enjoyable learning activities with friends and teachers who value their unique individual qualities. We strive to balance our curriculum with academic content and fun thematic learning experiences. Our Preschool classrooms utilize a structured daily schedule which includes:
- Morning Circle Time (language development)
- Academic Time (concept development)
- Creative Art
- Outside Play
- Math and Science
- Music and Movement
- Sensory and Teacher Directed Activities
Our teachers take the time each day to prepare and organize an academically rich and fun filled day for your child. All of our staff members have an educational background in Early Child Education development and educational practices, as well as a love of children. Teachers carefully plan their classroom lessons incorporating monthly thematic units, special events, holidays and seasonal activities. Our school wide curriculum draws from several resources, incorporates strong academics, and allows for individualization with the whole child’s development in mind. Additionally, weekly enrichment programs include Music, Dance, Sports, Gymnastics, Cooking and Science.
1. Reading & Writing
- Listening and speaking skills
- Visual and auditory recognition: phonemic awareness
- Decoding consonant and vowel sounds and spelling
- Blending
- Appropriate vocabulary for age level
- Reading groups: reading & comprehension, words of the week, number words, etc.
2. Math
- Counting
- Numeral Writing
- Measurement
- Graphing
- Patterns
- Coins
3. Social Science
- Awareness of self, family, friends, and community (“Kindness Curriculum”)
4. Science
- A. Hands-on experience through thematic units
- Discovering, sorting, observing, predicting, and thinking creatively
5. Music
- Singing
- Movement & Dance
- Rhythm
- Listening skills
6. Art
- Various thematic art projects using different mediums
- Develop creativity and expressiveness
7. Social Development
- Development of independence, responsibility, self esteem, and good citizenship
Tuition Schedule
Hillsborough Preschool/ Pre-K
Please call the school for pricing at 714-998-6031
Preschool
Academic Calendar 2026 – 2027
Campus Closed Days | Minimum Days
| September 7, 2026 | Labor Day |
| November 11, 2026 | Veterans Day |
| November 26-27, 2026 | Thanksgiving |
| December 18, 2026 | Minimum Day School Closes @ Noon |
| December 21, 2026 – January 1, 2027 | Winter Break |
| January 18, 2027 | Martin Luther King Jr. Day |
| February 15, 2027 | Presidents’ Day |
| March 5, 2027 | Minimum Day School Closes @ Noon |
| May 31, 2027
June 29/30, 2027 |
Memorial Day
Staff In-Service Day |
| July 4, 2027
August 30/31, 2027 September 6, 2027 |
Independence Day
Staff In-Service Day Labor Day |
September 2026:
- 1 Tuesday First Day of School
- 7 Monday Labor Day – Campus Closed
October 2026:
-
TBA M-F Healthy Lifestyles Week
- 30 Tuesday Halloween Trunk or Treat
November 2026:
- 11 Tuesday Veterans Day – School Closed
- 26/27 Thursday/Friday Thanksgiving – School Closed
December 2026:
- 18 Friday Minimum Day – School Closes @ Noon
- Winter Break – School Closed:
Monday, December 21, 2026 –Monday, January 1, 2027
January 2027:
- 4 Monday School Reconvenes
- 18 Monday Martin Luther King Jr. Day – School Closed
February 2027:
- 15 Monday Presidents’ Day – School Closed
March 2027:
- 5 Friday Minimum Day – School Closes @Noon
- 5 Friday Open House 6 pm – 8 pm
April 2027:
- TBA Monday-Friday Week of the Young Child
- TBA Friday Family Fun Night 6 pm
May 2027:
- 31 Monday Memorial Day – School Closed
June 2027:
- 28 Friday Last Day of School
- 29/30 Friday/Monday Staff In-Service Day – School Closed
July 2027:
- 1 Wednesday First Day of Summer Camp
- 5 Friday Independence Day Observed- School Closed
August 2027:
- 27 Thursday Last Day of Summer Program
- 30/31 Friday/Monday Staff In-Service Day – Closed
September 2027:
- 1 Tuesday First Day of School
- 6 Monday Labor Day – School Closed
7:00 – 8:30 Morning Daycare
8:30 – 9:00 Circle Time – Greetings, music, flannelboard stories, and Puppets. Children will develop language skills, a love for books, and social skills.
9:00 – 9:30 Concept Development/Table Activities – The focus will be on whole language development, shapes, colors, numbers,
classifying, sequencing, and fine motor skills.
9:30 – 9:45 Toileting/Hand Washing
9:45-10:00 Nutrition Break
10:00-10:30 Outside Activities – The focus is on the development of social skills, positive play interactions, and large motor skills.
10:30 – 11:00 Creative Development – The focus is on the development of expression through different art mediums. Arts, crafts, science and cooking are used for the exploration of the monthly units, studies and theme.
11:00 – 11:20 Free Play – The purpose of free play is to encourage positive social relationships, develop large and small motor skills and to develop language skills. Children also learn responsibility by taking care of toys and equipment.
