We believe...

We believe that children learn best in surroundings where they are not overly stimulated, yet where there are plenty of materials for them to explore, play with, experience and learn from. This is why we carefully choose our materials as well as our classroom environment.

We believe that in order to develop age-appropriate skills, children need exposure to new things. This is why we informally assess them and provide them with individualized exposure to specifically designed experiences. Our current 1 to 5 teacher to student ratio allows us to do this well.

We believe that children grow when provided with the opportunity to learn freely through art, block building, books, imaginative play, science experiments, and manipulative toys. This is why all these are readily available are to them during free play.

We believe that children learn how to read and write through literacy immersion and through being provided with multiple opportunities to "read" and "write" in their play activities. This is why we provide our students with various play “tablets”, strategically placed all over the classroom, such as “restaurant order pads”, magazines and newspapers in the dramatic play area, graph paper and pencils in the block area, etc. In addition to this, we also have letters available for children to play with as manipulatives, as well as a writing center. Our focus is on one letter of the alphabet per week. We also are reading lots of books - and encourage parents to do the same at home.

We believe that peaceful interactions occur naturally when children receive the support, guidance and attention they need in the classroom - with enough materials and supplies to keep them engaged. This is why our staff is trained to support social competence. When necessary, we present our students with the words necessary to compromise and / or work through a challenging situation. Our next step is to redirect the child towards a different activity. If necessary, a staff person works one-on-one with the child, providing him/her with extra attention until that child is ready to return to the group.

We believe that merging academics with the arts in essential in order to serve the whole child. This is why we welcome art teachers into our classroom daily, thus allowing us to expose our students to music/voice, drama/storytelling, dance or visual arts.

We believe in multicultural exposure and in the value of honoring the diversity of our students. This is why we celebrate holidays or seasons in congruency with the families we represent, and also expose children to other cultural traditions.

We offer a morning (8:30-11:30) session and plan to additionally offer an afternoon session (12:15 - 3:15) in the future.

We also offer a two-day schedule (Tues and Thurs), a three-day schedule (Mon, Wed and Fri) as well as a five-day schedule.

As we plan ahead, we will have two teachers and a teacher's aide in each class, with a maximum of 15 children per session.

About our Staff: Our classroom staff has numerous years of education, training and experience working in the field of childhood education. Because we are committed to offering our students the best experience possible, we consistently seek on-going, cutting-edge training to keep abreast of the latest educational discoveries.

Our art teachers are all experts in their field, which ensures our students an excellent level of education.

Our whole staff is highly committed to the development of healthy, happy children who have the opportunity to engage in, experience and learn from their environment.