Bilingual Cooperative Preschool

Welcome to preschool!

This is a place where parents are involved in the classroom and where children, ages 2 to 5, learn from each other, their teachers and the talented parent community. At A New Leaf, we play and cook together, and children study the arts and sciences and are exposed to learning French. The curriculum integrates print and number literacy in activities and during hands-on projects and experiments.
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Preschool Structure
School starts : September 2nd 2008
School ends: May 21st (both for 2008 and 2009)
School in session: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday
Time: 8:00 am to 2:00 pm
Tuition: $340/month
Building fee: $50 once a year
Supplies fee: $25 twice a year
Enrollment: 12 to 15 students
Staff: 2 teachers and one helping parent
Languages: English and French
Included: Morning meal and lunch.

Preschool Core Curriculum
1. Life skills: nutrition and health, cooking, gardening, movement and exercise.
2. How to get along: cooperating more and competing less, finding peaceful solutions, developing listening and oral expression skills.
3. Sciences and math: hands-on projects and experiments, understanding scientific concepts using artistic representations, models and games.
4. Art: viewing and experiencing different forms of art, making multi-media creations.
5. Music: rhythm, theory and practice, Kindermusik, listening to music, singing songs in French, English and other languages, dancing.
6. Languages: reading, storytelling, writing a journal, word games, speaking English and French.
7. Social studies: what children from other countries eat, wear, play, make and say, global economy, what people do for a living all around the world.

Schedule
8:00
Our students arrive to school, are welcomed and choose where and how to begin the day.

Some may play games,
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draw, write a letter, or work in their journal,
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others do yoga,
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build,
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read,
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explore,
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play the piano,
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9:00
 We gather together for group time to greet each other, record the weather, talk, recite a poem, read, learn about composers, taste foods and more.
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After group time, the self-help snack bar is open for one hour.
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Before and after children choose to eat snack, they may start other activities:
express themselves through all possible art forms,
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dress-up and pretend,
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develop dexterity, strength, coordination, independence,
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experiment,
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build some more,
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Many activities relate to ongoing themes. Themes emerge from children’s interests. Past favorites have been: forms of water, power of water, electricity, magnets, energy, how plants grow, why we eat, how we digest, what is inside our bodies, animal diversity, structure and function, insects, balls, cars and ramps, and more! We ask questions together, create models and experiment.
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10:30
Students that are part of the chef team for the day prepare lunch.
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12:15
The chefs ring the bells and everyone gets ready to join at the tables. We sit all together to enjoy the great food and conversation. After the meal, we clean-up!
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1:40
It's time for games and music!
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2:00
Parents/guardians arrive, it's time for hugs and good-byes.

 Staff
Director and Teachers
The role of the director and teachers is to orchestrate the constant improvement of the quality of the environment, teaching, and interactions. We interact with the students in a way that maximizes their learning. We attend workshops, classes, and conferences. We research and develop new curriculum. We organize activities and materials. We read education, neurobiology, psychology, learning and development literature. We work to meet and excel all regulations and assessment criteria. We are here to talk with parents about their children, about concerns and joys. We want to meet the needs of each child and help them grow thoughtful, strong and inspired.

Helping Parents
 Parents play a fundamental role at A New Leaf. Parents, rotate in the “classroom” as a helping teacher once a month. Parents are also involved behind the scenes by fulfilling the requirements of support jobs needed to run the school. When parents are excited about the school and involved, the children are too. We believe in helping new students transition to our school in a way that caters to their needs. Parents are always welcomed at school. Helping parents provide a rich community for students to feel secure. By being a teacher once a month, parents feel connected to their child’s experience, to the staff and to the other families.