Nursery School Expectations

[ginad724]

I was wondering if any of you with children in nursery school could give me some information about how your school's are run?

DD, who will be 3 in April, is in our church's nursery school program. I enrolled her to give some structure to her day, understanding that it's play based and focuses on her social development. (she's in the 2-yr old program so that's really the focus which I think is appropriate). She's really thriving there, she loves going and is always talking about her teachers. I also feel more invested in it since it's the church that we attend. However, I've been recently having some doubts about how the program is run.

I'm just not sure what they do all day, there's no information given on activities or what they do. I rarely see crafts, etc. and the communication between parents and teachers just really seems to be lacking. And it seems like any attempts for parent involvement is rebuffed. They have also identified 4 children in a program of 12 that they think have developmental delays. DD is not one of them, but it just seems like a lot and some of the reasoning behind their suspicions seem unfounded to me. The teachers in her class do not have a background in early education, though they both have children.

Maybe my expectations are different, and we'd (read: I) would be better in a co-op program...though they're rare around here. I'm going to start visiting other schools in the area to see how they're run, but I was also looking for personal experiences as well.

So, do you get reports on your child's day? Do you have conferences with the teachers? How much are you involved in the school?

TIA!

[Renrel]

I am very happy with my preschool. They encourage parents to visit at any time and to be involved. They have a few parties/lunchs during the year for parents to attend. They encourage parents who wish to do so to do a presentation about their culture. They have teacher/parent conferences 2x a year (often late but they happen). I talk to the teachers nearly every day about what DS day was like. There is no written report, that is just too much to do with the ratio at this age. The day is structured. The general days schedule is posted and they also post a weekly schedule with the particulars for that day (ie which toys are out for open choice, what art project they are working on, the topic of discussion during circle time, the books they will read.) They may not stick to this strictly but as a parent you know that the plan for the week is. They send out a monthly newletter letting us know the theme for the month (winter, art, families, ocean life, space, ect) and any special events for the months (holidays, birthdays, parties, trips). The Directors are very available to parents to discuss any issues, whether they have to do with a teacher or a child or general parenting concerns.

I am not sure what you specific concern is about the children with developmental delays and am curious how you are aware of the issue. Did parents share it with you or did the school? I would have some privacy issue concerns if a teacher or other employee told you about this. I know there is one child in DS class who has developmental delays but it is obvious from interacting with him that this is an issue and because there are sometimes specialist visiting with him at the school. The school does a good job of intergrating him into the program and helping the family to get needed resources. I did have some concerns about how they would deal with teacher ratios with one child who needed constant observation but it has seemed to work and I like that DS is exposed to children with different levels of ability. There may be other kids with developmental delays but I am not aware of them, other than perhaps langauge with a child who has a differnent native langauge and since he his learning two languages I would tend to think him advance rather than behind even if his English is less developed than some other kids.

[emschwar]

Noah's in a co-op nursery. We love it. He started when he was 2 (well, sept of that year) and will be in it next year as well. We'll send Daniel when he's old enough as well.

We don't really get reports on what goes on during the day. Each week we get an email with their activities for the week, but the teachers don't tell us what each kid did that day unless there was something out of the ordinary or we ask.

We do have parent-teacher conferences. One in November and the other in March, I think, though I can't really remember when the 2nd one is :) We can always talk to the teachers about things at other times though.

It's a co-op, so I'm very involved. I'm in the classroom as the "co-op mom" at least once a month, and I also have a "job" at the school (I do the scholastic book orders, DH does the newsletter).

I know it varies from co-op to co-op, but at ours, the teachers have education experience. The day (well, morning - it's just 2.5 hours) is fairly structured. There's plenty of free play, but they also have 2 circle times, an art project and a snack each day, plus outside time if the weather allows.

I think it's a little odd that you know which 4 kids they think have developmental delays. There's no reason they should share that information with anyone other than the director and the child's parents.

[ginad724]

Sorry if I wasn't clear about the children with delays, I found out through parents and it was nothing the teachers mentioned. That would highly violate privacy issues. I guess my issue is that it seems like a high amount percentage wise and I don't see the teachers as qualified to make the diagnosis and the reasoning behind it seems very weak. This is a minor concern of mine though, and FWIW if there are delays it would be fine and not really a concern.

I talked to the teacher today and asked about conferences since it said they would have them in the handbook. She said that they don't do them for 2 year olds and if they ever had concerns, they would tell me immediately. Conversely, I can talk to them at anytime if I had concerns. I don't necessarily only want to talk about concerns, but also the positive things, if there's specific areas they're working on, and really what activities take place and how she's interacting, etc. They do have a schedule posted of the day's activities, but it's very general. It was also said that a newsletter would be done monthly, but there has only been 2 since Sept.

