Does My School follow the Littleton Public School calendar? 

Roughly, yes. My School starts about a week later and ends about two weeks before public school. We take the same holidays, snow days and vacations.

As much as we love children, we feel it is best to make child care arrangements for your other children. It is a very special time for your preschooler to have you to themselves and younger siblings can be a distraction. Oftentimes parents help one another out and establish childcare swaps.

We teach, teach and re-teach. We understand that young children are learning everything for the first time. Special care is taken to provide explicit teaching and modeling of routines, expectations, and interactions. We support and practice the philosophy in Positive Discipline for Preschoolers, by Jane Nelson. It maintains that boundaries and behavioral expectations for preschoolers must be communicated kindly and firmly. Communications between teachers and students are warm, friendly and respectful.

Sometimes despite our best efforts we are unable to modify the behaviors of a student. When we feel that we cannot ensure the safety (either physical or emotional) of our students we ask that a parent “shadow” their student for a set period of time while we continue trying to modify their behavior. If this proves unsuccessful we consult with outside specialists who often times suggest particular interventions or evaluations. In extreme cases where the school experience is not benefiting the student or the class as a whole and all reasonable attempts have been made, recommendations for alternative placement is suggested.

Absolutely. My Schools lays all the groundwork necessary for the transition to a kindergarten classroom. While we expose children to readiness skills and provide plenty of practice, we do not bring the kindergarten curriculum down to preschool. That being said, there will be children at varying levels of development. Some children may be early readers and writers while others may only know the letters in their own name. Likewise, some children may be counting to 100 while others are developing a sense of 1-10. Both skill levels are met where they are and encouraged to develop further. There is a wide range of typical development among preschoolers and My School recognizes and appreciates these differences. Most importantly, My School helps children develop self confidence and important self-help skills that kindergarten teachers hope for. Learning how to separate from Mom and Dad, become comfortable and act appropriately in a group setting, and know how to make and be a friend is the significant work of a preschooler at My School.

We take pride in our ability to help young children make the first of many small steps to independence. We work individually with families to create as smooth a transition as possible. In late August teachers pay a “home visit” to each student in their class. This special time is extremely powerful in helping the child become comfortable with his new teacher and school. Similarly, abbreviated sessions are held the first few days of schools to help ease the child into school. Teachers and parents work together to develop the best possible plan for each child.

What is the difference between the 2-day and 3-day program in terms of curriculum? 
Both the 2-day and 3-day classes have the same daily schedule and use all the same classrooms materials. However, the themes and units of study in the 3-day class tend to be more involved and the projects more multi-stepped as a result of increased development.

What is the structure of a typical day? 

Each day begins at 9:00 with free play either inside or outside. This is followed by a structured “Together Time,” where children learn to sit, listen, interact and respond. At this time the teacher introduces songs, poems, fingerplays, or stories and may demonstrate the project for activity time. It is here that they learn each other’s names and many other important things. Next is handwashing and snack. Snack is a much-loved, structured and social time of the day. After snack is activity time where all children are given the chance to complete the project of the day. Clean-up time is next, followed by storytime. If time and weather permits children may head back outside for a short playtime before pick up at 11:45.

It all depends on what you mean by academic. If you mean are you using a formal, scripted program(as in kindergarten) complete with work sheets to teach letters and numbers, the answer is no. If you mean, do you expose children to a wide variety of skills (including phonemic and numeracy awareness) in a developmentally appropriate way, the answer is yes.