Program philosophy, Description and Lunch Buddy Program
Mission Statement
The Children’s School is a vital ministry of Grace Episcopal Church. The objective of the school shall be to foster the development of the total child. The school will work with the home and church to provide an age appropriate learning environment while preparing each child to grow in their understanding of their own individuality.
The Children’s School welcomes children and families from all ethnic, racial, religious, or national backgrounds and diverse family structures
Jane’s Vision
My vision for the Children’s School of Grace Episcopal Church is to be committed to provide a warm, nurturing environment in which children can grow and learn through purposeful play and direct “on the floor with them” involvement from the staff we employ. My goal for all children recognizes that each child is an individual, wonderful being and my personal accomplishments are attained through helping them grow and develop mentally, socially, physically, and spiritually according to his or her individual capabilities. My focus is primarily social rather than “academic”, because I believe children who have positive experiences in preschool develop confidence in their own abilities and are better able to tackle the academic challenges when they enter elementary school. I will always continue to facilitate a curriculum that is developmentally appropriate for the two through five (or whenever they enroll in kindergarten) year old child. Areas of focus include art, music, literary awareness, cooking, field trips, creative movement and acting, and for the older child; school readiness and monthly chapel. I want to lay the foundation for the building blocks of becoming life long learners and the desire that when children leave our school they foremost have a strong, positive self image. I do not want to undermine the importance of school readiness but when I step back and assess how I want to do it- I think I can simply say, “let a child play”. I know when I was a child we played and played hard! My childhood memories are simply of us all just playing and coming home at the end of the day just plain dirty! I feel that a lot of people today want their children to “succeed” so much that they get caught up in the measured success that they tend to overlook what is best for children ( I know this, because I am often guilty of the mentality, too). Often times we feel that the sooner they master the three “r’s” (reading, “riting”, and “rithmetic”) is the way we should measure their success. I believe we tend to forget that children learn best by doing. We need to remember that learning isn’t just repeating what someone else says or does. It requires active thinking and experimenting to discover how things work. In their early years, a happy, successful child explores the world around them. Play provides the solid foundation for academic learning. This is the preparation children need before they learn their letters and numbers. Play, in my opinion, should be the “work of young children”. If children are not given enough time to play they won’t have explored objects enough to understand what words like big, bigger, and biggest mean. If they aren’t allowed to string beads, button, dress up, cut, paste, and scribble than they won’t develop the small muscles (fine motor skills) they need to write. Children who are given plenty of time to “purposefully play” learn to ask their own questions and figure out their own answers. They see themselves as explorers, discoverers, problem solvers, and inventors. When you walk into the Children’s School you will see a room full of children playing in different areas. It may appear to be like anywhere else that has active children playing. But if you take a closer look you will see children engaging in a wide array of wonderful enrichment activities. Our school is one that is full of places to explore and act out all sorts of roles they will utilize later on as they grow and mature. The children will tell you that they love to play at the Children’s School and amongst to their awareness they have no idea that they are laying the foundation for their higher levels of their academic learning. But my wish most of all, I hope you see a room full of happy children who know that they are simply loved for who they are….isn’t that what we all want them to believe and know?
Program Philosophy and Description
The Children’s School offers a younger and older children’s preschool program. The younger children’s program is a smaller, self-contained, nurturing experience for older two-year old and young three year-old children. It is designed as an initial preschool experience. The older program caters to the needs of older three year-old, four year-old and five year-old children. The primary purpose of The Children’s School is to foster the innate uniqueness of the individual child. Development of positive self-esteem and appropriate responsive social interaction are the core elements of the program.
The full development of each child is unique. During the early childhood formative years, the child experiences intense motivation toward his own self-construction through personal involvement with his environment. A stimulating and responsive environment supports the development of self-esteem and the respective growth patterns of each child.
Each child enrolled in the program is addressed according to his/her skills and abilities as developmentally appropriate. A multi-sensory approach is implemented to maximize the child’s experiential learning through “hands on” activities. Activities and materials are planned and provided to stimulate interest in the specific areas of cognition, gross and fine motor skills, and language and speech development of the total child.
Specialized music activities, as well as arts and crafts, are regularly incorporated into the program activities.
Throughout the school year children enrolled in the older children’s program will attend Children’s Chapel. The Rector of Grace Episcopal Church or the Director of The Children’s School will conduct Chapel. Chapel will be held in the classroom or in the historic Chapel of Grace Episcopal Church.
For seven months of the school year, there are weekly activities at the YMCA for older children attending school on Friday. These sessions are designed to promote the development of various motor skills relative to the child’s integrated learning abilities as well as expose the child to transitional activities and directions. In addition, a trained staff member from the YMCA co-ordinates program plans with the preschool staff.
We are also very fortunate to co-ordinate special programs through the Children’s Department of the Public Library. These usually occur on a monthly basis.
Lunch Buddy Program
The Lunch Buddy Program will only be offered for Monday/Wednesday students at this time due to the lack of interest for Tuesday/Thursday transitional students. This is subject to change if enough Tuesday/Thursday students enroll at a later date.
The cost for the program is $50 per month, which will be added onto your monthly tuition.
The program will begin on Monday, October 3, 2011, and extend the school day until 1:30 p.m. for those signed up. This program will continue every Monday and Wednesday until the end of the school year, unless notified otherwise. Those who have elected not to sign up will pick up your child at 12:00 p.m. as usual.
Please be prompt to pick up your child at 1:30. Some of our teachers are on tight schedules themselves and rely on the cooperation from all of the parents/caregivers to recover their child on time.
Each child will bring a bag lunch from home to place in their cubby. We do not have space in the refrigerator for everybody’s lunch, so please send something that can stay out for a few hours. An insulated lunch bag may be utilized as long as it fits into the child’s cubby.
Drinks will be provided for your child.
On Friday, all children will be dismissed at 12:00.
All children enrolled at The Children’s School will complete an activity to the theme of that day’s study. The Lunch Buddy Program children will complete an additional activity that is relevant to the morning’s theme, or a developmentally appropriate skill your child needs at that time (i.e., practicing their name, etc.).
The extended day program will also address other school readiness skills such as expectations during lunch, and becoming more self-reliant to prepare for elementary school.