Philosophy

Your child is the most important focus of our program. Although this is a laboratory preschool program in a high school setting, we have a "Children First" approach. The needs of our preschoolers will always come before the needs of our high school students. This teaches the high school student the importance of early childhood education.
Children and high school students are supervised at all times by the Child Care Services teacher. Mrs. Donna Erdman holds a degree in Home Economics Education from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. She holds a Pennsylvania Instructional II (permanent) teaching certificate for Home Economics (minored in Child Development), and a Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Private School teaching certificate for Nursery School and Kindergarten. Mrs. Erdman has taught Family and Consumer Science courses in public schools for eight years. She has also worked as an educator for the Penn State Cooperative Extension. Your child will receive excellent care in our program.

Activities are planned to promote social, physical, emotional, creative and intellectual growth for preschoolers. All activities are flexible, however, in order to promote creativity and spontaneous learning. In a society where children are pressured into learning more, earlier, we believe that all learning should be fun, not forced. We may talk about shapes, colors, numbers or letters during group circle time, or during outdoor walks. We select a theme for each week and try to tie the theme into art activities, songs, finger plays, dramatic play and even snack. Special visitors are sometimes invited as a learning activity. For example, we've had visits from nurses, firefighters and pets in past sessions.

We believe that some of the best learning that can happen in preschool is the ability to play side-by-side with other children. The processes of learning to share, take turns, solve problems and focus attention will ease your child's way into kindergarten. We will work with your child on a developmental checklist that includes many kindergarten readiness activities. Our one-to-one ratio allows plenty of time for working on skills. Art samples, writing samples, photos documenting work and play and typed observations will be placed in your child's individual preschool portfolio throughout the year.

We encourage parents to observe when convenient and to offer suggestions and comments. A parent meeting is held monthly, the last Thursday of the month. During that meeting, you will have the opportunity to review your child's preschool portfolio, offer suggestions and receive updates on our scheduled activities. Some of our BEST ideas have come from parents! You may have a special talent you'd like to share as a visitor. Feel free to question the high school students about your child's participation.