I'm probably not communicating that well, but hearing how your experiences are is extremely helpful. Thanks so much for your input!

[Renrel]

FWIW - I do think it is reasonable to have a concern about learning disabled children being in the class. Not because such children should be segregated but because they can take more time and energy and that affects the attention other children get. It is important that a class be well balanced so that all children get enough attention to flurish. I did have concerns when the child I mention was moved up to my son's class but I waited and watched and all seemed to be fine since this school is very good in my opinion about balancing classes. They will not max out a class if they can help it. In fact I had to make a special request to get my son moved up to the older class because he maxed it out for ratio, but he really belonged with the older class given where he is developmentaly.

[dal]

For some reason what struck me the most about your post was that you rarely see crafts. I think at that age, crafts should be expected on a regular basis.

At my DD's preschool, they do crafts everyday (maybe why that struck me the most about your post), they do circle time, they have free play, they have show and tell, they work on learning their letters... stuff like that. Oh and my DD turned 3 in November and is in the 2-3 toddler class.

It sounds like you just don't have a real sense as to the structure of the day. I think you should ask the teacher to write out a basic schedule for you. They should have set times for things (circle time, potty times, free play etc...). So even if you don't know exactly what your child did, you know she had free play or circle time. Maybe that would make you feel more at ease with the program.

Good luck!

[Renrel]

FWIW the structure at our school is something like this

Drop off / free play
breakfast
circle time
Centers (kids can choose between different areas to play. One is usually a craft which the teacher will encourage each child to try.)
toileting
outdoor time or other gross motor time
toileting
lunch
nap
toileting
snack
outdoor time/gross motor
Pick up/free play

(drop off and free play are each 1-2 hours in length but most kids are not there for all of both. They come earlier and leave earlier or vsvr.)

I hang out for 5-15 minutes at drop off and pick up and visit for about 15-45 minutes at nap time most days. Other parents are also in and out all day. The school is however downtown for working parents so we are around and can do this.

[nancy drew]

my dd is at a jcc preschool (jewish preschool). there is a dry erase board outside the room that lists the highlights of the days activities. there is supposed to be a newsletter, but we havent seen one. thats fine, as its saving some paper ;).

dd doesnt bring home crafts either, but the teachers are keeping a lot of things for portfolios and the class does a lot of group projects and crafts that cant really be taken home. for example, at hanukkah they all worked together to make a "temple" so they could act out the hanukkah story. since everyone contributed to the temple, no one brought anything home.

once a week a parent comes in to be the "shabbat helper". we can plan an activity, read a story, make something with the kids, or just hang out. its fun, and its nice getting inside and seeing how things work.

dds teachers have early childhood degrees, and the lead teacher is about to get her masters in early childhood ed. i wouldnt enroll my kids in a preschool where the teachers arent certified and their only experience is the fact that they have kids. thats kind of scary.

is this program naeyc accredited? there are standards out there for preschools, and i highly recommend finding an accredited program for your dd. that way you know they (most likely) follow certain rules and have higher standards for the teachers and programs they use. you can do a search here (http://www.naeyc.org/academy/search/), and learn more about naeyc here (http://www.rightchoiceforkids.org/).

[lee60657]

My DD is almost 3 and attends preschool full time. It is not through a church and is not a co-op, though. Her school is fairly structured though they do have "child's choice" during the pick-up and drop-off periods. Each day she has art, creative movement, gym, spanish, reading, computers and music. They also have outdoor playground time when weather permits and have a water park that is open during the summer months. There is also a theater so they occasionally have little plays, etc. in that too.

Crafts - we pick up at least 1 art/craft project each day - sometimes there are more if the project from the day before needed time to dry, etc.
daily report At the end of each day we receive a daily report which indicates the specifics of each class (ie what books were read, song sang, skills worked on...) - there are also ratings re: your child's participation and behavior during each class. The form also lists snacks and lunch and the amount of each item that the child ate. It also indicates when the child used the potty or had a wet diaper, etc. They assist with potty training so there are notes for that as well if it is applicable. The form also indicates how long nap was. The teachers will also write more personal comments about funny things your child did, etc. I love receiving this each day
conferences We have parent - teacher conferences twice a year. It is a great opportunity to meet with the teachers one on one and discuss how DD is doing - they also put together a binder for each student with special art work, photos and other things - really nice to have.
parent involvement Parents are involved - there is a booster club. There are family picnics, parents night out, etc. too.
Parents are allowed to stop in during the day etc - though I am not sure how often it happens.

[ginad724]

Thanks so much for everybody's suggestions and insights. The nursery school is a 3 hr/3 day a week program and it's not NAEYC accredited. I don't know if it matters, but there's not many (if at all) NAEYC programs in my area that are these short programs. Most are related to daycares or JCC's. I work very part time (most of which is done at home) and I only wanted a short program that would start to add some structure to her day, but focusing on play and social and emotional growth.

