Our Pink Class is a class designed to give families with toddlers an opportunity to meet and learn with other families with toddlers. Each week parents and children alike will be learning and experiencing new things. Class will begin at 9:30 with a free play time. Parents will be playing in the classroom with their students for the first thirty minutes. Half of the parents will step into an adjoining room for the second thirty minutes for a parent education and discussion time while the other half will stay in the classroom supervising the children and gaining experience through lab hours. For the final 30 minutes the families will once again work together to clean up the toys, wash hands, and eat snack. After snack, families will participate in a short interactive music time. The following week, the parent share group will switch places with the classroom helper parents to discuss the same topic.

Parent Discussion will be mostly managed by Mrs. Witham, although may also be overseen by Ms. Kelly or our Bates instructor.

Children will be able to participate in a variety of centers such as art, puzzles, manipulatives, large motor movement, dramatic play, and blocks.

The intent of this class is to give young students an opportunity to play with their peers and begin to understand school routines. Two year olds are only just beginning to talk well enough to communicate with peers or other adults. We spend much of our time learning how to take turns and share, how to talk to peers rather than be physical with them, and how to anticipate a regular routine and follow rules. 

Toys and art projects are intentionally chosen that give kids an opportunity to work on gross and fine motor skills, verbal skills, spatial and mathematical skills. Early literacy and pre-writing skills, allows for creativity, and encourages social interaction.  

We begin the day with free choice time which includes two choices of creative art, playdough, puzzles, reading center, sensory table, block center, manipulatives, large motor area, and a dramatic play center. We work together to clean up and learn to stand in line to wash hands for snack. We eat a small snack together, with the intention of trying new and healthy foods, when our parents return to the class to participate in music with the students before dismissal. 

This class starts with free choice time where the children learn through exploration and play as they interact with each other. After free choice time the students participate in a whole group circle time. At the beginning of the year, this is mostly singing songs and a short story. As the year progresses, we discuss the weather and calendar and read more complex stories. Circle time is followed by snack time where the students learn how to eat family style, passing the food around the table to share, and learning how to serve themselves. The class then heads outside for gross motor activities. After outside time, the class heads back in for a short music time before heading home. The students in red class learn a wide variety of social skills as they play with each other. The students learn to share toys, ask their peers questions, and use words to advocate for themselves. 

Orange Class is held completely outdoors. This class is intended for children ages three, four, or five at the beginning of the year that are ready for longer days and more structure. We have all the aspects of a traditional preschool class including circle time, music time, and reading time in an environment that encourages more observations of the world around us. Orange class is surrounded by both natural and human made things to learn about daily. We watch the seasons change around us and learn how to adapt to the cold and then the heat. We watch different birds migrate in during the fall, then leave during the spring. We also get to observe the helicopters and the military planes fly overhead during class, or hear sirens coming down the street and garbage trucks and tractors working nearby.

As the year progresses not only will we start a handwriting curriculum to begin develop fine motor skills and early literacy skills, but we will also dig in our garden, build in our carpentry station, and look for frogs and bugs, to work on gross motor skills, social development, and natural sciences. Outdoor learning provides a unique opportunity that encourages cooperative play and more scaffolding in their learning. The classroom is much more student and environment led than indoor opportunities offer.

Helpful items for this class include rainsuits or raincoats, rain boots, hats, mittens, handwarmers for our colder days, and a change of clothes in backpacks.

This class is designed for children preparing for kindergarten. It is 2 1/2 hours long with three circle times. We have a free choice time both inside and outside every day. Blue Class students are learning self control and patience to prepare themselves for an academic kindergarten classroom, still incorporating our play based learning philosophy. We use the Handwriting without Tears curriculum. It focuses on fine motor skills and basic letter recognition. After winter break we begin to journal and practice writing our names on a regular basis. 

This class is a group project class, usually with a weekly theme, intended to be an enrichment to standard learning. This is a one day a week class that is available for children in Blue Orange. It is a shorter class, although we still usually have time for some free play time, both indoors and outdoors. Plan on preschool science experiments, art projects, or scavenger hunts for example. It is a great opportunity for kids to meet children from another class and have unusual opportunities for learning.