Blog Post

Before and After - A 5 or 6 Year Old's Journey (Porcupine Class)

Hisaya International Preschool • January 30, 2025

Building on the skills children learn in the Grasshopper class, the BUTTERFLY CLASS is the next stage in your child’s preschool journey.

Building on the skills children learn in the Butterfly class, the PORCUPINE CLASS is a big change with a focus on kindergarten academic and social skills students will need to be successful when they enter 1^st grade.

The BUTTERFLY CLASS uses all the skills learned in prior levels to help children reach the next stages of their academic, and social development.

Social: On a social level, cooperation and teamwork start to become important. Students can play games with rules and do things like take turns. When talking with their teachers, Porcupine students can listen to and follow complex multi-step instructions.

Academic: At this level students can use full sentences to communicate their experiences and things that happened in the past. Also, students use their phonics skills to begin reading simple books and graded readers in English.

Here are some of the key skills that students will master by the time they graduate out of PORCUPINE CLASS.

An incoming BUTTERFLY	A graduating BUTTERFLY
I can solve problems by myself.	I can coordinate with classmates to solve problems.
I can express myself in English using complete sentences. For example: "Can I go to the toilet?"	I can talk about things outside of school using complete sentences “I went to my grandmother’s house!!”
I can listen to and remember multiple steps to complete a task.	I make predictions of sequences and make logical guesses.
I enjoy playing with my friends.	I can follow the rules of a game and take turns with my friends. Follow rules of a game and take turns.
I can read simple c-v-c words in English	I can read simple books in English.
I recognize numbers from 1-20 and can write them.	I can add and subtract single digit numbers.

The PORCUPINE level is a very important time of building academic and social skills. These essential skills form the base for more focused academic work when students graduate from kindergarten and enter elementary school.

Quiz:

Which of the following is normal behavior for a 5 year old child?

I enjoy reading books.
I need help using the toilet and putting on my shoes.
I like to tell my teacher about places I have been to and people I have met.
I can wait my turn follow the rules when playing a game with classmates.

< Older Post

Before and After - A 2 Year Old's Journey (Caterpillar Class)

By Hisaya International Preschool • January 8, 2025

Hisaya International Preschool's CATERPILLAR CLASS is the very beginning of many children's school lives. Let's take a look at some examples of what a child can typically do when they begin the CATERPILLAR CLASS and how their skills grow by the time they are ready to graduate to the next level.

Before and After - A 4 or 5 Year Old's Journey (Butterfly Class)

By Hisaya International Preschool • October 19, 2024

Building on the skills children learn in the Grasshopper class, the BUTTERFLY CLASS is the next stage in your child’s preschool journey. The BUTTERFLY CLASS uses all the skills learned in prior levels to help children reach the next stages of their academic, and social development.