FIVE'S CLASS
Monday - Friday​
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The Transitional Five’s class is designed to serve young 5 year olds who would benefit from another preschool year prior to attending Kindergarten/First Grade or who would benefit from a Kindergarten-level curriculum but who may thrive more with a lower teacher:student ratio and a shorter day. The Five’s class has 18 children with two teachers who attend five days per week from 8:45am-12:45 with an early dismissal one day/week at 12:15pm.
Emphasis in the Five’s class will be placed on developing: successful social relationships, independent thinking skills, problem solving, and strengthening cognitive skills. All material is presented in a developmentally appropriate manner allowing children to be active participants in learning. In our language arts lessons our objective is to provide the necessary skills to build a strong foundation for your child’s reading and writing development as well as to foster an appreciation and enjoyment of literacy activities and a love of books. To that end, we use a combination of phonics and whole language abilities. Math, science, and social studies are woven in throughout the morning.
Rachael Walsh
Rachael has been teaching in the Transitional 5's class since 2007. Prior to that, she taught locally as a third and fourth grade teacher. She has a B.S. degree in Elementary Education from Cortland College in New York. She later attended UNC Chapel Hill for training in Learning Disabilities and later worked as a specialist. Rachael enjoys working with children, especially with this enthusiastic age group. When not teaching, she enjoys spending time with her husband, Sean, and her children, Ethan and Anna.
Sarah Thomson
Sarah comes from a family of teachers and attended UNC for undergrad. She holds graduate degrees in Education from the University of Maryland and the University of Michigan. Sarah taught at public schools in Silver Spring, MD; Durham, NC; and Ann Arbor, MI, and helped train future elementary teachers at the University of Michigan School of Education. She is passionate about the importance of play in learning and development for young children. Sarah is also passionate about creating playful, Neurodiversity Affirming learning spaces.
She feels so grateful to join the UPPS family! Sarah is an active member of Chapel in the Pines Presbyterian Church and loves singing in the choir, reading, hiking, camping, and playing outside with her spouse and two young children.