Learning Environment

Our Pre-Primary program has 72 students and fourteen teachers. We also have part time music, creative arts and creative movement teachers as well as a staff person to oversee snack.

Our Pre-Primary environment includes 12,000 square feet of interior space, seven spacious rooms and a well-equipped and extensive play yard. In the Sunflower Room, the children work with unit blocks and large, heavy wooden blocks, the housekeeping and dramatic play materials, and the sand and/or water tables.

In the Discovery Room and the Explorers Room, children observe animal life; work with collections, manipulatives and interactive science displays; and refine their carpentry skills. The Discovery and Explorers Rooms have additional staff to support the wonderment of science and woodworking. Music, Creative Art and Creative Movement/Physical Education all have separate spaces while integrating curriculum across the arts.

While inside, Pre-Primary children are organized into four work groups of 17-19 students with two teachers. The exception is the youngest group of three-year-olds. Their group size is 16-17 with three teachers. At arrival children remain outdoors as multiage grouping. Once indoors children are in their respective groups with a range of nine to twelve months in each group.

After a Morning Meeting, the groups follow a schedule that allows them, during the course of each week, to rotate through the various rooms. Children move with their respective groups and teachers. The fundamental design of the Pre-Primary program allows children to move to different areas throughout the day, satisfying a basic need and desire for children to move. Each child is encouraged to explore widely and to carry his/her learning as far as he/she is able. In most activities we place emphasis on process, rather than product, logical thinking and problem-solving.

While outdoor activities support large motor development and a sense of wonder about the environment, the social curriculum is well at work. The outdoors is the place where children practice and experiment with inclusion and exclusion, and explore what it means to have a friend and be a friend.