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school
life
Primary
Program and Kindergarten
The Suzuki School Primary Program is designed
for children three through five years of age. At
this age, the children begin to recognize the
impact of their decisions for themselves and for
their classroom. They are now ready for a more
structured presentation of math, language, and
science concepts. They remain intensely
interested in practical life, which now includes
caring for pets and plants, arranging their
furniture, helping with meal preparation and
cleaning/organizing their space and their
materials. They take responsibility for keeping
their room orderly and have a voice in deciding
the room activities and rules.

Interactive Classrooms:
Children in the Primary Program are confident in
their abilities and eager to absorb more of the
world around them. The classroom retains the
same design elements seen at the Pre-Primary
level; however, the children now arrange the
room to suit their activities and needs as the
day progresses. Encouraging this independence
insures that the children form a close bond to
their room and with each other.
Curriculum & Materials:
Primary children, having been introduced to
language and fine motor control in the earlier
levels, are ready for more rigorous focus on
language, math and fine motor skills. In
Language, the children continue to master new
vocabulary while learning to blend sounds in
order to read words and sentences. Preparation
for handwriting is practiced through various
fine motor activities such as punching, tracing,
sewing, and cutting. As readiness is observed,
formal lessons in cursive letter formation are
presented and as the children begin to read,
they also begin to write what they are reading.
In Math/Sensorial activities, children grade,
order and compare attributes, demonstrate an
understanding of quantity through one-to-one
correspondence and then begin to add and
subtract 1- and 2-digit numerals. A
Suzuki-developed science and multicultural
social studies program is used in a spiral
curriculum that begins in Pre-Primary and
continues through Kindergarten.

Foreign Language:
Native French or Spanish speakers teach children
French and Spanish in these classrooms twice a
week using a language immersion curriculum.
These programs are taught during both the school
year and during the summer program. Our Chinese
Immersion Program, developed to both familiarize
the children with the Chinese culture and to
teach the tongue early on to make the sounds of
this tonal language, is taught primarily through
the exercises of Practical Life so that the
vocabulary of both English and Chinese is taught
simultaneously in the naming of familiar
objects.
Rotation Routines:
Morning lessons follow a block schedule so that
the presentation of and practice with the
materials can be completed leisurely and without
interruption. The children are placed in
multi-ability groups and rotate every day in
language, math/sensorial and practical life/art
areas for the morning lesson block. This three
day rotation allows the children to work in
succession with all the classroom teachers in
the areas of math/sensorial, language, fine
motor, art, practical life and social
studies/science.

Enrichment:
Our regular curriculum is supplemented by
special visitors, including storytellers,
musicians, magicians and nature specialists.
Students participate in small group music
instruction once a week. They also have the
opportunity to participate in optional
enrichment activities such as private music
lessons, ballet, gymnastics and sports movement
classes.
Communication:
At Suzuki, we recognize the parent as your
child’s first and best teacher. To foster our
partnership, we communicate with parents daily
so that you are informed of your child’s
progress and of his or her day. Parents are
encouraged to communicate directly with the
teachers in the afternoons after the end of the
academic day and through email.
Accreditation:
Our 4-year-old program and Kindergarten program
are accredited by the Georgia Accrediting
Commission with their highest quality level,
Accreditation with Quality. During April 2009 we
anticipate receiving our SACS Accreditation for
both the Buckhead and Northside campuses.
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