A young child experiences the world primarily through their senses — everything is to be touched, tasted, smelled, listen to, and examined carefully.
What we offer in our classrooms:
• Opportunities for independent and collaborative play
• Opportunities for quiet play
• Opportunities to grow in all developmental domains
• Sufficient challenge and diversity in the play activities provided
• Easy and independent access to a wide range of materials and equipment
Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.
– Carl Sagan
You love a safe, healthy, and inspiring environment that is ready for your exploration. This is a homelike atmosphere in which you can flourish. The space we have created for you have a homey atmosphere where you can flourish. The consistent daily routine, with enough time for free play, allows you to feel safe and confident.
You know what to expect, and additional surprises and special events bring a sense of adventure and discovery. Your caring teachers guide you and make you feel cared for and comfortable. Your clean and organized classroom is filled with endless opportunities, amazing toys, and books from all over the world that you can touch, feel, and explore.
Sometimes you’re in the garden for storytelling or artwork. Other times, you crawl and take some of your first steps in the garden, surrounded by nature. It’s great to have so many places in the classroom where you can become a master of “pulling up” or “walking”. The classroom has floor to ceiling windows and sometimes a bird will look inside and say hello! It’s just like being outside, but our radiant heated floors keep you warm and cozy, even if it’s snowing outside. You will find new friends and learn how to communicate and express yourself, even if the only words you know are “daddy”, “mama”, “no”, or “more”.
Potty training: We will follow the parent and child’s lead when it comes to potty training. We strive to partner with parents and whatever you are working on at home, we will work on at school. During the transition from diapers, we will remind and encourage your child to use the toilet frequently throughout the day and provide many updates about how they are doing.
The one who loves, flies, runs, and rejoices; he is free and nothing holds him back.
– Henri Matisse
You are filled with creativity, and are eager to learn. Your teachers guide and support you in your discoveries. You have grown-ups around you who know your likes and dislikes, and this gives you more confidence to express yourself and explore new horizons. You adore new challenges and inspirations. Sometimes you try to make a perfect track for a wooden ball on the large magnetic wall with your friends, other days you investigate light, colors, and shapes in the light laboratory by yourself.
Explore nature outside in the Japanese garden, collecting stones, exploring the water pump, digging for worms, or just enjoy listening to the birds sing. You love being around other children, and are starting to form real friendships. It’s amazing how much fun it can be learning to share, working on building something together, and even working through your conflicts together. You are mastering language and finding your independence.
You are working so hard on expressing your feelings and frustrations using your words. You feel comfortable sharing your joys and your challenges with your teachers. You are experiencing a lot of “Aha!” and “Wow!” moments. Every day, you have the chance to learn and play with younger or older children from other classes by making choices about what project you will work on. No matter that you choose, from art, to role playing, to construction, you all learn from one another.
Whoever wants to understand much must play much.
– Gottfried Benn
You are a master of imagination and expression. La Petite Colline provides you with the tools, crafts, materials, and of course, the opportunities to realize and express your ideas and feelings. During the day, you may be collaborating with your friends on construction with pipes, or working on a painting or drawing. You have the freedom to choose what you would like to do.
You know exactly what you like and what you don’t like, and La Petite Colline gives you the opportunity to try new things and expand your horizons. There are many chances for you to work in groups with other children and also time to work independently. You love to make up stories and act them out with your friends, ask questions, dance, build, create, and sing. You have a vivid imagination. You learn new ways of expressing your ideas and feelings through art, such as new painting or drawing techniques, and you are proud to share these with your family and friends.
With role-play and art, you recreate your experiences and express all the new things you are learning. You create experiments and learn through “trial and error”. Sometimes things don’t work out the way you planned and that is okay, it’s the best way to learn. Your teachers understand you, inspire you, and give you guidance. Working independently and in small groups, you lean through the hands-on exploration of materials such as art projects, block building, storytelling and books, cooking, drama, games, music and movement, and outdoor play.
The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched – they must be felt with the heart.
– Helen Keller
You are almost ready for elementary school — this new and exciting stage in life is about to begin, and you are well prepared for it!
You enjoy all the opportunities to play, explore, and create that La Petite Colline provides you. You enjoy the daily activities in your classroom, the garden, and outside at the neighborhood parks. You are ready for the challenges of elementary school. The social and literacy skills you have gained at La Petite Colline provide you with a solid foundation. You are confident in your abilities and true to yourself.
You appreciate the small group size, because it gives you the opportunity to improve your reading, writing and counting skills. You get one-on-one time with your teacher to work on the important pre-academic skills you will need for the transition to Kindergarten. You love exploring rhythm and music by playing on our electronic drum machine and creating beats with your friends. Every day you spend time in the garden or in one of the four nearby playgrounds. You learn about new fruits and vegetables, and measurement concepts during cooking projects with your friends and teachers.
We encourage you to try new things and to be okay with making mistakes. Only the courageous are brave enough to be wrong. Making mistakes is part of growing up!
Your classroom is a beautiful, state-of-the-art space with opened-ended materials, set up to help you become effective in expressing your imagination creatively and learn through collaboration. You are learning more and more new words and ways of expressing yourself, and can point out letter sounds and rhyming words, and maybe even write your own name and the names of your friends.
8:15-8:50 Arrival and Free Choice Play/Diaper Changing and Bathroom: Children will be arriving, transitioning into the classroom and are able to explore the various areas of the classroom.
8:50-9:00 Welcome Dance
9:00-9:20 Morning Meeting: Children will come together to talk about the day’s events and participate in songs, fingerplays or a read aloud.
9:20-9:35 Yoga/Body Awareness
10:00-10:45 Garden/Park/Playground & Morning Snack
11:00-11:30 Lunch
12:00-2:45 Brush Teeth and prepare for Nap/Rest
3:00-4:00 Workshop/Cooperative Learning Groups: Teachers will work with the children in two different groups on art projects, science & numbers.
Garden/ Outdoor class: A time for the class to gather together and play games, sing, dance, read stories but also introducing numbers & letters
4:00-4:30 PM Snack
4:30-5:30 Learning Centers: Children will explore the various areas of the classroom and teachers will work with children individually or in groups.
5:00-5:30 Freeplay/Dismissal
5:30-6:00 Pick-up
8:15- 8:50 Drop-off/Free-play: children will have the opportunity to work on quiet activities at different stations throughout the classroom. Breakfast till 8:30
8:50-9:00 Welcome Dance
9:00-9:15 Yoga/Body Awareness: Group Physical Activity
9:15-9:30 Circle Time: this is a time for children to develop a sense of belonging to a group. Social Skills are enhanced. Children learn to take part in group conversations, share ideas, and listen to the ideas of others. Morning meeting will contain literacy experiences as well as math or science, depending on the day and the topic of discussion.
9:30-10:00 Workshop: The teacher will also be working on projects with small groups of children or individuals, guiding the exploration. Depending on the weather, part of morning work time may also be held outdoors. (journaling, drawing, painting or another expression artform).
10:00-10:15 AM Snack: Indoor or Outdoor, depending on the weather
10:15-11:30 Outdoor Time/Active Play: we will spend time in one of the local parks or playgrounds. In cases of inclement weather, we will have active indoor play.
11:30-12:00 Lunch
12:00-2:45 Brush Teeth and prepare for Nap/Rest: children who wake up early/are not napping will participate in quiet activities during this time
3:00-4:00 Garden/Outdoor Workshop
4:00-4:30 PM Snack
4:30-5:00 Project work– children will be working in small groups on projects in their classroom as well as in other classrooms
5:00-5:30 Freeplay/Clean Up/Dismissal
5:30-6:00 Pick-up