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What are the details? This is a fun, interactive class designed to help young children successfully participate in the scientific process while improving communication skills. Class is held Thursdays from 4:00-5:30 for month at Dilworth United Methodist Church, 605 East Blvd. Click here to view last year's fall session's Parent Page to see pictures, newsletters and homework. Who attends this class? Children ages 3-8 years who… Show more are appropriate for this program are participating in the NC Standard Course of Study or similar preschool program. Children attend a variety of educational settings including regular education, home schooling or self-contained language or cross-categorical classes. Many children are struggling in one or more of the following areas: writing, reading, math, language development, social skills, following directions, maintaining attention / focus, science, social studies. Children without known speech and language delays are welcome to attend.
Children must be able to participate in group tasks with minimal assistance and need not be fully potty-trained. The Speech Garden reserves the right to exclude children after a trial basis (when a child consistently disturbs group or interferes with learning of others) and refund payments on a prorated amount.
Parents are welcome to stay and participate in each session with their child. Alternatively, parents and siblings may drop off and return at dismissal. There are places on and around the church campus to wait.
How is this class structured? Each semester 30 children may attend. Children will be grouped by age into three groups of 10 children per class. Each week, children will attend three 'stations' (or classes), changing classes each thirty minutes. Several volunteers help each class. To learn more about volunteering, click here .
What is the class schedule?
Classes begin in October and run monthly. Payment is for one month and participants may register for one month at a time. November and December will be combined into one month (meeting twice in Nov. and twice in Dec.). Complete monthly sessions will be held the months of October, January, February, March, April and May.
What language skills might be addressed?
Social Language (Pragmatics): Participating in turn-taking activities Maintaining topic Using appropriate eye contact
Expressive Language: Describing events / objects Increasing length of sentences Answering questions Describing similarities and differences
Academic Skills: Graphing Engaging in science exploration -see NC Standard Course of Study- available on line at http://www.dpi.state.nc.us/curriculum/ncscos Participating in literacy activities Writing (increasing complexity with age)
Receptive Language: Following multi-step directions Using listening strategies
What activities are used to meet goals? This class is fun and interactive. Each session starts with a music then a short circle time, where each student gets an opportunity to talk to the group. Most lessons use children's literature to introduce the scientific concept. Then, the group moves to the 'lab' portion of class, where the scientific process of questioning, exploration and reporting are used. Each session ends with closing circle, review of the class and music. Why science? Young children are naturally inquisitive. While they are having fun learning about their world through scientific concepts, language is naturally being used (and learned). Children learn social skills, listening strategies, literacy skills, mathematics concepts and expand their vocabulary while having so much fun they don't even realize how much they are learning. Click here to read an article about the benefits of science in early childhood. While science is wonderful, the extreme social and language demands can make learning science in a typical classroom difficult for a child with speech and language delays. So we developed a program to incorporate science into language therapy. It's fun, educational and therapeutic! What strategies are taught?
Verbal / silent rehearsal Visual imagery Ask for clarification Listening strategies
Who teaches your classes? Classes are taught by highly experienced, certified speech-language pathologists Kelly Crouch and Gail Getz. Trained volunteers assist teachers as needed. How do newly-learned skills transfer to other settings? Following each session, parents are given written details on each lesson and activity of the session. Hands-on homework is given following each class, enabling learning to continue at home. Who writes this curriculum? We do! Guided by the communication needs of each child who enrolls, we use the NC Standard Course of Study to guide our curriculum.
Questions? Email ellenholloway@speechgarden.org
Our learning environment is child-centered, active, and fun!
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