Our preschool classes are designed to help children adjust to a new environment and confidently develop their skills and interests.
Encouraging children to explore the world around them
Offering opportunities for solo work as well as collaborative activities, our preschool classes – and the teachers who lead them – help students gain a well-rounded education and learn how to make good decisions.
Our play-based, emergent curriculum develops as teachers build relationships with individuals and learn the interests of each group. Teachers establish these relationships in a safe and familiar environment, so that students know what to expect and can begin to have ownership over their own space.
To this end, routines are kept consistent, rules and expectations are clearly explained, popular materials are maintained and new ones are brought in to match individual and group interests. The adults in the room provide comfort and guidance as co-collaborators.
All of the classrooms have a sand and a water table, art materials and writing supplies, blocks and vehicles, books and puzzles, dollhouses and loft-style playhouses. Each class visits the gym daily and children participate in structured and unstructured large motor activities. Our gym is equipped with mats and tunnels for climbing and jumping, a rock climbing wall with firefighter pole, slide and playhouse, large building materials, and various opportunities for large format writing and drawing. While each classroom may have the same or very similar materials, how the children approach them depends on their age and experience. Teachers increase the complexity of activities as the children’s understanding and abilities advance.
The 2-Day and 3-Day classes are usually entry points for families joining the co-op and these classes each have two lead teachers to help children navigate group life, with a particular focus on separation, toileting and reciprocal interactions. Our 4-Day class is a mix of children new to Park West and children returning from a 2-Day or 3-Day class. Junior Kindergarten offers more complex challenges for our oldest children.
Learn more about the differences between our Nursery School Program classes below.
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2024-2025 Nursery School Programs
2-Day Program
Tuesdays and Fridays
Time: 8:30 – 10:30am (Extends to 10:45am in February)
4.5:1 child/adult ratio
Born before or on March 1, 2022
Our 2-Day class offers a gentle introduction to preschool for our youngest children. The group is slightly smaller than our other classes, with three teachers to offer support as children gradually acclimate to group life. Considerable time is spent establishing routines and procedures and familiarizing the students with their teachers and one another. Teachers focus on Separation by building relationships with children and their families, and encouraging children to express their emotions in constructive ways. Parents should expect to arrange for a support person to accompany their child for at least the first few weeks of class.
Many children are initially focused on the teachers and materials and only gradually branch out from parallel play to engage with their peers. Teachers model appropriate ways to ask and wait for turns, and later in the year they may introduce sign-up lists to organize turns and offer a chance for name recognition and early literacy skills.
In time, students may become more interested in interactions with other students. To promote these connections and sustain interactive play, our teachers help children explore and express their emotions, and encourage communication to ensure a safe and collaborative environment for the children as they branch out.
3-Day Morning program
Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday
Time: 8:30 – 11:30am
4.5:1 child/adult ratio
Born before or on November 1, 2021
In our 3-Day morning class three teachers offer support to children who are usually new to the school environment. Teachers spend considerable time establishing routines and procedures and familiarizing the students with their teachers and one another. Teachers focus on Separation by building relationships with children and their families and encouraging children to express their emotions in constructive ways. Parents should expect to arrange for a support person to accompany their child for at least the first few weeks of class.
Many children are initially focused on the teachers and materials and only gradually branch out from parallel play to engage with their peers. Teachers model appropriate ways to ask and wait for turns, and may introduce sign up lists to offer practice with name recognition and promote early writing skills.
In time, students may become more interested in interactions with other students. To promote these connections and sustain interactive play, our teachers help children explore and express their emotions, and encourage communication to ensure a safe and collaborative environment for the children as they branch out.
4-Day Program
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday
Time:
Half-Day: 8:30 – 11:30am
Full-Day: 8:30am – 3:30pm
6:1 child/adult ratio
Born before or on September 1, 2021
Our 4-Day class is usually a mix of first-time students and children who attended Park West the previous year. Many are familiar with school routines and procedures, have experienced group interactions, and may have used sign-up lists for turns with materials.
Our teachers build upon this familiarity by providing and encouraging more complex play scenarios and meaningful social interactions to help students make new connections, discoveries, and relationships. They must use some of these skills to contribute to more complicated projects that use writing tools and art materials, or collaborate to create a play scenario like a castle or spaceship in the playhouse. Teachers also incorporate classroom calendars into the daily routine and may employ voting to make group decisions.
Our 4-Day students have the option of attending our morning half-day program or extending their day with a full-day option. Students in the half-day program are also eligible to participate in Lunch Bunch.
Afternoon programming will include some quiet rest time and opportunities for students to work in small groups with teachers to extend their curricular experiences, spend more time outdoors and in the gym, and go on outings within the community.
Junior Kindergarten Program (JK)
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday
Time:
Half-Day: 8:30 - 11:30am
Full-Day: 8:30am - 3:30pm
6:1 child/adult ratio
Born before or on September 1, 2020
All Junior Kindergarten (JK) children are four and most have been in group settings, so their focus is less on separation and more on social connections. Communication and negotiation skills necessary to successfully navigate friendships and work in larger groups are supported and modeled by teachers, while acknowledging each child’s increasing sense of individual identity.
Children’s ideas and suggestions inform group-time content and classroom activities, and children feel a strong sense of classroom ownership as they contribute to group decision-making. They may vote or take surveys, create classroom calendars and daily snack menus, take turns as leader, and sustain attention during a daily focused table time.
Children in JK can extend familiar activities, play increasingly difficult games, and create and sustain complex fantasy play scenarios. They incorporate literacy into every aspect of the classroom, making signs, books and letters, creating and using sign-up lists, group time agendas and journals. Children also gain math skills and explore numeracy through the use of board games, tallying votes, keeping scores, measuring, and other activities intrinsic to the classroom.
Still very much a preschool program, our JK classes offer meaningful, age appropriate experiences which prepare children for meeting the challenges of Kindergarten the following year.
Our JK students have the option of attending our half-day program or extending their day with a full-day option. Students in the half-day program are also eligible to participate in Lunch Bunch.
Afternoon programming will include some quiet rest time and opportunities for students to work in small groups with teachers to extend their curricular experiences, spend more time outdoors and in the gym, and go on outings within the community.