Preschool Class Overview

We offer morning and afternoon, 3-and 4-day preschool classes. A typical preschool day includes a daily class meeting, exploration time with materials that support all areas of development, outdoor exploration, specials, and a snack.

The hallmarks of our approach are:

A strong foundation.

Before children are ready to read, they need to develop a variety of skills like print awareness, letter knowledge, phonological awareness, and narrative skills.

In preparation for understanding math concepts, young children need to explore activities like patterning, sorting and classifying, and comparing.

Before children are ready to write, they need to develop their fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and bilateral coordination.

Our curriculum focuses very intentionally on pre-reading, pre-writing and pre-math skills to prepare students for future learning. We incorporate these activities into class every day.

A culture of exploration and engagement.

Preschool-aged children are inherently curious and full of wonder. We spend much of our time in the classroom encouraging them to observe and explore. They do this together as a class, in small groups and as individuals. The foundational skills are woven in and around these explorations to keep the kids engaged and joyful about the learning process.

A mixed-age classroom.

Our classes are all mixed age (3-5 years). Studies show that a mixed age approach stimulates development, improves academic and social skills and increases leadership. We see this first-hand in every class. In their first year, a child will learn behaviors and take social cues by observing older children. in their second year, they have the opportunity to be a leader, guiding the younger children. This not only builds their leadership skills but also gives them confidence.

Documenting progress

Our Reggio-inspired environment allows our curriculum to unfold in an open-ended yet guided manner and focuses on the needs of each individual child.

Each day, our teachers collect artwork, take photos, make notes and have conversations and make overall observations about development to help monitor progress and inform planning for activities and experiences.

We document the highlights of these observations in a portfolio for each child which we share with parents at the end of the school year. This portfolio includes an assessment of their progress against development milestones for first and second year preschool. And, it provides an insightful overview of their SMP journey for the year.

Handwriting without Tears

One of the biggest developmental challenges for preschool aged kids is not only learning their letters but beginning to write them. We use a program called Handwriting Without Tears. This program focuses on…

Ready for kindergarten

Kindergarten readiness what we expect of preschool. To be ready for the next step, your child will need to (elaborate on kindergarten readiness).

One important thing to remember is that this is an end goal. We believe it is important to meet children where they currently are in order to help them get ready to thrive socially, emotionally and academically as they move on to elementary school.

At SMP, kids are learning academically in an immersive way. They may be challenged to measure or count in a “house” project. Or, they may need to write a menu in a “restaurant” project. And, we give a good deal of consideration to the steps which need to happen before a milestone like reading, writing, adding and subtracting. To read, kids need to not only learn their letters, they must learn the sounds associated with these letters. Our curriculum focuses on these foundational elements to make sure they are ready for their next big step.

They are also learning about friendship, how to work together, how to self-regulate and how to express themselves in a warm and nurturing way. Even something like learning to tie their shoes can be a big accomplishment at this age. When we give them permission and time to accomplish these things, they become more resilient and confident. And we know these are critical skills needed for their entire education journey.