Our Philosophy
Kenilworth Community Preschool is a play-based preschool that welcomes three to five-year-old children into a creative, warm, and inviting environment. As a cooperative preschool, we work in partnership with families and in connection with the community.
Our Mission
We support one another with compassion seeking to model fairness and peaceful resolution. We provide an affirming atmosphere to promote each child’s growth physically, spiritually and emotionally. The diversity and traditions of each family are honored. KCP welcomes students of any race, color, national origin, sexual identification or religion.
Our Guidelines & Principles
- Children are fully capable, intelligent, creative thinkers, and play is their work.
- Themes arising from children’s daily lives are used in a developmentally appropriate classroom environment.
- The environment is seen as a teacher.
- The emotional well being of a child is valued and cherished.
- Parents are partners in the education of their child.
- Teachers and children are seen as researchers together.
Curriculum
Our curriculum is emergent, constructivist, and play-based. Classroom themes and projects emerge from the children’s interests with prompting from our teacher. The goal is to develop, enhance, and provoke exploration and learning opportunities for the children. Children work at their own pace in all areas including, art media, literacy, math, writing, science, motor skills, and social and emotional understanding.
Our classrooms and outdoor space are intentionally planned. We provide developmentally appropriate materials in a Reggio-influenced environment that encourages children’s curiosity, desire to investigate, explore their capabilities, create friendships, and develop problem-solving skills. The children and teacher take time to research and study together.
We believe that a young child’s emotional, social, and cognitive development is interdependent. In our practice, we strive to provide a secure, loving, environment that supports each child’s growth. We introduce literature and develop classroom experiences aimed at giving a child the tools for healthy self-confidence, the development of critical thinking, and problem solving skills in a social environment.
We strive to provide an atmosphere that is anti-bias and that fosters a child’s healthy development of identity and an understanding of the world around them. We promote equality of development for both sexes by facilitating each child’s participation in all of our activities through physical, cognitive, emotional, and social interaction. We strive to promote developmentally appropriate information to foster the understanding of people with physical disabilities and promote tolerance of all differences.
Daily Schedule
- 9:30 Arrival: Students are each greeted by the teacher and are invited to choose where they would like to start their day in the classroom.
- 9:45 Morning Meeting: Hello song, introduction of what is in the Art Studio and “work” play choices for the day. The class will engage in inquiry and predictions.
- 9:45 Exploration Time: Science, math, dramatic play, art, cooking, long term and short term projects, sensory, fine motor and cognitive choices.
- 10:40 Clean-up
- 10:45 Circle Time: Oral and interactive story telling, games, community problem solving, writers workshop, music, theatre workshop, reflections, group activity depending on emerging interests
- 11:00 Snack
- 11:15 Outdoor play and exploration, rain or shine
- 12:10 Storytime, back inside
- 12:25-12:30 Journaling and reflection on “provocations” for the day.
A Cooperative School
Kenilworth Community Preschool is a parent-child cooperative preschool where teachers and families work together to extend the child’s learning in a safe, healthy and developmentally appropriate setting. For more information on what that means as a participating family, please see the Parent Involvement page.
KCP is a member of Parent Child Preschools Organization (PCPO). Our affiliation with PCPO provides our school with an important link to the greater co-op preschool community. Through PCPO our teacher and board members receive support and training, and our families receive a variety of educational opportunities.
KCP is also a member of Parent Cooperative Preschools International (PCPI).
KCP does not discriminate on the basis of race, age, marital status, sex, color, disability, sexual orientation, or national origin.
Our Sponsor
Kenilworth Presbyterian Church is the home and sponsor of the Kenilworth Community Preschool. While the preschool does not have a religious curriculum and has a separate board of directors, the church and preschool work in partnership to create a quality learning environment.