Pilgrim Preschool operates under three basic principles for children and their families. A positive self-image is a vital element for a child's self-growth. We feel it is most important for a child to discover who he/she is and to feel self-confident and assured in his/her world. We combine many methods of learning to facilitate growth in a fun way for children. Our classroom activities, policies, schedules, and discipline have been established with this principle in focus. Each child is helped to develop his/her own capabilities at his/her own rate of progress. This is done through a wide variety of experiences and activities offered. Our curriculum is planned to facilitate child growth in a well-rounded environment that encourages social, physical, intellectual, creative, and emotional growth. At the end of the school year, each child should feel proud of his/her accomplishments and have a positive attitude about learning, teachers and school. Play is essential to children's learning and a contributing factor in their growth. Play is the child's work; how he/she experiences life. Our teachers utilize the children's natural learning style when they incorporate play into each day. Play helps children put all of their experiences together to make sense of objects, events, and the way they are related. Children imitate the real world of adults through the element of play. Because play is natural and fun, it is self-rewarding. Our curriculum is based on individual, small group and whole group activities; some teacher-directed and some self-selected activities. Some of the classes choose to work around a weekly theme, but all classes use a team-planning approach to teaching. Each class will meet with a gym teacher and a music teacher for a twenty-minute period each week, if enrolled in the 3-day program. Our 2-day classes will alternate gym and music each Monday. These extra classes provide our children with creative stimulation important for their development. An open relationship between family and school personnel is a very important element in meeting the needs of the individual child. Home and school life must work together as a partnership for the best interest of the child. The experiences, moods, behaviors, that affect children at home, will in turn, affect their daily learning experience, mood, or behavior at school. Open communication between home and school is vital. Parents are encouraged to contact the school and/or teacher concerning any circumstances at home that may affect the child's behavior at school. Monthly newsletters, informal conversations, and yearly parent/teacher conferences are important means of communication between school and home.