This has given me a lot of food for thought and I'm going to have a further conversation with the teachers and director. I'm not ready to give up on the program as DD really seems to love it there and it's my church, but I also need to feel that she's in the best possible place. At the very least, I'd like to see if I can get the books they read, songs they sing and find out about any "lessons". I really like the idea of having a parent helper once a week. Most moms SAH and I think would be open to it. That would really help me to be there for the full time, not just for dropoff and pickup which is hectic and doesn't give me a lot of time to talk to them.

Thanks again.

[lee60657]

gina I definitely think that the fact that the program is very part time accounts for many of the differences - DD's preschool is more of a daycare too - ie most of the parents work - though they do have part time half day options as well - but they also provide care from 7:30 -6:30 pm for many children. Maybe you could come up with a short little form that the teachers could use to fill you in on her day - not as involved as the daily report I described - but maybe just have a spot for books read, songs sang and activities conducted that day. It sounds like overall you are happy and more importantly your DD is happy there so that is all that matters. Every place can always improve. Good luck!

[dana b]

my dd goes to a church-based nursery school. we get weekly letters about what they're focusing on once a week. dd brings home some kind of painting or craft everyday. we have teacher conferences and we also have viewing days (they have a 2 way mirror). the teacher usually mentions something to me daily about dd (she's a chatterbox, eating more at snack time, etc). i'm not really sure about what they're doing all day, but the school is naeyc accredited, been around for a long time and i love everything i do see.

[hub1176]

I would be bothered by the fact that I had no idea what my child was doing all day. I would be even more bothered if I felt I wasn't welcome to check in or ask questions about it.

[nylons73]

Having worked at a church pre-school last year (I taught the 4-5's three days a week and assisted in the two-day a week 2 year old class) numerous red flags went up for me as I read your orig. post.

1. The teachers do not have any education training in their backgrounds. Having children does not make one a good two year old teacher. I'm sorry, it just doesn't. Every single one of the people working as lead-teachers at my last job had an education degree. This makes a big difference.

2. You should have at least one craft coming home every day. Last year, as I mentioned, I assisted in the two day two-year old class. The class went from 9am-Noon. We sent home a minimum of 3-4 crafts per day. Many of the crafts were 'academically' based and some were just for fun. But they were always there.

3. We sent out a monthly newsletter with all of the activities, crafts, parent sign-ups (for parent readers and helpers) etc. The fact that you are not getting communication like this from your preschool is disturbing.

I am totally against the movement (at least in my area) to start introducing advanced math, reading, etc. into pre-school learning. Pre-school is truly about structure, learning how to share, how to interact with others, how to follow directions etc. However, what you are describing doesn't even really sound like pre-school, it sounds like a 'mother's day out' type of program. You could do more with your DD by inviting a few kids to your home and having a structured play group there (with crafts) than it sounds like you are getting from your pre-school.

All of this is just my .02 (as a former pre-school teacher.) Please feel free to PM me if you want any more of my thoughts. :)

[ginad724]

Thanks again for everybody's thoughts. These all confirm what I was thinking. I had a long conversation with DH last night and we don't have them in our area, but it does seem like it's more of a MDO program.

I feel welcomed for the most part, so that's not an issue. Just that the welcoming isn't with much substance behind it, kwim? I hear that DD is doing fabulous, get updates on pt'ing, but that's really it. Around Christmas, we got a whole lot of crafts coming home with her but since then, I've only seen a page or two with some scribbling, so it doesn't indicate a planned activity.

I knew going into it that the teachers didn't have ECE, but it didn't bother me. I knew it was play-based with basic toddler developmentally-appropriate activities. Now, I feel foolish. Because it DOES matter.

DD is okay there, she has fun. And she does like her teachers. But it's seems no different than when we went to and indoor playcenter today with a couple friends. I just want more for her.

Thanks again, everybody. I appreciate it. Nylons73, I'm going to PM you when I have more time. I'd love your thoughts.

[AlisonCO]

DS goes to a church based preschool that is only part time - no after school care/daycare. I am very impressed with the program, director and teachers. He is busy for the whole time that he is there with centers, free play, art, music, gym, outside play, snack/lunch. They have a unit focus for each week (numbers, letters, animals, colors ect) and the activities are based around this. Everything is play based and even now that they are doing 2 letters per week, it is all very fun focused around the sound of the letter, reading books about it, eating a snack that starts with that letter. Here is how they do communication:

monthy calendar with unit focus/lesson for the week and two main activities on each day

weekly notes with special activities

daily notes on a board outside the class

daily art projects

2 "report cards" sent home each year and 1 conference per year

I think that nylons post is great and very informative!