A preschool day

Free Choice

Students have an extensive preschool classroom to roam and discover: flubber (play dough), art paper with paint at the ready, the train table and blocks, dress-up clothes, books, puzzles, and wonderfully messy art and science projects.

Free choice time is where social skills are practiced and guided.  During this time teachers actively work with children to learn how to make friends and resolve social conflicts. 

Tidy Time

Students learn to organize and group related objects.

Circle Time

At Circle, kids learn together as a group.  Calendar, community story creation, poetry, dancing, discussion, etc. will be explored during this teacher-directed activity. Not only do kids learn from the teacher and other kids about the theme of the week, they also learn the expectations for group behavior: times to listen and times to talk, how to sit next to someone without poking them, and putting a hand up to ask a question.

Each week, a new theme unit is explored. Theme units have included Farming, dinosaurs, transportation, Apples, story extensions, etc. The Apple unit includes a taste testing of several varieties of apple and culminates in a class effort to make and bake an apple pie. Brave parents are often able to taste the pie efforts during the Opening Party, one of several social events during the school year.

Some units build over several weeks such as the Story unit. Students collectively author a story by choosing a title and characters and developing a story as a group. The following week, during the Make a Play unit, their collective story is then adapted into a play production starring everyone and featuring props and costumes the students make in class.

Snack

Everyone sits and eats together. In addition to learning group table manners, this is a constructive time for group interaction and discussion, as initiated by “Share”. This eagerly anticipated show and tell time lets kids get comfortable with being in front of people and introduces them to public speaking.

Large Muscle & Outdoor Play

Privately fenced off, the Morning Star School playgrounds are a safe place for students to develop their large motor skills. In addition to sturdy playground structures and sandboxes, there are bikes, wagons, and balls. Students enjoy teacher-directed games such as red light/green light and hide and seek. This period is held indoors if the weather is really poor.  However, we go out in almost weather and students will need good coats and shoes for outdoor play.

Art, Story Dictation and Small Group Activities

• Art - Our Art Room is open for business during free play periods for all classes.  A changing variety of materials and media allow students to explore their creativity and exercise their fine-motor control. All students may freely engage in a large variety of medias in the art room during free play. Older students have teacher guided structured art projects sprinkled in weekly in addition to free access to art during free play periods.

• Story Dictation - A wonderful way for kids to participate in having their own words written down, story dictation generates excitement and enthusiasm about the power of language and authorship. Our students interact one-on-one with a teacher to create their own story and then get to hear their words magically come back when parents read their stories at home.

• Small Groups - Teachers are always looking for ways to catch a teaching moment, or follow the children's lead in spontaneous activities that spring up during free play.  We may add an activity based a child's particular interest, or sit down to do a puzzle or read a book, and end with a small group who want to join.  These are captured moments to work with small children on language, social, and problem solving skills development.

• Prekindergarten & Kindergarten - Prek students engage in mock Kindergarten activities for a short period each day as part of their Kindergarten preparation, while Kindergarten ready students receive their lessons in small group as well. Classes are split into small groups and students take turns engaging in preschool/kindergarten age appropriate activities that include preliteracy/math skills, structured art and structured play.  Activities are age appropriate and fun. However, unlike our flexibility in the younger age groups, participation becomes important so that children learn to participate successfully in teacher driven and group activities as they prepare to enter Kindergarten.  These activities begin gently and build towards Kindergarten entry expectations by the time students graduate in June. Kindergarten preparation builds towards 1st grade expectations over the course of the year, and only when a child is developmentally ready.

Throughout the school day

Every day, all during class we teach our students how to resolve social conflict and how to make good decisions. Our lessons are child oriented and age appropriate for the individual child.

A classic example:

Jill hit Jack and took his pail and so Jack is crying.

What and Why: We teach our students to tell a teacher if someone is bothering them. We then put Jack and Jill face to face and explain what is not ok and why it was not ok and then tell them what to do instead.  “It's not OK to hit someone and take their things. That hurts them. If you want their toy, you need to say 'May I have it?”.  For older kids who already understand what they have done, we lead with "If you choose to hit someone...", then what the consequence is for choosing that behavior, and culminate with a reminder of what to do instead.

What to do instead: if you want the pail, you need to ask first, “Can I see the pail?” And if the answer is no, ask “Can I have it when you are done?”

We use clear and simple language to give kids a repertoire of very specific things to say to resolve social conflict and encourage them to seek help from an adult when they need it.