A A
DAY I N T H E L I F E P R E S C H O O L E R
O F. . .
“What did you do in school today?”
“I had
fun!”
he Early Childhood Development Center at St. Margaret’s provides three-year-olds and four-year-olds with the chance to develop vital cognitive, physical, social, emotional and creative skills through self-guided and teacher-guided learning. It might appear as though children are simply having fun, but fun here is anything but simple.While using a hole-punch or a stapler in the art room, children are developing the same muscles they will use to hold a pencil.While building structures with giant-size blocks on the outdoor playground, children are testing the physical integrity of their imagined concepts.These children are in an environment designed to support learning through action and interaction.
T > > 8 a.m.
Parents and children sign in. They are greeted in the front hall by Ingrid Andrews, Director of the Early Childhood Development Center, and welcomed by the teachers in the classrooms.
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In classroom Learning Centers, there are construction projects in the works; children are manipulating puzzles and games, and counting and sorting objects; dramatic productions are being created, rehearsed and performed; young artists are exploring their creativity; and students are listening to stories using headphones. Whether weighing and sorting materials gathered on the playground or using a flannel board to retell a story heard earlier in the week, quiet or busy, playful or serious, students have support when needed or requested, as they construct their own learning. All this happens every day in the Preschool.
9–9:15 a.m.
10:15–10:35 a.m.
Circle time.
Circle time.
8:10–9 a.m.
9:15–10:15 a.m.
10:35–11:30 a.m.
Classroom time with Learning Centers.
Outdoor time.
Learning Centers resume.
Outdoor time.
Classroom time. Students enter their classes, wash their hands, and choose an activity from one of the Learning Centers. Parents are welcome to stay a bit to help their children transition into the day, while sharing a book or a game.Teachers have designed these classrooms to provide enriched environments for individual and small-group learning experiences. Some activities are facilitated by the teachers; others are self-directed by the children. Matching their learning style and skill level to their options, they stay motivated and focused.
During outdoor time, children may bring their vision and creative expression to the open-door art room, which art facilitator Lillian Whitney keeps well-stocked with supplies of all kinds.They may elect to play outdoors, where activities and facilities have been planned by Perceptual Motor Teacher Shelley Harmon to help build the brain-body connection and develop motor skills. Music plays in the background while children explore the garden, the barnyard, or play with sand, bubbles, balls, construction blocks or hoops, or on bicycles, swings or slides.The potential for learning and discovery surrounds them.
The art room. The art room is filled with tools the children might need to achieve their own visions.Together, two children stand at easels. One paints a smiling heart; the other paints two smiling hearts. Art facilitator Lillian Whitney expresses joy at such a sight: “It is a reflection of how they feel. I call this their inner smile.”
Circle time.
Hand-washing.
During Circle time, children form a circle and plan their day, enjoy stories and music together, take turns talking, and gather around the “surprise bag,” a way to connect home and school while practicing listening and cognitive skills. A student takes the surprise bag home, bringing it back with an object and clues inside.The rest of the class listens to the student’s clues, raising hands to make guesses. Whether it’s a lemon-juicer or a soccer trophy inside, the surprise bag activity leads children to think about the attributes of an appropriate guess, and to gain confidence as they speak in front of a group.
Children wash their hands upon arrival, when coming in from the playground, before meals and after using the restroom, after touching animals, after blowing their nose, after messy play, and before and after playing at the water table.
11:30 a.m.–12 p.m.
12:30–1:15 p.m.
2:30–2:45 p.m.
Lunchtime. Students bring a packed lunch.
Rest time.
Clean up playground; snack time; quiet play in the Learning Centers.
12–12:30 p.m.
1:15–2:30 p.m.
2:45 p.m.
Outdoor time.
Outdoor time.
School is out. Parents pick up their children.
spring 2009
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