11:20 – 11:30 Clean Up/Hand Washing
11:30 – 12:00 Lunch Break – Children will learn about healthy food, table manners, and develop skills which will allow them to become independent eaters.
12:00 – 12:15 Toileting/Half Day Pickup is Noon
12:15- 2:15 Naptime/Rest Time
2:15 – 3:00 Wake-up/Put cots away/Restroom/Hand Washing
3:00 – 4:30 Outside Activities/Nutrition Break/Full Day pick up at 3:30
4:30 – 6:00 P.M. Daycare (story time, arts & crafts, freeplay, games)
Extended Day pick up by 6:00 p.m
Pre-School & Pre-K Goals
Self Concept and Self Reliance
Children develop skills, which will enable them to function on their own. Developing confidence and self-assurance in new situations, without the assistance of a parent, increases a child’s self-esteem. Children become secure and self-assured in knowing they can, with their new skills, have their needs met within the classroom environment.
- Development of the belief that parents will return to school to pick them up
- Encourage child to express their feelings about their environment verbally
- Educate the child about their classroom surroundings, rules and norms
- Learn appropriate cooperative group behaviors
- Learn to express oneself verbally in order to get needs met
- Learn basic self-reliant hygiene practices and mealtime skills
- Develop a belief that each child has their own unique and special place within the classroom
- Learn basic body parts
- Develop awareness of the self, family, friends and the importance of citizenship
Language Development
As a child’s language skills develop so does their understanding of the world around them. Children who are able to express themselves and feel as if they are understood become confident and self-assured. Issues regarding discipline problems decrease in the direct relationship to a child’s ability to express themselves.
- Develop, expand and refine vocabulary and sentence structuring through gentle instruction and redirection
- Encourage verbal interaction between peers and teaching staff
- Develop questioning skills
- Develop the child’s ability to comprehend simple instructions and stories
- Develop pre-reading skills through story time and access to books
- Encourage child to “wonder” verbally about the world around them
- Refine difficult to understand speech by modeling and gentle redirection
- Increase child’s comprehension skills through open-ended questions and evaluation
- Learn to repeat songs, rhythms and finger plays
- Learn first and last name and those of their peers
- Learn to describe happenings, simple cause and effects
- Learn to name common objects in a story picture
- Expand vocabulary by introducing new learning opportunities and experiences
Cognitive/Academic Development
Children begin at the pre-school level to develop and acquire academic knowledge which will continue throughout their school life. The building block to future academic learning begins in pre-school. The child’s
Self esteem and belief that they are a “great learner” is as important to nurture during this time as the academics themselves. Teaching academics and cognitive development, with the child’s self esteem as the emphasis, creates bright, enthusiastic and inquisitive students. Children love to learn and become part of a “grown up” world through acquiring knowledge.
- Learn numbering concept
- Count and recognize numbers 1-10
- Able to associate written numbers 1-10 to the appropriate number of objects
- Can sort and categorize objects by size, color and classification
- Learn to recreate an established 4-object pattern
- Learn to name and draw at least 6 basic shapes
- Learn primary and secondary colors
- Introduction to the upper and lower case alphabet
- Learn to identify alphabet by sight
- Older threes will learn basic writing skills
- Learn basic consonant phonetics
- Learn to discern opposites such as hard/soft, wet/dry, etc.
- Learn basic science concepts, such as weather patterns and animal classifications
- Develop a 30-minute attention span and be able to stay on task to the completion of a project
- Learn to follow a 3 command verbal direction
- Can recognize (some may vary) their own name and the names of classmates
Creativity/Critical Thinking/Music
Young children learn, adapt and grow through exploration and play. Creative experience, music and social play teach young children many things and expand their critical thinking abilities. Children learn to be creative, expressive and active participants within the learning process.
- Learn to interact in “symbolic play” with peers
- Act out simple stories and participate in dramatic play
- Can assemble and play with age appropriate manipulatives
- Learn to follow directions in assembling simple craft projects
- Learn to draw simple objects, i.e. a face
- Learn to create and assemble collage pieces
- Learn to paint with a brush
- Learn to color with crayons
- Learn to use a variety of artistic mediums
- Learn basic critical thinking concepts, i.e. what works, how it fits, what is missing and what is needed
- Learn to sing along with a group
- Learn to follow along with active musical games and finger plays
- Learn basic concepts of melody, beat and rhythm
- Learn and memorize age appropriate learning based, seasonal and holiday songs
- Participate in class plays and musicals, learning to speak and perform publicly
Gross Motor/Fine Motor
The child’s physical development is directly related to all other areas of a child’s development. As children learn different physical skills they also expand their perceptual development.
