Hopwood 4 Year Old Program

4 Year Old Overview
This program is for children 4 years of age as of September 15th of the enrollment year. Children that turn 5 during the enrollment year do not move to an older program but remain with the 4 year old program.

The 4 year old program is licensed by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Department of Education and follows the High/Scope curriculum implemented by the Hopwood School. Please refer to our curriculum overview for more information regarding High/Scope.

4 year olds are usually very interested in learning and doing. They are active learners and use all their senses for exploration. We encourage exploration by providing appropriate materials and planning active small group times. We enable children to be good problem solvers by encouraging them do things on their own and to explore alternatives when applicable. We initiate and follow through on our High/Scope plan-do-review policy for each child. Our goal for each child is to have them become comfortable with decision making and planning what and how they will do something. Critical to the decision and planning is the subsequent review of what has been done. Learning areas are set up for ongoing activities in language, social activities, stories, art, music and logical thinking (classification, seriation, sequencing and number concepts).

4 year olds are able to talk in full sentences to express themselves and usually enjoy this ability to interact with their peers and adults. They are ready to relate with other children to develop social relationships and cooperate in group concerns. They are ready to take turns, be fair, respect the property of others, feel secure in a routine and be able to accept responsibility for taking care of their personal belongings. 4 year old should have the attention span to listen to stories, finish art projects and tasks. They should also be able to follow simple instructions. They are spontaneous in their reactions and are easily stimulated to discover for themselves. They should be able to dress themselves for outdoor activities with only a small amount of help. They should be able to copy a circle, triangle and square.

Self image is important to a 4 year old. We arrange our program so that children will feel very positive about all of their involvements. They can build upon good feelings of accomplishments. We stress the developmental approach to learning. Children have different levels of maturity, therefore all children must learn at their own pace. With encouragement and direct experience, we strive to achieve a high level of self-esteem.

4 year olds are ready to take a few field trips. All the teachers may not choose the same trips. Past trips include the North Penn High School Planetarium, Norristown Zoo, a train ride to Doylestown, area pumpkin patches and Peace Valley Nature Center. Trips are by bus or by parent car pooling.

Nature walks are scheduled weekly. Children explore the open fields and wooded areas of the Hopwood campus under the supervision of their teacher and aide. Animals, plants and weather are observed and discussed while exploring. Items are collected as well for study and discussion in the classroom.

4 year olds are also exposed to cooking and baking under supervision. Making vegetable soup and bread for Mother’s Day is a Hopwood tradition.