Monthly Themes are selected at the beginning of the school year. Then staff come together each month to design the angles we will take based on the actual children in our groups. Each week, the Preschool, Transitional Kindergarten, and After School Program teams meet to design fresh activities with drama, music, art, movement, and cognition with science and math experiments. This makes for a lively atmosphere full of stimulating learning experiences for our amazing students!
ASP Barn Raising
September : Community Connections
During this month as the children become acquainted with the Learning Center we provide all kinds of exposure to the concept of community… Staring with themselves, then moving into their families, their friends, and their neighbors. It is a wonderful time to get to know one another and learn the basic structures of life at HSCLC.
Sky Top Orchard
October : Appalachian Heritage
As October brings in the last of the summer harvest and the first of
the brilliant color show of the trees, we have found it to be a perfect
time to dive into our Appalachian Heritage exploring the rivers, the
mountains, the fauna and flora, and the unique world of the mountain
arts in music, storytelling, hand crafts, and dance.
Such area enthusiasts as story teller Sheila K. Adams, singer/song writer Joe Penland, musicians Mikey, Corey & Charlie, puppeteers from Mountain Marionettes, river guides Paul DeLisle and Wayne Crosby, flat-foot dancer Sarah Owen, and more have spent some time with us here, sharing their first-hand knowledge, talent, and skills.
November : Gratitude & Values
As holidays approach we re-visit the concepts of gratitude and values. Through literature, role play, and art we submerse the children in the world of respectfulness, giving them lots of opportunities to practice reciprocating give and take. Staff guide children towards achieving balance in the hopes of providing more meaning to such holidays where they may receive or give gifts. With practice our students can join in family gatherings ready to contribute in positive ways.
Dear friends Sally Lassiter and Pete Nagle shared a trade with us: we pick up the walnuts in their yard and then they give us a lesson. Sally set up a beautiful outdoor tea party complete with 'crumpets' and warm apple cider served on a real tea set. Pete gave our After School kids a lesson on how to set a table - the fancy way! What a fine experience in give and take in our community.
Tea Party at Sally's
December : Celebrations
In preschool and TK we explode the concept of celebrating in general, whereas After School Program will take it to the next level and look at how other world cultures celebrate. Through music, food, art, and dance we will broaden our horizons and express some big time JOY together. Kids are naturals at this of course, but we take this opportunity to look at meaning and ritual in a whole new light.
This month we host our Annual Winter Holiday Bake Sale. The children make a craft of some sort to sell along with the goodies such as paper bells, painted tea lights, or cardboard baskets. It's a beautiful celebration of crafts and food!
Celebrating New Years together!
January : Imagination (Preschool & TK)
Diversity (After School Program)
This month our programs take two different routes: Preschool & TK get into their imaginations through puppetry and fantasy, and After school Program breaks it down with diversity creating ultimate societies and ideals for living. Both require the use of the imagination, however ASP will develop their ideas into handiwork and see how far they can take it.
The Pretend area in preschool turns into a castle where all the fairy tales come to life! Community visitors, Brian and Raven Newsom, come and teach a fencing lesson that provides all the fair rules of engagement. The kids love it!
A fencing lesson with Brian
Heartners with Head Start
February : Love & Outer Space
This one is a favorite among the staff and is quite memorable to our past students. We take two seemingly unrelated themes and through our exploration find all kinds of ways that they are similar! Hhhmmm…. It’s a cosmic blast sweetened up with homemade valentines, pet love stories, and the famous ‘Who’s that baby?’ game. Students travel the skies in their hand crafted rocket ships, identifying stars, planets, moons, and such. A wonderful, middle of the winter surprisingly warm experience.
