What you need to know about Pre-Kindergarten!

Ask a kindergarten teacher what she wants from her new kindergarten student. She will tell you she wants a student who demonstrates a love for learning! A child with an endless questions inspires a natural curiosity to learn more about their world around them. Children who ask lots of questions have a wonderful tendency to want to problem-solve!  Problem solving is such a wonderful skill for a child to possess!  Kindergarten teachers also want their students to demonstrate solid oral-language skills. Children need a background knowledge of their world along with the words which belong to it. Kindergarten teachers also want a child who possess a desire to be independent! Teachers expect children to master the following:

• Get coats on and off and hang them up 
• Follow simple two-step instructions such as "take off your boots and put on your sneakers"
• Go to the bathroom and wash their hands 
• Blow their nose and cover their mouth when they cough 
• Fasten and unfasten simple buttons and snaps 
• Eat neatly and pour into a cup 
• Open up a juice box and get the straw in.

Our School and its Teachers prepare children for school success! Schedule an appointment to meet our team today and learn more about why so many school administrators and teachers choose to send their own children to our school!

Ways to Get Preschoolers to Stop and Listen

Ever feel and sound like a broken record when you are trying to communicate with your preschooler?We do too sometimes. Getting a child to stop and listen can be hard, especially if your child is engrossed with an activity and it's time to move on to something else. Here are some tips on how to help your preschooler stop and listen.

1. Walk over to your child. It's just much more easier than shouting across a room and more effective just to walk over to your child or a group of children. Position yourself at eye level with your child and communicate with he/she in a friendly and positive manner. Children have a tendency to tune out others around them.

2. Eye contact is key! It's really important that children try to make eye contact with you. Children will look around and sometime avoid making eye contact. When this does happen, we remind the child and say, "When you look at me, your eyes tell me that you are listening to me" or "I need to see your eyes" also works too. Please remember to be communicate in a friendly and positive manner.

3. Your message should be short, sweet, and to the point. Children are not fans of listening or being lectured for extended periods of time. Convey your message quickly and effectively.

4. Practice makes perfect! You may have a child who refuses to look at you or even not want to listen to your words. You may want to lead your child to another quiet area away from other children and adults. Children (and adults) don't enjoy being called out or redirected in front of a group. Treat and communicate in a manner in which you want to be treated or communicated with.

How Does Your Infant Learn?

We love our infant program! Our infant team is incredibly dedicated and highly knowledgeable about infant and toddler development. An infant's first form of communication is by crying. When an infant cries, he/she is only communicating their needs and interests. Parents and caregivers are the infant's first teacher and it is vital that we do our best to provide opportunities for our infants to explore what's around him/her.  So how do we give opportunities to our infants so that they can explore? Our curriculum coordinator, Nicole Chisolm recommends spending lots of "face time" with your infant. Talk to your infant as you would to an older child or adult. By talking to your infant, you are promoting language.  Be sure to point out objects and people to your infant within your environment as this will help your infant to associate the object with the name.

Infants love to put objects in their mouth. This is commonly known as mouthing. Mouthing helps your infant to feed a need to better know the world around them. By mouthing, infants are able to determine textures, shapes, sounds, and tastes.

By providing your infant opportunities to see, hear, taste, and touch, you are helping your infant to build his/her motor development as well as social and emotional development.