WVA knows that school readiness does not just depend on cognitive development alone, but on key social-emotional skills as well. These skills have been found to impact a student’s overall academic performance throughout their life. Children entering school need to be exposed to pro-social behaviors and norms in order to be socially independent.   Our youngest scholars will be encouraged to engage in meaningful relationships with adults and peers in order to develop these skills. Our caregivers will model, coach, and properly instruct our young scholars, providing high quality relationships that result in proper self-regulation

WVA Nursery School plans to implement the planned language approach (PLA) as outlined by the Early Childhood Learning and Knowledge Center (ECLKC). It has five key components: (1) research-based methodology that supports language development; (2) home language support; (3) strategies to help dual-language learners in English as well as their native language; (4) consistent policies, practices and systems throughout the whole system; and (5) mastery of the “Big 5” or the five key elements of early language and development that have been found for children to succeed in school.

During this critical early learning period, scientific reasoning is also emerging along with a natural curiosity. According to the ECLKC, preschoolers can make observations, record them, talk about them, and analyze them. At WVA’s nursery school, our scholars will be given ample opportunities to participate in the scientific process through daily exploration and activity participation.

Since Vygotsky, decades of research has shown that play is an important element in the physical, social, cognitive, and language development of young children. Toddlers and preschoolers need to be physically active, and interactive, in order to develop their coordination, control, and movement. During this time, gross motor skills are emerging and with it their increased confidence and ability to engage in social play. Fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination are developing and must be supported through activities, routines, and experiences. This is why we have included physical coordination as an essential skill our young scholars will develop in WVA's Nursery School.