our programs & our curriculum Our days at Bel Air Presbyterian Preschool are fun and full of activity. Our school is licensed for 76 children each day. All children attending the Preschool must be toilet trained and have the ability to independently use restroom facilities. Bel Air Presbyterian Preschool has five morning classrooms and three afternoon classes with two teachers in each classroom, which leaves us with an adult/child ratio of between 1:6 and 1:8. That ratio is even lower when we have additional adult volunteers (parents) or college interns working with us. MORNING CLASSES: Youngest Class (ages 2.5-3.5; must be 2.5 by September 15) Middle A Class (ages 3-4; must be 3 by September 15) Middle B Class (ages 3-4; must be 3 by September 15) Oldest A Class (ages 4-5; must be 4 by September 15) Oldest B Class (ages 4-5; must be 4 by September 15) AFTERNOON CLASSES (additional program for children enrolled in the morning): Afternoon Enrichment Dragonflies (Middle Class Children) Afternoon Enrichment Ladybugs (Oldest Class Children) Afternoon Enrichment Grasshoppers (Oldest Class Children) Children are typically divided and placed into classrooms by age. However, developmental readiness supersedes the age cut-off and at times may require a different placement. For confidentiality reasons, we will not announce (to the greater parent body) the move of a child to another classroom OR the addition of a new child to our program. Morning Program At the beginning of the day, children are warmly welcomed to enter their world of Preschool. Preschool curriculum activities begin usually with a “Good Morning Circle Time” or a time of choice in working between many different activities or learning centers. The learning centers we most regularly use are: the Art Area, Blocks, Dramatic Play, Manipulatives & Science Area, Reading and Sensory. Children will have the opportunity to go to Chapel weekly for a short time of prayer, singing and a story. It is exciting to observe children immerse themselves in the aspects of their environment with a teacher or peer. At a time in every morning, children are able to go outdoors. Children experience a variety of activities when participating in the Outdoor Classroom: sand play, water play, building, wood working, climbing, swinging, ball play, tricycling, sliding and more. The curriculum for our morning program is based around the environment we create within the classroom. Our environments have a great influence on how we feel, behave, and to what we pay attention and is the basis of any early childhood curriculum. The environment at Bel Air Presbyterian Preschool is intriguing, aesthetically pleasing, inviting and cultivates children’s curiosity and imagination. A child-centered, emergent curriculum environment is about “creating spaces for preserving childhood.” The environment sets the stage by creating an atmosphere and opportunity for engagement, which allows the curriculum to unfold and emerge. Each classroom is divided up into the specific learning areas, and children will have the opportunity to explore these areas as they choose. Sometimes these areas have a “unit-related” activity and other times a variety of materials are available that children can select—this is how curriculum emerges beyond what the teacher has planned. The most important goal of our early childhood curriculum is to help children become enthusiastic learners. This means encouraging children to be active, creative explorers who are not afraid to try out their ideas and to think their own thoughts. Our curriculum identifies goals in all areas of development: Social: to help children feel comfortable in school, trust their new environment, make friends, take turns, and get their shovel or bike back when another child takes it. Emotional: to help children experience pride and self-confidence, develop independence and self-control and have a positive attitude toward life. Cognitive: to help children become confident learners by letting they try out their own ideas and experience success, and by helping them acquire learning skills such as the ability to solve problems, ask questions, and use words to describe their ideas, observations and feelings. Physical: to help children increase their large and small muscle skills and feel confident about what their bodies can do. Afternoon Enrichment The Afternoon Enrichment program was created in the spring of 2002 for children who are developmentally ready for a longer day and to support families that have schedules that would benefit from their child being involved in Preschool for longer hours. Contemporary research confirms that young children learn most effectively when they are engaged in interaction rather than merely receptive or passive activities (Bremer, 1999). The Afternoon Enrichment Program at Bel Air Presbyterian Preschool is designed to provide extended opportunities for children to strengthen their natural dispositions to learn when they are interacting with adults, peers, materials and their surroundings in ways that help them to make better and deeper sense of their own experience and environment. Through the course of a year the children will explore several thematic units that are different and distinct from the units and activities that encompass the morning program. Although each unit has certain objectives, the units are created with the whole child in mind, and will be taught in a way that allows for individual development and diversity. As children immerse themselves in each unit, they will investigate and purposefully observe aspects of their environment, recording and representing their findings and observations through various activities. Since we know that children learn best by seeing and doing, a large aspect of Afternoon Enrichment is in the guest speakers and field trips that will happen periodically through each unit. A child is eligible for Afternoon Enrichment if he or she is currently enrolled in the Morning Program, is in one of the Middle or Oldest classes, and is between the ages of three and five years old. Parents must provide a lunch for their child, and a 30-minute rest period will be given daily. Afternoon Enrichment is a program that is available the entire school year, beginning in September and ending in June; therefore a yearly commitment is required. We reserve the right to remove any child from Afternoon Enrichment or disallow enrollment into this program if it is determined that the child is not developmentally ready for what the class requires. Summer in the Son Bel Air Presbyterian Preschool has two, three-week summer camp sessions in the months of July and August for children between the ages of 2.5 and entering Kindergarten. This program is open to returning children, incoming children and children in the community. Summer in the Son program hours are from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Monday through Friday. Children will explore three different thematic units each session, as well as attend chapel three times per week and experience water play. The older children will go on a field trip. Families who participate in Summer in the Son will have waitlist priority for spaces in the fall.