PreSchool Handbook

TOURS
Families who are interested in scheduling a tour of our preschool, can contact our Director of Preschool, Kristine Vardanyan. Tours are conducted on a regular basis. For more information you may reach Kristine at (323) 356-8531 or (310) 473-3337.

APPLICATION PROCESS (waiting list)
In order to secure a place for your child, please fill out an application and turn it in with a nonrefundable fee of $100.00 to the Director of Preschool. Please make checks payable to Saint. Sebastian School. Once the Director of Preschool has received your application, she will contact you for a confirmation of the application.

CONTRACT
When there is an opening for your child, the Preschool Director will contact the family and inform them of the opening. Parents must come in within seven business days and sign a contract. Please note that all necessary licensing paperwork needs to be complete before your child can start.

SEPARATION PROCESS
Once you have signed a contract, the Preschool Director will call you back to schedule regular ongoing play dates. In order to ease the separation process for both children and parents, families who have signed a contract will be invited to bring their child in for play dates.

PRESCHOOL  MISSION 
St. Sebastian Preschool provides a nurturing, diverse environment where children can develop socially, emotionally, cognitively and physically. Our daily practices incorporate emergent curriculum and anti-bias curriculum which stimulate each child’s unique interests, curiosity and sense of discovery. Ultimately, our mission is to enhance the development of social skills, relationships, respect for others and oneself, self-help skills, autonomy, peaceful conflict resolution and the empowerment of one’s own ideas and feelings leading to success in school and life and most importantly, instill the love of learning.

OUR  PRESCHOOL  PHILOSOPHY 
Our preschool philosophy is based on two concepts. First, each child is a unique individual and will develop physically, cognitively, emotionally and socially at his or her own pace. We see children as competent learners, capable of engaging with ideas and the world around them. Second, it is our belief that children learn through play. Play is their work. Additionally, play is the natural mode of learning for the young child. It is through play and our hands-on approach that we introduce literacy, early mathematics, science and social studies. We believe that it is essential to create an atmosphere of trust and safety where children will strive to become independent critical thinkers who feel free to explore their environment confidently.

Our program philosophy is fundamentally driven by Developmentally Appropriate Practices for young children as defined by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). Our curriculum is customized to meet each child’s individual needs socially, emotionally, physically and cognitively.

OUR  PRESCHOOL  CURRICULUM
Curriculum (Creative Curriculum by Diane Trister Dodge, Laura Colker and Cate Heroman) “Curriculum” refers to the activities the children engage in, the unique characteristics of a “child choice” environment, the ways that teachers communicate and guide children as well as the methods we use to teach children concepts and skills that support later learning in school. The following guiding principles are used when determining whether an activity or interaction is developmentally and individually appropriate.

SOCIAL/EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Social/emotional development during preschool years is about socialization-the process by which children learn the values and behaviors accepted by society. It is also about becoming a competent and confident person.

There are three goals for social/emotional development:

1) Achieving a sense of self: knowing oneself and relating to other people-both children and adults.

2) Taking responsibility for self and others: following rules and routines, respecting others, and taking initiative.

3) Behaving in a pro-social way: showing empathy and getting along in the world, for example, by sharing and taking turns.

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT
Physical development includes children’s gross (large muscle) and fine (small muscle) motor skills.

There are two goals for physical development

1) Achieving gross motor control: moving the large muscles in the body, especially the arms and legs, consciously and deliberately. Gross motor control includes balance and stability; movements such as running, jumping, hopping, galloping, skipping; and physically manipulations such as throwing, kicking and catching.

1) Achieving fine motor control: using and coordinating the small muscles in the hands and wrists with dexterity. As these fine muscles develop, children are able to perform with self-help skills and manipulate small objects such as scissors and writing tools. The achievement of fine motor skills generally lags behind gross motor development.

COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
Cognitive development refers to the mind and how it works. It involves how children think, how they see the world, and how they use what they learn.

There are three goals for cognitive development

1) Learning and problem solving: being purposeful about acquiring and using information, resources and materials. As children 1. observe events around them, ask questions, make predictions, and test possible solutions, learning reaches beyond just acquiring facts. Persistence and learning how to apply knowledge expands their learning even further.

2) Thinking logically: gathering and making sense of the information by comparing, contrasting, sorting, classifying, counting, 2. measuring, and recognizing patterns. As children use logical thinking, they organize their world conceptually and gain a better understanding of how it works.

3) Representing and thinking symbolically: using objects in a unique way, for instance, a cup to represent a horse; pretending, for instance, to be mommy or a firefighter; portraying the world through charts or pictures, for instance, making a graph to show changes in the weather over time or a drawing to show what happened to a character in a story. Representations and symbols free children from the world of literal meanings and allow them to use materials and their imagination to explore abstract ideas.

LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
Language development includes understanding and communicating through words, spoken and written. Children are born with the capacity to communicate with others-verbally and non-verbally. By the time they reach preschool, their ability to communicate thoughts and feelings through spoken language takes on new importance. Language becomes the principle tool for establishing and maintaining relationships with adults and other children.

There are two goals for language development.

1) Listening and speaking: Using spoken language to communicate with others, enlarging one’s vocabulary, expressing oneself, 1. understanding the oral speech of others, participating in a conversation, and using language to solve problems. As children learn to listen and speak, they gain control of themselves and their world, relate effectively to others, and gather and store more and more information.

2) Reading and writing: making sense of written language, understanding the purpose of print and how it works, gaining knowledge of the alphabet, writing letters and words. When children begin to read they gain access to new worlds of information and faraway places, including the world of imagination. Writing things down expands memory, communication, and understanding.

SCHEDULE
7:00 am – 8:40 am Welcome! Open Centers 8:40 am – 8:50 am Clean-up Time
8:50 am - 9:00 am Welcome! (Announcements for the day)
9:00 am – 9:45 am Circle Time (Lions) 9:45 am – 10:00 am Snack Time (Lions)
10:00 am – 10:15 am Snack Time (Bunnies)
10:15 am – 10:45 am Circle Time (Bunnies)
10:45 am – 11:45 am Inside and Outside Time
11:45 am – 12:00 pm Clean-up Time
12:00 pm – 12:30 pm Lunch Time
12:30 pm – 12:45 pm Story Time
12:45 pm – 2:45 pm Nap Time
2:45 pm - 3:00 pm Wake-up Time
3:00 pm - 3:15 pm Snack Time
3:15 pm -3:30pm Story Time
3:30 pm - 4:00 pm Special Activities Time (Inside)
4:00 pm – 4:45 pm Outside Time
4:45 pm – 5:00 pm Clean-up Time
5:00 pm – 5:45 pm Special Activities (Inside)
5:45 pm – 6:00 pm Clean-up Time and Goodbye Transitions