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Children's Center Preschool Los Altos, California
four children painting with dot paint and stamps

your preschooler's day

Art Exploration

Art experiences that are child-driven and open-ended are an important part of developing self-expression. A wide variety of art media and tools encourages children to recreate their own reality, using representational art forms that demonstrate how children see their physical and social worlds. It can be both fun and inspiring to paint with things like Matchbox cars and golf balls, or to create recycled-materials collages. The process is more important than the product!

Bikes & Outdoor Play

The outdoor areas provide a natural contrast to the classroom with fresh opportunities for social interaction, physical and imaginative play, collaboration and problem solving. We offer four outside yards featuring play structures, sand, grass areas, and toys. A bike path with many different bikes’ choices, help children at all stages to further develop gross-motor skills. From two-year-old’s not quite ready to pedal yet, to five-year-old’s zipping around on balance bikes.

Calendar Time

Teachers gather the older students on the carpet area to welcome and celebrate the day. This valuable time is used to help establish and reinforce routines and social concepts, such as, greeting each other, exploring the days of the week, the weather, seasons, patterns and basic counting. Depending on the class, students often take turns standing up next to the teacher to help guide the class through these discussions, offering low-pressure and fun opportunities to be comfortable with public speaking.

Circle Time

A teacher-led time that differs in length and scope depending on the age of the class. Music, movement, flannel stories, books, games, puppets and social interaction are all a part of the circle “magic”. Learning how to participate in the circle group is a skill that prepares children for other large group activities. Many social, emotional, and academic skills are built upon and practiced at Circle Time.

Cognitive

These activities are specifically chosen for the children by their teachers to introduce or enhance particular skills in the classroom. A variety of engaging activities are modeled and selected to support: attentiveness, memory, thinking, following directions, fine motor development, recognition and value of numbers, visual discrimination and classification, recognition of upper-and-lower case letters, phonemic awareness, patterning, sequencing and task reasoning to finding solutions. Children actively participate in self-directed projects with concrete materials, fostering initiation, independence, follow-through, and completion.

two children playing with a toy castle

Gymnastics

Kim Kludt, of Start Fitness, leads your child’s class in gymnastics each week. The class focuses on gross motor skills, core strengthening, balancing, and age-appropriate tumbling. Parachute play and movement to music, are fun elements to this program. This program is designed for two-year old’s through Pre-K aged children.

Small Group

The class is divided into three small groups to encourage learning in a structure different from the whole-class environment. The groups might work on a special project, go for a nature walk, listen to a story, or share in fun, informal conversations. Participation in smaller interactive groups fosters reciprocal discussions, listening skills, cooperation, and compromise. This very important part of the day supports deeper relationships between children and strengthens the bonds between teacher and student. Children also have the chance to share their feelings and ideas with the group, to gain confidence in expressing themselves and their individuality.

Snack

The children are provided a peanut-free snack each day. Snacks typically include fresh fruit, various crackers, Goldfish, or pretzels, and water (children are encouraged to bring their own water bottles to class). It is not only a chance to socialize in a small group setting, but an opportunity for the children to practice manners and routines they can use at home, on play dates, or when they are out with family and friends.

Sunnyvale preschool