Philosophy:

At the Universal American School, our philosophy and use of best practice with children is shaped by research from Early Childhood theorists who laid the groundwork for understanding how children develop and learn. We adhere to methods that are appropriate for each age and stage of a child’s growth that match the way children develop and learn while providing optimal opportunities for advancing skills across many interest areas.

Our curriculum is based on forming positive interactions and relationships with adults and children’s peers. Fostering social-emotional competence from an early age leads to a child’s ability to self-regulate their emotions and behavior and is a strong indicator of later and prolonged academic success. We are dedicated to providing opportunities for purposeful and unstructured play to support essential learning. Play for the young child is the means by which they make sense of the world around them by referencing what they already know in new situations and therefore make connections to advanced skills and information. It is a strategic means of developing language, memory and social competence when playing with peers and adults.

We strive to create an environment which recognizes the importance of positive teacher-family relationships and welcome your participation, questions and presence in your child’s educational journey.
We are happy to either welcome you for the first time, or to welcome you back to the UAS EC family!

Preschool:

The primary goals of our Preschool program are language development and the acquisition of positive social skills. Through play children learn how to interact cooperatively with other children and adults, problem solve and build social competence. Beginning math skills, such as counting small groups of objects, recognizing numbers, shapes and colors, and simple patterning are introduced. The development of fine motor skills through drawing, painting, cutting and building structures with a variety of materials and manipulatives also figures prominently in our program.

KG1:
Children in KG1 continue to develop their receptive English, vocabulary and language skills; they are encouraged to take turns listening attentively and contributing positively to group discussions. Play, both teacher supported and self-selected, continues to be the major component of the day during whole and small group activities. Math skills introduced in Preschool are extended in KG1-patterning, color, shape and number recognition and counting larger groups are some of the concepts covered. Fine motor skills such as coloring, cutting and tracing with control are developed.

KG 2:
Students in KG2 refine their language skills and are expected to be capable and attentive listeners who can express themselves verbally in complete sentences. Children participate in small- group learning centers which focus on reinforcing introduced concepts in language, math and science or social studies. Primary focuses of KG2 are emergent reading and writing skills which include concepts of print, phonological awareness, sight word recognition and decoding. Previous concepts of math are revisited, while new concepts, such as graphing, measurement, time, addition and subtraction are introduced in preparation for first grade.