COME ONE! COME ALL!

We are settled into our new location. Now all we need are children!

An Open House has been scheduled for Saturday, January 26, 2013 from 9 - 11:30am in the preschool room of the Jermain Church at 601 5th Avenue, Watervliet, NY. The preschool entry is along the 6th STREET side of the church. There is a sign out front with our name on it. We welcome all families who are searching for a one-of-a-kind preschool experience. Our program is all about PLAY being the basis for early childhood learning. We are busy with exposing, exploring and experiencing the world through play. Included in our day are many arts and crafts projects, music, dramatic play, block building, science and computer fun. During all this playtime, we are focused on social interactions which foster appropriate communication with peers and adults, acceptable manners, and respect for others belongings, space and feelings. We get daily exercise outdoors with our very large play yard or, if inclement weather occurs, we are able to set up many pieces of gym equipment around the classroom.

Throughout the year, we follow a thematic plan which teaches the children about the world they live in. Some themes include an international flavor, since we have come from the RPI community where many International families have attended over the years. We are very inclusive when it comes to the holidays! We celebrate MANY holidays in December. Not only Christmas, but also Hanukkah, Ramadan, Diwali, Kwanzaa and even a little-known holiday called Tihar, celebrated in Nepal among other countries in that area of the world. Be sure to check out the Curriculum Pages along the tabs at the top of the Home Page to see activities used in our themes.

 We would also like to extend an invitation to all of our former families who can come and share your experience with any new prospective families. The best advertising we have is through word-of-mouth. If you come to say hello again and see our new space, please try to bring along a new family with you!

The room is ready. The program is ready. I am ready.

Are YOU ready?

A NEW BEGINNING

It is with a heavy heart that I share with you, that after 44 years, our beloved Playschool must leave it's current location. RPI has asked us to relocate, so off-campus we go. After a month-long search, we have discovered our new heaven. We will be moving to the Jermain Church at 601 5th Avenue in Watervliet, NY. It's just across the river and a few blocks south from the Troy location. Located in a residential neighborhood, we now have our own space in the back corner of an old, stone church built in 1876! I think it will accommodate our needs just fine. We are having a sale at the old site next week to sell items we will not bring with us to the church. Everything else is packed and ready to move on Monday, July 9th.

We are currently looking for children to enroll in our new program, now renamed Laugh and Learn Playschool. If anyone reading this post knows of preschool age children who may not have already enrolled in a program, please send them our way. We are also going to offer a two-year-old mini-program option. Leave a comment below if you would like more information about either the preschool or pre-three programs. Wish us luck!

SMARTY-PANTS

Last week we were doing a weather theme in Playschool. One of my 3-year-olds was playing a board game with me and two other children. You had to spin to see how many spaces to move. As you went around the board, you landed on spaces that indicated one of four types of weather - sunny, rainy, windy or snowy. Everyone had a set of playing cards representing those four types of weather. Each time you landed on a space, you had to turn over the card that represented the weather of the space you landed on. This one child had only one card left and he had figured out how many spaces he needed to move to win, so he spun the spinner and it landed on the wrong number. So he spun it again. Still not the number he needed. The third time, he just turned the spinner to the number he needed and won the game. His dad was watching him and thought that he shouldn't cheat like that. I was just stunned at how clever he was (at THREE YEARS OLD!) to figure it all out!

SOMETIMES I FORGET.....

I don't always remember how much I affect the activity level in the classroom.

Yesterday, the children were playing pretty well. I was spending a lot of time helping children with table projects during the playtime. We were finishing our Food and Nutrition theme with paper hot dogs and hamburgers, along with the place mats depicting all of the food groups we introduced each day. When everyone had finished the table work, I cleaned up the tables. There was still plenty of play time left. Suddenly the activity level increased and they became less and less focused. Eventually they stopped playing and began asking if it was clean-up time yet.

My working parent commented on how the group of children had started wandering and couldn't find anything to do. She and I looked at each other and tried to figure out what was happening. When I got everything put away, I sat down at the playdough table. At some point in our conversation, we noticed that the children had all settled down and began playing with something or someone again. It was a dramatic transformation.

THEN I remembered! 

ROUTINE ADJUSTMENTS

School has begun for another year. Children are arriving with Mom or Dad in their new classroom. No one is quite sure how this will work. The children are nervous about the new space and the new teacher and all those new children. Mom and Dad are not quite sure of how their child will react, or how much this new experience will affect everyone....including them.

Here is an idea to make the transition a bit smoother:

BEFORE arriving at school, discuss with your child what will happen. Talk about what they will see and do when they first arrive. Discuss which activity(ies) you will do with your child. Tell them that you will leave after that activity is done. You can be as detailed as your child is able to handle, with the routine you want to set.

For instance, "First we will put your coat in the cubbie. Then let's go see what projects are open today. Then we can choose one thing to do together. And then I have to go to work. I will be back at the end of your day."

When you arrive at the school, do exactly what you said you would do.

And then go!

You may need to ask the teacher to take the child while you go out the door. If so, hand the child over to the teacher and say goodbye. Never try to sneak out when they aren't looking. This frightens them and sets up trust issues between you and your child.

Set this routine every day. It doesn't have to be the exact same activity, but it should be the same routine.  Once the situation becomes predictable, the child begins to feel more secure and comfortable. Transitions and adjustments are no longer a struggle.

It is not easy setting the routine, but it WILL get easier as time goes on (usually about 2-3 weeks) ....as long as you are consistent.

Ask for help if necessary.

SAY WHAT YOU MEAN...AND MEAN WHAT YOU SAY

"One more minute," the child asks. "One more time," they beg, "before it's time to go, can I do it just one more time? Please?".

If your child is begging for one more turn or one more minute or one more anything, it's up to you to decide what you want to allow. But when you decide what that will be, you MUST stick with it. Otherwise, "No" doesn't mean no. Everything becomes negotiable, and we all know THAT isn't true.

Some things are just not negotiable. You would never let your child run out into the street into oncoming traffic. But what if "No" doesn't mean no to them? Do you think they would stop running toward the road if they had learned that "No" was always negotiable? Many things are not life or death situations, but the lesson must be learned regardless of how important the situation is. Let's teach them the right thing to do BEFORE it's a safety issue.

 Say what you mean...and mean what you say.

ANOTHER YEAR IN THE BOOKS

We have come to the end of another school year. Our circus party was a great success! I added 5 new games to the first part of the day. Along with the 10 games from last year, there were games of Circus Lotto, Circus Matching,  Play dough Clowns and Elephants, Circus Computer games and Pin-the-Nose-On-the-Clown. Freckles came to do her thing once again. Owen was a great Clown Assistant and found her magic very entertaining.

We then ate our Circus snack, and finished the day with diplomas for our graduates, gifts for all and a final class picture of everyone. Beautiful day!

Seven of our fifteen children have left the program. We said a sad goodbye to Iris, Isaac, Anthony, Owen, Abram, Roscoe and Riley. The other 8 children have decided to continue with our program for the "optional extended year" (another three weeks in June) after which we will close for the summer. This has to be the fastest year I have ever experienced at this Playschool.

(Please visit the May Curriculum page to see our Circus projects from this final week.)

KIDS SAY THE DARNDEST THINGS....

 Allison came through the door like a whirlwind the other day. It was not her usual way of entering. I asked her if she had new batteries or something.

I was unaware that Catherine was listening at the other end of the room until her mother came in a week later and informed me that Catherine had visited her grandmother over the weekend. When she entered grandma's house, she warned everyone, "You'd better watch out! I have new batteries!" Mom had no idea where she'd heard that. I said, "I know."

Too funny!