We believe that play is the work of childhood. Throughout the history of St. Mark’s Nursery School, the essential beliefs in children, play, childhood and parental involvement have been a constant. With this in mind, we have adapted The Creative Curriculum by Diane Trister Dodge, et al, as an educational framework. We use the goals and objectives to plan classroom activities, to assess progress by our children and consider all aspects of the child’s school experience – social, emotional, physical, cognitive and language development. Detailed information about our curriculum can be found in The Parent Handbook.
Each of our classroom experiences is unique, but certain characteristics can be found throughout our program.
- Interest Centers: Teachers thoughtfully prepare interest centers for children to explore, taking into consideration ages, interests, background experiences and activity levels of the children in their care. They make certain that there is something meaningful for everyone and follow the children’s interests.
- Group Activities: Children gather together for developmentally appropriate group activities, such as snack, stories and songs.
- Gross Motor Movement: is encouraged daily both indoors and outdoors. St. Mark’s has a “Big Room” for climbing, jumping, bouncing, rocking, riding, running and tumbling as well as three play yards.
- Snack Time: Children and adults gather together for a healthy, nut-free snack with opportunity for conversation, companionship, and community building.
Here is an example of our
Flexible Classroom Schedule.
|9:00 – 10:20am||Free play|
|10:20 – 10:30am||Clean up|
|10:30 – 10:50am||Outside or Big Room|
|10:50 – 11:15am||Snack|
|11:15 – 11:30am||Outdoor play|
*Optional Lunch Bunch available for an additional charge Monday through Thursday for some age groups until 12:30pm. Space is limited and available on a first-come first-serve basis.