For additional academic and social interaction, extended day options are offered for all classes from 12:00pm until 2:00pm. On Tuesdays, we offer our popular afternoon Chess Club for older students enrolled in K-Bridge, and Kindergarten. Parents who wish to enroll their child in full-time Enrichment may benefit from our “all-inclusive” pricing which is prepaid in advance with the monthly tuition.
Preschool Enrichment
12:00pm – 2:00pm
- Spanish – (Effective September 2020, Spanish is now included in our daily lesson plans so that all children may benefit!). Our proprietary Spanish Curriculum is fun and age-appropriate. The children learn the basics of this language, which provides a good foundation for future learning.
- Yoga – Yes! Yoga! The many benefits of young children practicing the art of slowing down, controlling their breathing, and getting in some great exercise while they are at it, are just some of the benefits! Even professional organizations such as the National Association of Education for Young Children (NAEYC), along with the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), recommend that children participate in activities that cater to the whole child. Adding Yoga to the Reading Friends enrichment offering was the perfect fit!
- Creative Art – This Enrichment Class provides the children with additional time to be creative, outside of the art provided within their daily curriculum. The class allows for the children to get messy, experiment, and lets them create their own works of art!
- Music and Movement – This energetic class introduces the students to various types of music, not only from our culture, but from around the world! They listen, move, and even paint to the music and are sometime surprised by how music can affect the outcome of their work!
- Popsicles on the Playground – Although this isn’t necessarily “enrichment”, it is just as important! Social interaction and outdoor play is a great way to end the week at Reading Friends of Aledo. This “class” was added to the roster as a direct result of the feedback from parents on the Annual Parent Survey and has been well–received by the kids!
K-Bridge and Kindergarten Enrichment Classes
12:00pm – 2:00pm
- Technology Lab – Our technology lab offers an array of options for the children to learn beyond the walls of the classroom. In addition to our computer workstations, we utilize our state-of-the-art Smart Board Technology (http://smarttech.com/smartboard) which allows students to interact with teacher-led lessons that make the world come alive!
- Science Lab – Our weekly science lab allows for hands-on experiments that can yield surprising results. The children learn how volcanoes erupt, seeds grow, and why matter matters! Each spring, the children enjoy studying the 21-day lifecycle of the egg. They watch in wonderment as the baby chicks peck their way out of their shells and become a part of our classroom!
- Creative Expression – This Enrichment Class takes handwriting to the next level. The children experiment with sentence formation and illustration, in addition to learning presentations skills each week while presenting in front of their classmates.
- Fine Art – Fine Art Friday is a great way to end the week! Our Fine Art class explores all of the great artists throughout history. The children paint on canvas as they recreate Van Gough’s masterpiece, splatter paint into works of art like Jackson Pollock, and learn about impressionism as they honor Claude Monet. Our Kindergarten art class goes way beyond crayons! (In addition to art, these students also enjoy their “Popsicles on the Playground” during recess!)
Tuesday Chess Club
Reading Friends of Aledo is excited to continue our partnership with The Knight School. This revolutionary, party-based approach to chess has had amazing success—winning multiple state championships—because of their unique and unprecedented educational philosophy, “the chess party,” is the perfect way to transform a complete beginner into a devastating chess machine. 🙂
Our unique Birmingham-based model has swept America—now in 20 cities across the USA! We use only super-fun teaching methods such as super-fast chess clock-slapping chess games, zany chess videos, a strict bully-free environment, silicone wristbands for lesson mastery, chess puzzlers for “crunchy coo-coos,” driving music, engaging song and dance, hilarious puppet shows, and Mardi-Gras bead chess tournaments each day we practice.
In this kid-centered classroom environment, we teach our kids every cool trick, strategy, opening, and tactic in “chessdom” and our kids soon learn to love and master chess and to masterfully control their classrooms, sports fields, and home lives as well! Laughter, fast-clocks, and compelling teaching approaches make this class the week’s highlight for the thousands of students who make up the awesome network of The Knight School’s school chess teams.
The Reading Friends of Aledo Chess Party will meet once per week on Tuesdays, throughout the academic school year and give your child the gift of amazing chess friends, undeniable academic confidence, a self-identity as a smart kid, and a weekly dose of childhood joy that is one of their highlights of the week!