- Jump with two feet and eventually with one
- Clap to a rhythm, beat or pattern
- Walk, run, skip, climb and swing freely
- Walks up and down stairs alone
- Able to walk on a straight line and follow a maze pattern
- Can throw and catch a ball
- Able to turn pages of a book
- Able to manipulate clay into object
- Learn to control crayons/pencils
- Learn to use scissors and is able to cut simple patterns
- Learn to manipulate and assemble age appropriate puzzles and manipulatives
Self Concept and Self Reliance
Children develop skills, which will enable them to function on their own. Developing confidence and self-assurance in new situations, without the assistance of a parent, increases a child’s self-esteem. Children become secure and self-assured in knowing they can, with their new skills, have their needs met within the classroom environment.
- Development of the belief that parents will return to school to pick them up
- Encourage child to express their feelings about their environment verbally
- Educate the child about their classroom surroundings, rules and norms
- Learn appropriate cooperative group behaviors
- Learn to express oneself verbally in order to get needs met
- Learn basic self-reliant hygiene practices and mealtime skills
- Develop a belief that each child has their own unique and special place within the classroom
- Learn basic body parts
- Learn to clean up and care for school materials and equipment
- Develop awareness of the self, family, friends and the importance of citizenship
- Learn about concepts of honesty, trustworthiness, patience, kindness, generosity and thankfulness and how to display these attributes in their relationships with others
- Learn to be self-disciplined and self-reliant
Language Development
As a child’s language skills develop so does their understanding of the world around them. Children who are able to express themselves and feel as if they are understood become confident and self-assured. As the child’s vocabulary and ability to ask questions increases so does their learning potential. Children begin to increase their ability to retain information through verbal interaction.
- Develop and expand vocabulary and sentence structuring
- Encourage a higher level of verbal interaction between peers and teaching staff
- Refine and expand questioning skills
- Refine and expand the child’s ability to process and understand verbal communication and instructions
- Learn the proper use of books, turning pages, and “tracking” words on a written page
- Encourage child to “wonder” verbally about the world around them
- Refine difficult to understand speech by modeling and gentle redirection
- Increase child’s comprehension skills through open-ended questions and evaluation
- Learn to memorize and repeat more complex songs, stories and rhymes
- Learn to recognize first and last name and those of their peers
- Learn to describe happenings, cause and effects
- Further develop comprehension abilities and is able to answer questions regarding concepts, science and stories
Cognitive/Academic Development
Children begin at the pre-school and pre-kindergarten level to develop and acquire academic knowledge which will continue throughout their school life. The building block to future academic learning begins in pre-school. The child’s self esteem and belief that they are a “great learner” is as important to nurture during this time as the academics themselves. Teaching academics and cognitive development, with the child’s self esteem as the emphasis, creates bright, enthusiastic and inquisitive students. Children love to learn and become part of a “grown up” world through acquiring knowledge.
- Learn numbering concept
- Count and recognize numbers 1-100
- Recognize and write numbers 1-20
- Able to associate written numerals 1-20 to the appropriate number of objects and the written number word, i.e. 2=two=any two objects
- Learn to sort, categorize and classify objects by size, color, shape and use
- Learn to name and draw at least 8 basic shapes
- Learn primary and secondary colors, how to mix and the different hues
- Learn to the recognize and write upper and lower case letters
- Learn to identify parts of a word phonetically, beginning and ending sounds
- Learn to write the appropriate beginning and ending sounds to simple words
- Develop pre-reading skills such as parts of a word, sentence and book and comprehension
- Learn to discern differences, opposites and contrasts
- Learn basic science concepts and the process of experimentation
- Develop a 45-minute attention span and be able to stay on task with intermittent supervision from the teacher
- Learn to comprehend and follow more complex directions
- Recognize and write their own name, using capitals and lower case letters
Creativity/Critical Thinking/Music
Young children learn, adapt and grow through exploration and play. Creative experience, music and social play teach young children many things and expand their critical thinking abilities. Children learn to be creative, expressive and active participants within the learning process.
- Learn to interact in “symbolic play” with peers
- Act out simple stories and participate in dramatic play
- Can assemble and play with age appropriate manipulatives and multi-piece puzzles
- Learn to follow more complex directions in assembling craft projects
- Develop ability to free hand pictures from verbal instructions, i.e. self-portrait, home. etc
- Further develop skills with pencils, crayons, paintbrushes and clay
- Learn to use a variety of art mediums
- Learn to comprehend critical thinking concepts such as how it works, how it fits, what is missing and what is needed
- Develop a sense of logical thinking
- Develop ability to sing along to complex songs
- Is able to participate is class programs and productions
- Learn basic concepts of music such as melody, beat and rhythm
- Memorize a variety of children, seasonal and, traditional and holiday songs
- Develop public speaking skills and poise
Gross Motor/Fine Motor
The development of a child’s physical abilities, large and small, expands their ability to function in the world around them. A child’s physical development is directly related to all other areas of a child’s development.
- Clap to a rhythm, beat or pattern
- Walk, run, skip, climb and swing freely
- Walks up and down stairs without pausing on the step
- Able to walk on a straight line and follow a maze pattern
- Can throw and catch a ball
- Able to turn pages of a book, one by one
- Able to manipulate clay into objects
Learn simple active group games and the concept of sportsmanship
