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GET SET FOR SCHOOL
The Get Set for School readiness curriculum uses a developmental approach based on the most relevant research about how young children learn best:
- Believes that every child can achieve
- Uses engaging materials that make learning fun
- Breaks difficult concepts into simple tasks
Pre-K is a time of rapid growth and development. It’s a year of preparation for kindergarten and for future success in school and in life. To achieve, children need to be imaginative, independent, and actively involved in their own learning.
Imaginative
Children learn naturally through everyday experiences with people, places, and things. They are born imitators and scientists who thrive on active, hands-on interaction with the physical world. They learn through play and through physical and sensory experiences.
We want children to be imaginative explorers and believe that teachers and parents support curiosity by what they place in a child’s environment. Children play with what’s there. Including fun, engaging materials throughout the learning space affects how children feel, what they do, and how they learn. Get Set for School materials accommodate both teacher-directed and student-initiated playful learning, because we know that sparking the imagination leads to a lifelong love of learning.
Independent
We support capable children by how we teach. Much of what Pre-K students learn is incidental—whatever is around them, what they hear and see. We deliberately build familiarity and competency with the music albums that we play for them, the words that we use, and the way in which we use materials and teach lessons.
We also know that children should learn explicitly. Basic readiness skills should be taught systematically. It’s not up to children to decide how to read, write, and count. We teach them the way we read and write from top to bottom and left to right. We teach them how to hold a crayon and how to write letters. We teach them key skills to advance their competency and success—so they develop the skills to be independent as they enter school.
Teachers need support to foster independence in children. Our materials provide flexibility for the teacher and offer activities in a developmental sequence. The Get Set for School Learning and Play Resource for 3-Year-Olds provides adaptations of activities for younger learners. Ensuring mastery of one skill before introducing another builds the competence and confidence children need for independent problem solving.
Involved
Pre-K is social and challenging. Three- and four-year-olds are new to being involved with and caring about others, sharing, waiting a turn, and following the teacher. Some children in every group have personal challenges with these skills.
We use music to encourage inclusive participation and development of social skills alongside important physical skills, language, and early readiness skills. We also promote group play and accessibility so children of different abilities can participate and learn with and from each other. We believe that children who are involved with each other are better able to focus their attention to follow the teacher actively.
Our materials also encourage family involvement to continue learning activities at home. Many activities have take-home components to encourage children to form connections between learning in school and home situations.
Skill modeling in different size groups
We know that teacher demonstration and student imitation is essential to Pre-K learning. Throughout the curriculum, children learn on their own as well as with adult demonstration. Activities are structured in whole class, small group, and individually to maximize teaching and learning.
Since many early learning programs include students as young as three, Get Set for School offers a developmentally appropriate resource for scaling lessons to accommodate this age group.
Support English language learners
Every lesson in our teacher's guides supports English language learners. Most lessons emphasize hands-on learning with music and/ or movement—elements we know are essential for Pre-K brain development. Other lessons include images associated with the spoken word to foster the language to literacy connection. All of our lessons begin at the introductory level, assuming and requiring no prior knowledge.
Aligned to ESSER and ESSA
Get Set for School is eligible for educational grants and funding. The program meets ESSA's Demonstrates a Rationale evidence criteria, with materials aligned to ESSER funding's allowable activities.
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TESTIMONIALS
"The intertwined connections to real world, real life and all the learning modalities facilitate learner success."
Vanessa Brown, B.A., M.Ed.
Retired Assistant Principal and ELA Coordinator
"With the implementation of the teacher’s guide, activity books and manipulatives, Pre-K teachers have the tools they need to successfully prepare young children for kindergarten."
Schronda McKnight-Burns M. Ed.
Assistant Director of Early Childhood Education
"The active teaching really brings the workbook to life by adding in different interactive learning strategies and activities on each page."
Lanor Payne, Ph.D
Director of Early Childhood
"Our students have used Keyboarding Without Tears for years. This program goes beyond nurturing students' typing skills. It gives them the confidence with technology they need to truly succeed today."
Mary Toomey
Assistant Superintendent