Curriculum
The Shelburne Nursery School's mission is to provide a safe and nurturing environment, which encourages children to develop socially, emotionally, intellectually and physically.
Classrooms
Our program offers children opportunities to explore and learn from each other. The classrooms are set up to allow children to take risks. Teachers with with children as they are learning skills including sharing, taking turns, respecting different points of view and talking to solve problems. They encourage self-help skills. The curriculum includes science, social studies, pre-reading and pre-math skills. They also work on fine motor and gross motor development.
A typical day includes free play, circle time which include story, songs and finger play, group time when the students are broken into small groups for activities and exploration, a snack time and outside play time. Students go on a couple of field trips and participate in cooking projects. Parents and older siblings are encouraged to read a story, share a hobby or do a project.
Learning through Play
There are constant opportunities support children gain independence while learning self-help skills as well as the more academic pre-reading, math, science, and social studies skills. Everyday children will have an opportunity for physical activity, creative arts, and dramatic play.
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Learning is integrated in play. Children have opportunities on a daily basis to build skills through activities. Some examples include patterning, graphing, numeral recognition, sound awareness, rhyming, letter recognition, and scientific explorations.
A Typical Day
Upon entering, children and parents sign in, wash their hands and then participate in free play between two of the rooms.
At about 8:45 a.m, teachers and children come together for morning meeting.
We will have a greeting and we might play a game, or sing a song, or read a book, and we will discuss what the children can expect that day. This time is largely participatory and of short duration, longer for the older children than the younger group.
After the morning meeting, we break into small groups which comprise the majority of our day.
The small groups allow the staff to work with students to develop skills. The small groups are chosen daily with a different mixture of children. Throughout the course of the days attending children will have an opportunity to be in each classroom.
About half-way through the morning, we have snack time (provided by the family) and complete the small group sessions.
We end our day with a reflection, before heading outside to play. Families/caregivers will usually pickup children from the playground. We go outside as long the weather permits. Occasionally, we mix up our day to avoid extreme temperatures and precipitation.