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At Valley, teachers utilize ELA, math, science and social studies units developed using the Understanding by Design (UbD) system. UbD is a curriculum planning framework that focuses on what students should understand and be able to do. Lessons are designed with the end goal in mind to help students build meaningful learning and real-world skills. We also use portions of the SRA Imagine IT! Program. This program addresses the five key areas of reading:  

• Phonemic Awareness 

• Systematic, Explicit Phonics 

• Fluency 

• Vocabulary 

• Comprehension 

In addition to the academic curriculum, all preschool classrooms utilize the Second Step social-emotional curriculum. Second Step helps students build skills such as emotional awareness, self-regulation, problem-solving, empathy, and positive relationships. Through engaging lessons and activities, students learn skills that help them manage emotions, make responsible decisions, build healthy relationships, and succeed in school and life. 

DIAL-4 provides comprehensive information, by evaluating all five early childhood areas:

• Motor area: Gross Motor items include catching, jumping, hopping, and skipping. Fine Motor items include building with blocks, cutting, copying shapes and letters, and writing, and a popular fingertouching task.

• Language area: Items include answering simple personal questions (name, age, and sex), articulation, naming (expressive) or identifying (receptive) objects and actions, plus phonemic awareness tasks such as rhyming and “I Spy.”

• Concepts area: Items include pointing to named body parts, naming or identifying colors, rote counting, counting blocks, identifying concepts in a triad of pictures, and sorting shapes. Includes an item that assesses automatic naming of objects, a skill that is associated with potential learning disabilities.

• Self-help development: Looks at the child’s development of personal care skills related to dressing, eating, and grooming.

• Social development: Looks at the child’s development of social skills with other children and parents, including rule compliance, sharing, self-control, and empathy.

At Valley, we use the myIGDIs (Individual Growth and Development Indicators) to help monitor each child's progress in important early learning skills. myIGDIs are brief, play-based assessments that give teachers valuable information about a child's development and readiness for kindergarten.  

Early Literacy 

The Early Literacy assessments measure foundational reading skills that children develop before they begin reading independently. Activities may include identifying pictures, recognizing letter sounds, listening for rhymes, and noticing beginning sounds in words. These skills help build the foundation for future reading success.  

Early Numeracy 

The Early Numeracy assessments measure early math skills through age-appropriate activities such as counting, recognizing numbers, comparing quantities, and matching objects one-to-one. These skills support children's understanding of numbers and mathematical thinking.  

How the Information Is Used 

Teachers administer these short one-on-one assessments three times per school year to monitor growth, celebrate progress, and identify areas where additional support may be helpful. The results help teachers plan instruction that meets each child's individual needs and promotes kindergarten readiness.  

Our goal is to ensure every child develops the literacy and math foundations needed for a confident and successful start to kindergarten. 

Our preschool classrooms use a Progress Report to assess student learning.