Primary School (Preschool2 - K)

Laying the Foundation

At Westfield Friends, we believe that all young children learn through play. Our four-year primary school program focuses on providing a warm, supportive learning environment with stimulating activities.

From Preschool through Kindergarten our goal is to promote positive attitudes towards school, encourage responsibility and independence, and start children on a path towards a long and successful stint at WFS. Preschool lays the grounds for discovery and learning through play with a focus on social and emotional growth. Our teachers focus on individual learning styles and developmental readiness while providing students with continual opportunities for exploration when learning about themselves, others, and their community. In the Pre-K class, teachers act as guides to our students, providing multiple opportunities for growth in all areas of the academic curriculum, in social skills, and in self-confidence, helping the children to make sound choices as members of our school community. Each student in Pre-K has time with teachers to track individual progress in emerging literacy skills.

In Kindergarten our goal is to provide children with an education that develops their intellects and personality, transitioning them from the Pre-K world to a point where they can work more independently and function effectively in cooperative teams. We do this by making use of their natural desire to investigate, explore, and discover all there is to learn socially, emotionally, and academically.

In Preschool, Pre-K, and Kindergarten, our students are involved in multiple activities and thematic units of study. Our daily schedule consists of literacy and language arts, math, social studies, and science. The students also enjoy instruction in technology, music, P.E., and art. A unique strength of our curriculum is the approach that we use to ensure that thematic units are integrated across every subject area, creating a richness of experience that our primary students love. Additionally, we have a major focus on literacy – the children work on emerging writing and reading skills every day. Kindergarten writing progresses so that students are able to write stories with beginnings, middles, and ends. The next step is punctuation and descriptive words to bolster the details of their writing. We foster a love of books in our classes; we read books, we share books, we make books, and we talk about books.