A child's growth is a process, not an event. North Star Academy has created a program that provides a range of activities designed to meet the needs of children at their individual level of development. Each unit in our curriculum will help your child develop language, pre-reading, pre-writing and other foundational skills appropriate to his or her stage of development. Our teachers create a schedule that balances physical, mental, emotional, social and spiritual development. This schedule will include individual and small group activities that will meet the specific needs and interests of each child.

Wee Learn is a Biblically based curriculum that is broken down into units of study. Each unit will begin with a Bible story followed by a discussion about how it relates to the topic. This unit will be the basis for all of the activities for a couple of weeks. The units are designed to be interesting to children so that incorporating more technical instruction with numbers and letters will be exciting in the midst of a topic already loved by the students.

Take a look at the fun topics used to make learning fun:

Learning About Myself

• I am Growing
• I am Learning About Me
• I Can See and Hear
• I Can Taste, Touch and Smell
• I Can Eat Good Food

Enjoying My Family and Others

• My Family Enjoys Fall
• My Family Gives Thanks
• My Family Works in Many Ways
• We Have Friends at School
• I Love My Family

Exploring My World

• My World Has Many Colors and Shapes
• I Learn Through Playing
• My Family Enjoys Christmas
• It's Winter Outside My Window
• My Community Has Helpers

Discovering Animals and Plants

• We Enjoy Pets
• We Learn About Farm Animals
• We Discover Zoo Animals
• We Can Experience Springtime
• We Thank God for Plants

Experiencing Summertime

• I Travel with My Family
• We Enjoy Day and Night
• We Have Fun with Friends
• We Thank God for Water

A Second Language
Your child is constantly looking for opportunities to learn. This is the best time to introduce a second language to expand your child's ability to communicate. We will start out very slowly, offering a Spanish vocabulary lab once a week. This lab will teach simple, commonly used words and numbers. We will encourage the use of these new words during our language lab and reward such achievements

A Sign of Communication
Around two years of age, children begin to expand their verbal vocabulary. Continuing the use of American Sign Language maintains a high level of confidence in communicating while becoming more comfortable with speaking in sentences. Often when a young child gets excited or frustrated, even though they have the verbal skills to speak, they cannot articulate their feelings. A child that can use sign language will be able to seek resolution much faster and avoid the need to act out physically or verbally. Sign language will not take the place of speech nor will it impede the progress of verbal communication. Teachers will always speak when signing and children will be encouraged to use their words while signing, once they have been able to clearly communicate their needs through signs.

Including the Family
A child's family is the most important part of his or her life. We wish to include your family in the North Star Family. A letter will be sent home at the end of each unit explaining what we have been working on. It will also offer activities that you can complete with your child at home so that they know you are interested in what they are learning. Teachers will complete developmental assessments of each child to share with you along with the next steps for moving forward. We will ask that parents complete a progress report on North Star and your child's teacher so that we will understand how you feel your child is progressing emotionally, physically and mentally. Continually working with parents will allow us to perfect our curriculum and teaching strategies so that we are offering the best service possible to you and your children.