Your child complains about going to school

You feel uneasy about the school when you drop in unexpectedly

There seems to be a lack of communication from the director

There is not a lot of art work coming home

You aren’t hearing your child singing songs they learned in school

There are not any social connections being made by you or your child

At La Canada Preschool we are sensitive to your family and believe we can help make a transition to a new school a smooth one. It takes patience and understanding to integrate your child into a new school. What is required is an understanding of the fact that not only is this a big process for your child but for you as well. Sometimes even more so for you the parent. I have been on both ends of this, as a parent myself and an educator. What is essential is to slowly bond with a child who has moved schools, as well as acknowledge the change. We often write letters with the new children, where they talk about their feelings of being at a new school. There is also a friends book we send home, where there are pictures of all the children with a biography, providing a great visual for you to share with your child.

While it can seem hard to make a mid year change is schools, I think we must always do what is best for your child. It is too important of a time in your child’s development to not find the best fit. Change is good when it is handled correctly, and we can do that for you here at LCP:)

La Canada Preschool is set in a warm part of Los Angeles, right under the mountains in a close-knit community. The Preschool, which began in 1949 offers a home atmosphere that is warm and inviting, supportive and flexible. Children enter school through a gate and are offered more than the just the same old curriculum that meets standards and state requirements. Music is played daily and private teachers come in to play live instruments with the children. Art is offered every day, one-on-one and sand and water are always available for children’s play.

While the morning program and afternoon program are separated by age groups (younger children can attend the morning while only pre-kindergarten aged children attend the afternoon) children are mixed in culture, language, and socioeconomic backgrounds. Owner and Director, Debbie Bacino, offers a flexible plan for children and parents. Teachers meet with parents to discuss children’s development and discuss goals children are working on mastering. All the teachers are versed in early childhood education literature and have knowledge regarding children’s development.

What may be lacking in the Pre-Kindergarten Transitionary Kindergartens is the understanding that children’s goals are not necessarily things they cannot do, but rather skills they are mastering. Since children are being pressure to read and write at an earlier age, the majority of social and emotional understandings are overlooked and eliminated from a teacher who is supervising 24 children at one time.

A family that is looking for the right preschool program needs to consider the school’s goals for the child and see if they match the parents. It may be difficult for some schools to match individual goals of each child when they are pressured to provide certain curriculum. Einstein was known for encouraging children’s imagination and in the age of technology and standardized education children and teachers may be forgetting this aspect of the mind and its purity before the box is setup and they are told what to learn.

A sociocultural perspective is definitely a theoretical foundation at La Canada Preschool. Teachers learn from children and then decide what to provide and how to teach. Each child is incredibly different, shaping the curriculum as the year unfolds. If parents are looking for individual care and supportive relationships then La Canada Preschool will surely fit their needs.

LCPS, March, 2013

The best art is process art, where children are allowed to create their own vision, with the only result is that they like what they have created.

Why is art important? Here are ten reasons:

1. Art nourishes a child’s soul and true creative spirit.

2. Creating art promotes self esteem.

3. Art encourages children to give attention to the physical space that surrounds them.

4. When creating art children learn to solve problems and think for themselves, known as critical thinking.

5. Art teaches children to use their senses.

6. Children can share and reflect on their art work to help them makes sense of the world they live in.

7. When art is integrated with other curriculum, children commit to the learning process.

8. Art stimulates the right and left side of the brain.

9. Art teaches there is more than one way to solve a problem.

10. If a child learns to love art, this will stay with them forever.

If we want children to love art, it needs to be a part of their daily preschool life. This will far outlast knowing their ABC”S or how to write the alphabet.

A friend is being made while other children are thinking about making a friend.

Developmentally when we study children’s play we are looking for how best to teach each child individually, with objectives that are appropriate for their stage of development. While parents, and my apology in advance yet it is usually fathers, seem to want their children to learn academic principles, feeling that play is something children can do at home.

