Welcome to the 3 year old class!

 Preschool is not only a fun and exciting experience for children, but also for their teachers. As a preschooler, your child needs to be challenged, motivated, and encouraged. Our teachers understand that preschoolers need to be free to independently explore and discover as well as a fair amount of teacher instruction and support. This is why we have designed a multi-experiential program that is developmentally appropriate for 3-year olds. 

An Engaging Learning Environment

Our classroom has been thoughtfully arranged into a number of interesting centers to provide the children with a variety of learning and play opportunities. These centers include: Art and Writing, Sand-Water Table, Cozy Corner, Blocks, Fine Motor, Home Living, Math, and Science. Each center is filled with specially selected materials and activities to foster the specific development skills a three year old needs. Our shelves and toys are also labeled with pictures, which supports the children asserting their independence in selecting materials and encourages them to be responsible when cleaning up their chosen center.

Learning Fun!

Developmentally appropriate themes and activities have been selected to further support the expansion of your child’s creativity, literacy, problem-solving, socialization, and independence. These themes are changed weekly and can be found posted in your child’s classroom.   Each week we will also integrate a letter and shape into the selected theme. On any given day you may find your child involved in a group science or cooking experiment, working on early writing skills, counting with manipulatives or using their imagination to create a one of a kind masterpiece. Although our days are packed with a large variety of scheduled activities, the children are given a variety of options so that they are able to choose an activity that most interests them.

Fine motor skills are fostered as children learn to pour from a pitcher, cut with scissors, hold and use markers, colored pencils and tweezers.

Outside Fun!

Gross motor skills involving arms and leg movements are supported daily through swinging, running, riding tricycles as well as teacher-led games. We have a fun playground  shaded by a large tree with a swing set, sturdy tricycles to ride on, a basketball hoop as well as a slide to further encourage these skills. Our playground is also stocked with buckets, shovels, trucks, a playhouse with shopping carts and food to inspire cooperative play as well as to help the children create and imagine.

Positive Guidance

We strongly believe that children need a secure and loving environment where limits are reasonable and consistent, as well as the growing ability to make choices and learn from their actions.  We primarily use re-direction and teach our children problem solving skills and what choices or behaviors are better options. Teachers work hard to reinforce positive behavior as opposed to focusing on the negative behavior. We also work on teaching children empathy by having them help take care of a friend they may have played too rough with. Time-out is very rarely used with the children. Our teachers are very cautious to limit time out to only three minutes and to talk with the child about how they can better solve their problem next time. Our goal is to create a positive and safe environment where children gain the confidence and abilities to work out their problems, and think of resolutions independently.

Communication with parents

We have a dry erase board posted in the class, where the teacher will write notes about what the children have been working on that day. We also have an open door policy and welcome parents to come in and help in the classroom anytime. If you wish to talk in more detail with your child’s teacher, you are welcome to schedule a conference with her. Our teachers also work hard to capture and document many of your child’s developmental milestones through an individual portfolio.  We offer to meet with parents twice a year, once in the Fall and once in the Spring.

Encouraging Independence

Teachers work diligently to help foster your child’s sense of independence and self-help skills. This is done through many different activities some of which are encouraging your child to put on and zip or button their jackets, emptying the sand from their shoes and putting them back on, serving their own lunch, and getting their own cups of water. We also work with your child to help them learn good hygiene skills, such as proper hand washing procedures (which we do several times a day), teaching them to cover their mouth with their arm when coughing, teaching them to blow their own nose, and to properly clean their face when finished eating.