Copyright Building Blocks Preschool 2010
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| Full-Day Preschool (2 ½ - 5 years) Our Full-Day Preschool program achieves the best balance between the nurturing comfort each child needs and the stimulation that preschoolers thrive on. Our preschool curriculum, which is included in our full-day program, provides a foundation for life-long learning and prepares them for natural desire to learn. Your child's creativity, learning style, and individual needs will be attended to by our highly qualified staff of teachers. Our multi-age preschool grouping of children 2 ½ to 5 years old is intended to increase the heterogeneity of the group to capitalize on the differences in the experience, knowledge, and abilities of the children. By combining a multi-age group of children, team teaching, the Reggio Emilia approach, Emergent Curriculum, and the Project Approach we have truly created a child- centered environment. Multi-Age Grouping This term refers to grouping children so that the age span of the class is greater than one year to emphasize the goal of using teaching and curriculum practices that maximize the benefits of interaction and cooperation among children of various ages. Social competence develops for older children out of their roles as teachers and nurturers, and for younger children out their opportunity to observe and model the behavior of their older classmates. In a multi-age group, younger children are capable of participating and contributing to far more complex activities than they could initiate if they were by themselves. Once the older ones set up the activity, the younger ones can participate, even if they could not have initiated it. Every method of grouping children has risks. Single-age groups create pressures on children and teachers to expect the same knowledge and skills from all children, in groups of children with a wide age span, the range of behavior and performance likely to be accepted is wider. Research on mixed-age grouping suggests that in spite of its risks, the potential advantages outweigh the disadvantages. Curriculum All of our programs are inspired by the Reggio Emilia approach to Early Childhood Education. The Reggio philosophy builds the curriculum based on the interests of the children. Our approach to teaching is designed to make learning memorable, fun and inspiring. The preschool curriculum is also focused around the Project Approach and Emergent Curriculum. The teachers observe the children's interests through their play and during this observation period the teacher will present a project topic. The children will share with their teacher what they already know about the topic and then lessons are developed to encourage further exploration, questioning, and discovery. It is proven that children learn more when the subject stimulates them; therefore colors, numbers, and emergent literacy are all strengthened through the topics chosen by the children. The results are incredible. When the classroom is buzzing with project work the children are learning uppercase and lowercase letters, phonics are introduced, numbers reaffirmed, basic math skills explored and science investigations carried out. During the course of the day our teachers collect documentation of the children learning experiences through written observation and photographs. This documentation is put together on the computer and daily “Learning Stories” are emailed to the parents describing the daily activities, learning benefits, and Michigan Early Learning Standards. Each child’s learning experiences are documented through portfolio assessments and each child upon Graduation receives an Educational Portfolio that documents their journey at Building Blocks Preschool. The portfolios are available for students and parents to view. Parent-teacher conferences are scheduled mid-year or as needed. These scheduled conference times provide an opportunity to discuss children's learning styles and growth. Parents may also express concerns and this can be a time to exchange information to support children's needs and development. Learning Environment Our goal, as it was for the schools of Reggio Emilia, is to create an environment for children, teachers, and parents. The Full-Day Preschool Program is staffed with two teachers; however, in the Reggio approach the environment is considered the "third teacher." Our classrooms provide a home-like learning environments and our playground extends the classroom outdoors. Each classroom is set up to inspire, nurture and encourage discovery. We believe children are lovers of learning and we create an environment to encourage and support this desire. Classrooms are divided into learning centers that intrinsically foster social skills, cognitive development, and academic skills, while engaging their desire to learn, as they explore and discover together. Learning activities, materials, and other items are introduced into the classroom environment that focuses around the interests of the children. The daily schedule provides a structure that helps the children feel secure and competent. |
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| Full Day Preschool Monday-Friday |
| Enriched Active Learners. |
Nature is child's play.
Children learn best when they find answers for themselves and in their own way.
We document your child's learning and send you a learning story daily or weekly. (Learning Story
Example) This give you an opportunity to scaffold the learning process so you know what is
happening in our classrooms. This is a great tool to extend the learning process at home.
Give your child a great learning experience. Call for a tour today! 248.889.2727
We document your child's learning and send you a learning story daily or weekly. (Learning Story
Example) This give you an opportunity to scaffold the learning process so you know what is
happening in our classrooms. This is a great tool to extend the learning process at home.
Give your child a great learning experience. Call for a tour today! 248.889.2727
| Building the Foundation for a Love of Learning |
