A Look into our CLassroom

Ages 4 to 5 years old

In this classroom children follow a daily routine established to support all areas of their development. Through  the day children do different activities using different materials that will help them to reinforce their skills and prepare them for kindergarten. Children are observed for the purpose of measuring their progress, identifying their needs, planning activities, and sharing that information with parents. We use the Creative Curriculum and Preschool Unit to plan learning activities that support social/emotional, physical, and cognitive development as well as language, literacy and math acquisition.

We provide developmentally appropriate toys and materials on each of the designated areas for blocks, manipulatives, literacy, art, reading, music, and dramatic play. In our program, children are observed for the purpose of measuring their progress, identifying their needs, planning activities, and sharing that information with parents. We ask parents to work with us in creating goals and making plans to help their children to succeed. To record children's observations we use the Teaching Strategies Gold tool. 

As a result of our observations we create 3 reports a year. Those reports should show children progress in the areas of social, emotional, cognitive language, physical, literacy and math. We ask parents to meet with us at least 3 times a year for conferences. We talk about the observations, goals, plans and other information that they may want to share with us. During the first 45 days of entering the program children are evaluated using an Ages and Stages Questionnaire that will help us to identify their communication, problem solving, personal social, gross motor, and fine motor needs and strengths. If a child falls below the expectations in any of the areas, we talk with the parent about referring the child to a specialist.  

Ages 3 to 4 years old

In this classroom, children follow a daily routine with activities that support all areas of development. Each activity is planned taking into account the needs of each child and the learning standards for their age. Observations are made for the purpose of measuring each child's progress and needs, planning activities, and sharing information with families through scheduled conferences. During our conferences with families, we talk about what teachers have observed in the classroom, goals, plans to meet the goals and other information that we or that family may want to share.  

For activity planning we use The Creative curriculum that focuses on the social, emotional, cognitive, physical, language, mathematics and literacy areas. We also use the Preschool Unit Curriculum that focuses on the areas of literacy, math, science, art social studies, fine motor, sensory, gross motor, music, circle time, and social/emotional. During the first 45 days of entry, the child is assessed using the Ages and Stages Questionnaire. If the child falls below expectations in any of the areas of communication, problem solving, gross motor, fine motor, and personal social, we discuss with the family about making a referral to a specialist in the field to guide us in the process of helping the child meet the expectations. 

Ages 1 to 3 years old

In this room we have an established routine and throughout the day the children have the opportunity to do different activities that support all areas of their development. We are open from 7:00am-4:00pm in this classroom. Although children are under the age of 3 we provide an early preschool to our children in the infants and toddlers classroom. They follow the same routine as our preschool classrooms and do similar activities that are age appropriate. 

The furniture is at  the children's height and the materials are appropriate for their level of development. Teachers have extensive knowledge of student development and are willing to work in partnership with families to identify the needs of each student. Observations are made to measure progress and conferences are scheduled with families to share the progress and needs of each child in the classroom. 

To measure the progress of the children we use Teaching Strategies Gold. As a guide to prepare activities we use the Creative Curriculum that focuses on the social, emotional, cognitive, physical, language, mathematics and literacy areas. We also use the preschool unit curriculum that focuses on the areas of literacy, math, science, art, social studies, fine motor, sensory, gross motor, music, circle time and social/emotional development. During the first 45 days of entering the program we send home an Ages and Stages Questionnaire to identify communication, problem solving, personal social, gross motor, and fine motor needs and strengths. If the results show that the child is below the expectations on one or more of the areas, we discuss with the family about referring the child with a specialist in the field.  

Part of our daily routine consists of outdoor play. Children have the chance to make friends and interact with each other while developing gross motor skills. This includes activities like throwing, climbing, crawling, jumping, running, and pushing and pulling objects. Children also have the opportunity to experiment with nature with planting, taking care of plants, collecting and playing with nature objects such as rocks, leaves, sticks, sand, and water. Each classroom has at least an hour of outdoor play incorporated into their schedule.