FIVE'S CLASS
Monday - Friday
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.
Katie Weber
Katie received an A.B. in Psychology from Harvard University with a focus on preschool cognitive development. She also earned a K-6 teaching certificate and taught math, Pre-K 4, and Kindergarten for six years before becoming a stay-at-home mom. She began subbing at UPPS in 2014 and became a full-time teacher there during the 2017-18 school year. She has lived in Chapel Hill for over 25 years with her husband and three children and loves listening to music, running, and spending time with family and friends. Katie is passionate about teaching young children!