Our in-school enrichment program is offered to all students in our Navigators, Adventurers, Investigators, Pathfinders, Voyagers, and Innovators classrooms on a daily basis.  EXCEL Enrichment was designed by our Academy Director and Curriculum Coordinator to enhance our students daily learning activities with fun, hands-on themed activities that are meant to "Engage" our students, "Enrich" and build on what they are learning in their classrooms, and "Empower" them to LOVE learning for the rest of their lives. 

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EXCEL Enrichment focuses on:

• Language Immersion - With a focus on Sign Language (2-year-olds) and Spanish (3 & 4-year-olds)

• Art - Painting, stamping, clay, and more, young children love getting messy with fun art projects!  Our goal is to encourage children's creativity through developmentally appropriate art activities that are both process and product-focused.

• Physical Education - We realize how important movement is for small children!  In addition to going outside to the playground twice a day, we focus on active movement, slow focused movement, and motor skill development.  "Getting the wiggles out" helps children to focus and learn throughout the day.

• Music & Rhythm - Children LOVE music!  We incorporate music and rhythm into our EXCEL Enrichment program in many different ways.  Our staff teaches songs and rhymes, as well as playing musical instruments and finding a rhythm.

• Keys to Character - Each month in The Excel Editorial a Key to Character is listed.  We focus on those skills during EXCEL Enrichment.  A vast majority of character and social skill development happens during the early years.  Everything from saying "please and thank you" to teaching children how to solve a problem or share with a classmate needs to be taught, modeled, and practiced many times before it comes naturally to children.  By introducing different Keys to Character to our students each month, it gives them time to learn and practice what each means.  Some examples of our keys are: kindness, responsibility, compassion, tolerance, citizenship, respect, and many more.  Look in our monthly newsletter for ways you can help reinforce these skills at home!

• Life Skills - Young children begin to learn skills that will stay with them their entire life!  It is so important for children to learn to do things the right way from the beginning so they don't have to re-learn how to do things as they get older.  Some of the life skills that we focus on are: drinking from a straw cup or a regular cup, eating with a fork/spoon, turning the pages of a book gently, wiping up a spill, properly washing hands, brushing teeth, putting things away where they belong, using the bathroom independently, put on their own shoes, properly gripping a pencil or crayon, scrape dirty dishes and place them in the right location, snap, zip, button, tie, fasten and unfasten a belt buckle, etc.

• Health & Nutrition - It is important to teach young children healthy habits.  When children take responsibility for their health and understand why we use our healthy habits, it makes it that much easier.  Focusing on the health side of things we teacher our students how to cover their mouth when they cough, wash their hands when needed, and blow their nose.  We encourage our children to try new healthy foods and eat nutritious snacks.  Doing fun food activities that children can participate in encourages them to try what they make!