While that is true, as I raised four children and they all played at home, children need to learn to be capable and cope able away from their home environment, as someday they will need to be independent of their parents. This is a huge task when you think about it. At the same time if a child can be given the time to develop at home as well as in a school environment from a preschool age with an emphasis on social emotional development, studies show children being more secure in the world, with healthier social relationships, and even a higher income. All this through exploring the world in a school where children are playing, even while they can read at a second grade level.

Here are the methods of discipline used in preschools:

time out or conflict resolution

There was an old school theory which still exists that time out is the best way to handle discipline in schools. Just search and you can find many schools and parents using this as a way to remove the child from the conflict, sending the message that the behavior needs to stop. While I believe it has its place in your home, in a school  setting it can make a child feel shame for being singled out in a public setting.

Conflict resolution suggests that children are educated about the value of communication that is respectful and honest, while expressing feelings of being hurt by someone’s actions.

Conflict resolution requires that teachers are trained to help children by modeling communication that is calm and well spoken, where teachers can also interact with children by teaching them how to articulate their feelings.

There are six steps we use at La Canada Preschool to teach conflict resolution:

1. Approach the children in conflict calmly and stop the conflict

2. Acknowledge everyone’s feelings

3. Gather information about what has happened

4. Restate the problem

5. As for ideas from everyone for a solution and help choose the solution

6. Be there to follow up and give support

When you are visiting a preschool ask the teachers and directors how do they handle conflict with the children. It is a question that is often overlooked yet one that becomes important as it will effect your child and set the stage for their ability to understand conflict in a social setting.

Developmental: Here we see the theories of Jean Piaget, who believed that children as well as adults pass through stages of development that are defined by developmental norms of behavior. The developmental preschool allows for children to be seen individually in a setting that allows for their development to progress through play based learning.

Progressive: This encompasses many of the traits of a developmental school, yet there is an emphasis on community and being a part of the world outside of a school setting. This means there are field trips, where children children study the community. The educator John Dewey held the belief that the educational process begins with the interest of the child, and that the child’s natural curiosity is at the for front of there curriculum.

Montessori: There are four principles of this philosophy: learning should occur in a multi age classroom, the teacher is the guide for the child as opposed to having all the answers, children work at their own pace, and a classroom is set up according to subject areas.

Cooperative: This is a school where the children work in the classroom as teachers assistants, as opposed to having paid personnel. There is a teacher who directs the parents in working with the children, and there is usually a traditional approach such as developmental. The tuition is usually low at these schools, making preschool more affordable.

Waldorf: Here to sense of unity is of importance, focusing on the mind, body and spirit as a whole. Here any learning of abc’s is not part of the curriculum, as the emphasis of of play, music and art as well as the relationship between the teacher and child is what is valued.

Reggio: In these schools the environment is called the third teacher, with the belief that environment dictates behavior. The classroom is set up to look like a home, with couches to create a non-institutionalized atmosphere. Parent involvement is expected on everything from school policy to child development concerns. Parents, children and teachers are seen as equal partners.

Here at La Canada Preschool we embrace many aspects of each of these teaching methods. We are a developmental school since we need to fit in somewhere. At the same time we have couches in our classroom, we believe the teacher/child relationship needs to be valued, we have multi age play time, and have classrooms set up according to areas of interest.

Lots of choices: Best of luck.

To help you with your search, let me give you the lowdown on LCP.

Who are we? We are a group of dedicated early childhood educators who believe in children learning through play. We have worked together for many years, and believe that if a child loves school that will set the foundation for all future learning.

What do we do? We provide a play based environment with mixed age groups, with art, music and literature being at the core of our curriculum.

Where do we do this at? La Canada Preschool is located in a beautiful neighborhood, with a large tree in the backyard, lots of sand, a garden, a real wooden playhouse, and non-institutionalized classrooms. We have been here 62 years.

When do we have preschool? Monday through Friday our morning program operates from 9:00 a.m. until 12:00 noon. Our Pre-Kindergarten is here from 12:30 p.m. until 3:30 p.m. The children may attend in the morning T-Th, MWF, or Monday through Friday. Pre-K is Monday through Friday.

How do we do this? By having an intelligent, caring group of families that support our work by believing in our little school and the good work we do.

Please consider taking a tour of La Canada Preschool.