From six months.To Kindergarten.
Four classes for children from six months old until Kindergarten, with a nap each day and English and Arabic from the start.
The early years
A gentle, full day for children from six months old.
Huda Academy’s early years are four classes. Infant is for babies from six months to two years. Toddler is for two-year-olds. Then come PreK-3 and PreK-4. Children hear English and Arabic from the start, and letters and numbers in both languages build up as they grow.
The shape of the day
The youngest children keep the same hours as the rest of the school, 8:00 to 3:25, so families with older children have one drop-off and one pick-up. Rest is part of the day: every child from the Infant class through Kindergarten has a nap.
Preschool families have one freedom older students do not. A preschool child can be picked up early, or at any time in the day, when that suits the family. From Kindergarten on, Arkansas law requires children to attend the full school day.
Full-time only
Enrollment in the early years is full-time. We do not offer part-time places or a set number of days a week, so a child is enrolled for the whole week, even if they are sometimes picked up early.
A set routine
Each day follows a set routine. In circle time, children learn basic Muslim greetings and manners. We put an emphasis on physical activity, with supervised play on our playground and in the gym.
The school will confirm
What a day looks like in each early-years class, from arrival to pick-up: meals and snacks, play, lessons and nap times.
What they learn
Early reading and numbers, in two languages.
Letters in two languages
Two named programs
Our early years use two published programs: Adventures in Learning, and Heggerty for phonological and phonemic awareness.
What Heggerty does
Before a child can read, they need to hear that spoken words are made of smaller sounds. That skill is called phonological awareness. Hearing the single sounds inside a word, like the c, a and t in “cat”, is phonemic awareness. Heggerty builds both through short, lively lessons that are all spoken and heard: rhyming, clapping out syllables, blending sounds into a word and pulling a word apart into its sounds. It is a strong base for learning letters and reading.
Learning through play
Children learn through guided and independent play, matched to their stage of development. Our classrooms have educational toys and learning centers, with activities that teach children to get along with others while they learn.
English and Arabic from the start
Children in the early years meet numbers, letters, colors and shapes in English and Arabic. These build in difficulty as children get older, which is what makes the PreK goals below possible.
The school will confirm
A sentence from the school on how Adventures in Learning is used in each class, and what the Infant and Toddler rooms focus on day to day.
Ready for Kindergarten
What a Huda Academy PreK graduate can do.
Children finish PreK at four or five years old. These are the steps from the last year of preschool into Kindergarten.
Every letter, in two alphabets
A typical PreK graduate can read, sound and write every letter of the English and Arabic alphabets. That means knowing each letter by sight, the sound it makes, and how to write it.
Numbers, shapes and colors
They can also read and write the numbers 1 to 20 and recognize the main shapes and colors, in English and in Arabic. Counting, recognizing and writing numbers is the first step toward the math children begin in Kindergarten.
The PreK graduation ceremony
The end of PreK is marked with a graduation ceremony. We hold four, for PreK, Kindergarten, Grade 5 and Grade 8. It is a first proud moment for children and their families.
On to a full Kindergarten day
Kindergarten is a full school day, as the Arkansas Department of Education requires, with seven subjects including Islamic studies and Arabic. Children still have a nap in Kindergarten, which helps with the change.
Costs
What PreK costs, and two ways to pay less.
PreK tuition is one amount for the year, paid in ten monthly payments. PreK families can also receive a $500 discount in two cases.
PreK tuition
Tuition for PreK is $8,500 for the year. It is split into ten monthly payments, which comes to $850 a month.
Two discounts
A second child in PreK receives $500 off tuition. A family that pays the whole year at the start also receives $500 off. Whether one family can receive both discounts togetherNeeds fixing is still to be confirmed.
Infants and toddlers
For Infant and Toddler tuition, please call the office at 501-565-3555.
The school will confirm
Tuition for the Infant and Toddler classes, and whether it is paid in the same ten monthly payments.
Other costs
Please ask the office what the first payment includes. Our voucher figures are for Kindergarten to Grade 9. The Tuition page covers costs for every grade.
The school will confirm
Whether PreK tuition includes the cot fee and the other fees named in the handbook, and whether the Arkansas voucher can be used for any early-years class.
What the early
years lead to.
Their first classroom
A gentle place to begin.
