South Country School District currently houses 2 grant-funded Pre-K programs here at Brookhaven.  Although these programs are funded through two different sources, placement is inclusive.  Both programs include transportation, breakfast or lunch, home visit, monthly parent participation workshops and student orientation. Both programs focus on early childhood developmental stages for mental, social, physical, emotional and social growth, as well as readiness skills for Kindergarten.

There are two equally important components to our Pre-K  Program.  One is the children and the other is their parents and/or guardians.  We are a developmental program that encourages hands-on learning, language development, and social development.  Our goals are to encourage the children to love school, understand that learning is fun, and totally involve their parents in their learning process.

 Each month we have a child/parent activity planned to stress the learning of certain concepts or themes.  The parents get to spend some quality time with their children.  We provide transportation to school (if necessary) and child care services for younger siblings during this meeting.  These Parent Meetings are essential because they send the message to the children that school and education are extremely important.

Students who are evaluated and found by the Committee for Special Education to need additional support beyond that which is given in regular education classes, may be assigned to receive that assistance by working with appropriate support personnel.  

Resource Room Services:  Students found by the CSE to need the assistance of a special education teacher for less than 50% of the day may be assigned to Resource Room Teacher while being assigned to a regular education classroom. The Resource teacher will work with the student in a group of no more than five students to strengthen skills in the area(s) of weakness.  Sessions may be pull-out or push-in for approximately 40 minutes a day.  

Inclusion (Co-taught) Class:  Students found by the CSE to need the assistance of a full time special education teacher and who can work successfully in a regular education classroom may be assigned to an Inclusion class.  These classes are co-taught by a regular education teacher, a special education teacher and a teaching assistant.  All students experience the benefit of a smaller student/teacher ratio.

Speech and Language Services:  Brookhaven offers the services of speech therapists to those children who qualify.  Qualifications may include one or more of the following:

Difficulty in comprehending or expressing spoken words (delayed/disordered language) Difficulties in producing speech sounds (articulation) Difficulties in rate or rhythm of speech (stuttering) Abnormal voice qualities (pitch, hoarseness, etc.) Hearing impairments

Complete evaluations precede a child's entrance into the program.  All results/recommendations are discussed with parents prior to their child's participation in the program. 

 The Computer Labs provide opportunities for students in Kindergarten through the third grade to use computers.  Kindergartners learn letter and number recognition through a variety of age appropriate programs.  Keyboarding and word processing skills are begun as students learn color words and print their names in upper and lower case letters. 

Students in all primary grades develop memory skills through computer activities that require concentration.   Through software programs such as Compass Learning, students reinforce language arts skills that their classroom teachers have taught, including; letter recognition, sound/symbol relationships, story analysis, comprehension and exploration.  Youngsters are exposed to fiction, nonfiction and poetry.  They participate in activities that highlight the identification of the main idea, the use of reference materials, dictionary and encyclopedia skills, reading tables, charts, pictographs and bar graphs with understanding, using legends, using the table of contents, the title page and glossary, drawing conclusions, following sequential directions and predicting outcomes.  Writing skills include the proper use capitalization, punctuation, grammar and spelling.  All activities meet the New York State Learning Standards for Language Arts.  
    
In the area of mathematics, science and technology, students work with software programs such as Compass Learning, which enables students to reinforce skills taught in the classroom.  All activities meet the New York State Learning Standards for Mathematics, Science and Technology.   

Technology Resource Links