Parents are also expected to maintain open and frequent communication with their child’s teachers. Communication methods such as child mailboxes, newsletters, calendars, blogs and other notes are valued tools for maintaining open lines of communication and help ensure your child a successful school experience.

Parents of children who attend PRCP are strongly encouraged to volunteer in their child’s classroom at least once per month. Each classroom will post calendars of activities and events that are opportunities for parents to volunteer in the classroom. Ideas include: supporting teachers’ documentation of curriculum projects by taking pictures and writing observations, helping tend the school garden, helping out during daily activities such as morning meeting or clay sculpting, volunteering during special events such as mother’s day tea or school yard sale, reading a book to a small group, and any other ways you’d like to be involved in our program!

Research has shown that there is greater social responsibility among children in mixed age groupings. In multi-age classrooms children have opportunities to nurture and model skills for younger children, be nurtured and encouraged by older peer models, participate in more complex activities with older peers, and develop at their own pace knowing that there are a variety of developmental expectations in the classroom not just one.

Our teachers are the backbone of our multi-age classrooms. Successful multi-age environments rely on a teacher’s ability to foster appropriate social skills and also their ability to get to know each child’s individual skills and strengths. Teachers provide varied learning opportunities depending on age and developmental level within the classroom environment or current curriculum project.

Read further about support for multi-age groupings at: The Benefits of Mixed-Age Groupings by Lilian G. Katz

Vacations and holidays are an opportunity for children to spend time with family or a one-on-one caregiver. Children work hard at playing cooperatively with peers and opportunities for down time and family time are invaluable. Vacations and holidays are also special times for your child’s teacher to visit with his or her family members. Our teachers give their all to the children in their care and vacations are a valuable opportunity for them to relax and be with family as well.

Vacation and holiday closings also help to limit the amount of colds and sicknesses that get passed on at PRCP. We play and work in close proximity and time away from one another prevents some illnesses from continuing to spread. We also use vacations as an opportunity to clean PRCP from top to bottom!

Please see our CALENDAR for all closings.

For younger children the studio offers a number of sensory experiences. Toddlers, young preschoolers and even older preschoolers can often be found; finger (or body!) painting, exploring large blocks of clay or creating collages with recycled materials.

As children are ready, teachers introduce them to new materials that they can create and communicate with. Some of the materials we use in the studio are: paints, clay, sculpting wire, and recycled materials such as buttons, cardboard tubes, beads and more.

We believe that art mediums are a valuable tool for children to communicate with. A preschooler’s easel painting can tell an amazing story and also encourages a child to express him or herself. Exploration of art materials is also a valuable opportunity to strengthen fine motor muscles that will later be used for writing.

Smocks are available for children to wear while in the studio, but our artists can be messy, so expect your child to come home wearing his or her day!