Village East Gifted, an enrichment center for gifted and talented children on Long Island, recently opened its new Roslyn location, and now offers Gifted Kindergarten at its Huntington Station location.
A kindergartner recites definitions of SAT words at a Village East Gifted Curriculum Recital.
Village East Gifted, an enrichment center for gifted and talented children, opened its Roslyn Heights location in August, and will begin offering its Gifted Kindergarten program at its Huntington Station location beginning Sept. 8.
The Roslyn Heights location offers programs for children in nursery through first grade as well as fifth through eighth grades.
VEG’s Gifted Kindergarten, an academic program, follows the same curriculum and teaching approach—the Phillips RBM (Reawakening Brilliant Minds®) Approach—as the programs for older students, but it is tailored to kindergarteners. The program covers core subjects, including science, math, writing, vocabulary enrichment, grammar, Latin, geography, social studies, and linguistics, as well as specialty subjects such as philosophy, chemistry, psychology, and pre-med. And “American Sign Language is incorporated into everything we teach,” says Tobi J. Phillips, Ed. D. (cert.), founder and headmaster of Village East Gifted.
Another component of the program is SAT ASAP, in which children learn SAT words before many of them can read chapter books. VEG Educators use various techniques to teach the kindergarteners how to pronounce, spell, define, and use the SAT words in context. “It’s best to begin at a very young age,” Phillips says of SAT ASAP. “This is the time when the memory is at its best.”
Before enrolling in the Gifted Kindergarten program, children will meet with Phillips, who will assess their ability to understand VEG’s curriculum, along with evaluating their aptitude for problem solving and creativity. The program will run in two sessions, 8-11am and 12:45-3:45pm. Children can attend three or four days a week, either before or after their regular kindergarten classes.
