Common Core State Standards and
Learning at Natick Preschool
The Natick Preschool’s curriculum and instruction is aligned with the
Common Core State Standards. The Common Core State Standards are
consistent Pre-K through grade 12 academic guidelines created to help
all students succeed. Massachusetts is one of only a few states
nation-wide to have established educational standards for the preschool.
While Natick Preschool services students ages three- to five-years-old,
the Massachusetts Common Core State Standards are designated for “older four-year-olds and younger five-year-olds.” The
focus is on developing the critical-thinking, problem-solving, and
analytical skills students will need to be successful. Forty-five
states, the District of Columbia, four territories, and the Department
of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) have voluntarily adopted and are
moving forward with the standards.
TheLiteracy Standards
are developed to address English Language Arts as well as literacy
within the domains of history/social studies, science and technical
subjects. In alignment with these standards, Natick Preschool teachers
plan for and cultivate developmentally appropriate opportunities for
students in listening, speaking, reading, and writing language across
the content areas and throughout the school day. Examples of this
include, but are not limited to, curriculum and instruction related to
pre-reading and pre-writing skills such as phonemic awareness, rhyming
skills, song lyrics, vocabulary development, modeling syntax and
grammar, book awareness: (how to hold a book, page turning left to
right, pictures tell the story) and fostering comprehension skills
recalling events from a story and answering questions. The Math
standards are intended as guideposts to facilitate young children’s
underlying mathematical understanding.
Literacy Standards, Math Standards , and Science and Technology/Engineering Curriculum Frameworks are promoted through play and exploration activities, and embedded in
almost all daily activities since foundations of literacy and math
understandings are formed out of children’s experiences with real
objects and materials.
At the preschool level, State standards not only focus on academic content, but also on Social Emotional Learning and Approaches to Play. It
is Natick Preschool’s intent to foster social/emotional growth including
interpersonal relationships, self-regulation of thoughts and actions
related to feelings, social problem-solving, self-help skills,
understanding of self as part of a larger community utilizing the skills
learned via the Standards. Some examples include, whole body
listening, turn-taking in conversation and play, narration of sequence
(of action steps or play), pragmatic language use, role playing,,
development of a repertoire of feelings vocabulary and self-regulation
strategies, etc.
The Common Core State Standards are addressed in a theme-based
Preschool environment intentionally developed to cultivate a
multi-cultural and multi-modality approach to learning.