Preschool

Our PreSchool Program is an engaging, exciting, and wonderful experience of learning and growing. During this program the students become independent participants and learners in the classroom.

This is a multi-age program for children turning 3 and turning 4 during the school year. All children must be potty trained. If your young child is potty trained we will consider admittance at 2 1/2 years old. For preschool we offer very flexible schedules to accommodate family needs and child development.

The primary objectives of our preschool program:

Social – can wait their turn in action and speech; can acknowledge behavior and actions; practice kindness and empathy

Group – line up with a single auditory cue; participate in playground games (red light, green light); can make an independent choice of two activities

Manners – appropriate use of Thank You and Please, can “hold their thought” when requiring attention from a teacher

Reading Readiness – dramatize a multi-step poem/song; respond to multi-dimensional questions; interpret and use intonation appropriately, sequence two and three step actions; match three letter words with a control card; identify beginning sound and letter

Mathematical Reasoning – identify and add on to patterns; compare groups of up to 5 and “make them the same” (add/subtract); rote count 1-10

Daily Schedule Preschool

Drop off outside, meet teachers, and play
Line up for Morning Message with entire school
Morning readiness and first bathroom break
Center work including a morning snack center
Circle and story time done in small groups where the teacher invites a group of students to join her
Yoga every other week
Get ready to go home and second bathroom break
Outside to play
Dismissal

Full day students then:

Lunch
Wash up and third bathroom break
Nap
Afternoon Circle
Story time
Music Theater on Wednesdays and Music Class on Thursday afternoons
Get ready to go home and fourth bathroom break
Outside to play
Dismissal

PreK

Our PreK multi-age classes are for children turning 4 and turning 5 during the school year. Our goal is to ensure that students enter kindergarten as confident, eager learners.

The students have choice throughout the day to explore the different centers. In the late winter we begin to have one or two must do’s so that students begin to practice meeting the expectation of completing work as determined by the teacher. By the spring this transitions to three or four must do’s.

Our primary objectives for the PreK class are:

Social – can follow classroom rules and remind friends to follow as well; can play games using sportsmanship; can accept consequences of their actions

Group Behavior – can line up and keep hands to themselves; can move between the center activities in a self-directed manner

Manner – appropriate use of Excuse Me; can clean up work area without reminders

Reading Readiness – give an oral description of a simple process; retell a story with a beginning, middle and end; identify rhyming words; use word family knowledge to phonetically decode words; short vowel sounds; inventive spelling

Mathematical Reasoning – sort on multiple dimensions; duplicate patterns with two alternating properties; rote count and write 1-10; compare groups of 1-10; sequentially write numerals 1-10; skip count by 5s and 10s

A note on conflict resolution

One of the social developments of our PreK students is their exploration of how words have power. The classroom conflicts have moved from snatching what is wanted and slapping for attention, to using words for power and meaning. “You can’t come to my birthday” or “Only Tommy is coming to my house for a playdate.” We are very attuned to this behavior and recognize that students need be guided on how to appropriately resolve their feelings of jealousy, abandonment, and power. Throughout the school and from the very first morning, we model and praise appropriate group interactions. In PreK we also use a series of plays and picture sequences to explore different responses to friends and interpreting how our actions impact others.

Kindergarten

Extended Care

Summer Camp

Summer Camp 2019

SOCDS Summer 2019 Camp Registration is closed.

South Orange Country Day School offers a Summer Camp experience for our students. At the preschool age, students require continuity in their routine and schedule, and our summer camp offers that continuity. The one change to the regular school year is that all families can create a flexible schedule that suits their needs. You can sign up for the entire summer or for individual weeks, half or full days, and a few days a week.

We have a great summer planned for our students.

Daily Routine

We start the day outside for an extended morning play until 9:20am. This is a great time for your children to enjoy the playground and to practice problem solving either for interpersonal conflicts or for devising the rules of play or construction.

All classes will then go inside and get ready for the morning session. Children will put their items away, use the restroom and wash their hands, and then chose their first center. Teachers will work with each child to help them make that first center choice. They will support children to mentally organize what they intend to accomplish in the center and where they may want to go next. Ms. Jill will read to small groups of students throughout the morning.

Around 11:30am we go back outside for play and then at 11:55am our midday students go home and our full day students return inside for lunch and rest period. After rest we continue with our center work and clean up around 2:40pm and head to the playground. Our full day students go home around 3:25pm and our enrichment students stay until either 5:30pm or 6pm.

We will have morning sprinklers once a week and regular visits from special guests including the Move n’ Groove, Music, and Yoga.

Weekly Themes

We do organize the camp around weekly themes as outlined below:

Week #1 July 1^st Penguins & Polar Bears
Week #2 July 8^th Construction
Week #3 July 15^th Barnyard Palozza
Week #4 July 22^nd Wind and Sea
Week #5 July 29^th Egypt
Week #6 Aug. 5^th Storytellers
Week #7 Aug.12th Space is the Place
Week #8 Aug. 19^th Teddy Bear Adventures

Tuition

Tuition is as follows:

Full week, half day is $170
(prorated $34 a day)
Full week, full day is $275
(prorated $55 a day)
Full week, early care is $30
(prorated $6 a day)
Full week, extended day to 5:30pm is $50
(prorated $10 a day)
Full week, extended day to 6pm is $60
(prorated $12 a day)

You can make up your own schedule (2 full days and 2 half days, or three really long days, etc.) and we simply prorate the fees.

Here is the registration form for Summer Camp 2019.