During the first six weeks, the foundation for the following six-week period is established. The first period focuses on the development of number sense for whole numbers, sense of geometric shapes, sense of calendar time, directional and positional vocabulary, and simple spatial visualization and directional and positional vocabulary.
In the second six weeks, things progress as students are taught to build on the work of the first six weeks. At this stage, by way of example, the teacher asks students to read and write numbers one to 10, to use the right words for the days and months and to sort and classify items according to one named characteristic.
The third six-week period continues the building of math and science skills by introducing increasingly complex concepts. Students are taught, in part, to read and write numbers zero to 20 in context, to count to 20 and to count backward from the number 10, to estimate quantities less than or equal to 10, to count items in a set of zero to 20 and to develop a number sense for whole numbers by seeing the equivalence in sets and numbers one to 10.
Halfway through the 36-week curriculum, students begin to use measurement to compare characteristics of two objects by using words such as those for color, height, width, weight, length and texture. Students also learn to recognize the concepts of time by using the correct words for days of the week, months and seasons. They learn to build and name spheres and cubes. Counting objects up to 30, reading and writing numbers zero to 30 and comparing and ordering numbers and sets zero to 30 develops number sense.
During the penultimate period, students are taught to identify sets with more, less or equal items and to add items to a set, remove items from a set and to describe the result. They learn to share or divide with others and to recognize and count pennies, nickels and dimes.
The final 6-week period finds students engaged in activities to collect, organize and display data as a group and to describe data with concrete and pictorial graphs. Students continue development of their number senses by estimating amounts fewer than or equal to 10 and by recognizing equivalence in sets and numbers one to 10. Students continue to compare characteristics of items using correct words for color, weight, height, width and texture, for example. In this last period, students also compare and contrast geometric shapes.
Math and science are closely linked in Pre-K, with many science examples given to kids when they learn basic math concepts. The science-related topics in Pre-K include identification of different weather patterns, such as wind, precipitation and temperature, developing a vocabulary to describe properties of materials --- color, size, shape and texture --- and learning what energy is. Children can also learn what happens when you mix things, what safety rules they should observe and what it means to be a living thing.