Our school has six classrooms at our 310 Maple Street location (Saplings -Infants, , Mini Maples - Younger Toddlers,  Mini Oaks - Older Toddlers, , Early Elms Morning Preschool, Mighty Oak Preschools, Marvelous Maples Preschool).  We also have a before/after school and summer school age program.   In January 2025 we expanded in to 316 Maple Street where we currently have  one classroom (Powerful Pines Preschool).  We are planning to add another toddler classroom at 316 Maple Street in 2025.

Classroom materials are freely available for children to explore during play.  We frequently change some of the materials in the classrooms so that children regularly have new experiences, but we keep some of their favorites too.  

Some of our most popular spaces in our classrooms are our dramatic play/kitchen areas, our sensory tables, our easels, and our quiet corners.  

Each classroom has a cool down kit with some calming activities to help children learn how to calm down in moments when their emotions become big.

Children also love to gather at the tables for manipulatives, puzzles, and art.

One February, children became excited about MAIL when they were making and "delivering" Valentines to friends!  This sparked a child-directed interest in a MAIL and POST OFFICE theme. Together, we turned the classroom into a post office.  During circle time children practiced reading their names and friends' names on letters.  Letters were mailed home to our parents and we wrote secret letters to ourselves.  Shape/color matching stamps were used to encourage shape and color recognition.  Children made mail carrier hats and wore them when we took a field trip to the post office.

This is just one example of our emerging curriculum!  Children have inspired us to delve deep into topics like watermelons, super-heroes, pre-historic sharks, bees, cowboys, pizza, rocks & minerals, and bear hunts...and so many more!  

When educators follow children's natural curiosity - it leads us to amazing places!  

Our flower shop was another emergent curriculum idea we embraced.  One spring, we decided the children would make flowers and pots for Mother's Day.  We set up a simple flower shop outside with a wagon filled with flowers and a cash register.  Children "shopped" for their flowers with tickets they received at circle time, and took turns being the cashier.  

The children were so engaged in this activity and continued playing in the flower shop outside long after their flower gift was finished - so we decided to bring it indoors and set up a flower shop in our classroom!  Parents contributed some of the supplies, and for the next few weeks children engaged in meaningful play centered around a flower shop.  We then tied in some learning activities including a flower alphabet letterbox and a color matching counting activity.  

When children are excited about what they are learning,  the possibilities are endless!

We love to celebrate children's birthdays!  Recently, we developed our Birthday Crown boards.  Shortly after your child enrolls, they will have an opportunity to decorate their birthday crown.  The crown will hang on the board until their special day arrives.  Once their day arrives, the crown comes down and is worn during their school-day birthday celebration!  We take a photo of your child wearing their crown, the photo then goes on the board - and the crown goes home.  

We recognize and value the work that children create and we aim to present children's work attractively, surrounding them with beauty that they themselves have created.  

The sample boards in the photo carousel reflect learning:

•  Children learned and practiced a poem about turkeys during circle time.  Each child created a unique feather for our board and helped attach their feather to the turkey.  Feathers were later separated for each child's portfolio  - with a photo of the group board and song and their feather to save.

• When learning about sports, children chose a favorite sport and created artwork for a display to share their favorite sport.  We also graphed their favorite sports during circle time to develop early math skills. We used laminated baseballs with alphabet letters on them to work on letter recognition.  Children also used a variety of sports equipment during outdoor play.

• At Thanksgiving, we introduce a Thankful Tree in our classroom.  Children choose one color leaf to represent their responses and the children have various opportunities to share with teachers things they are thankful for.  Their responses are recorded and displayed on a group tree.  Later, each child makes an individual tree by tracing their hand/arm with a peer or a teacher - and their answers are moved to their individual tree for their portfolios. 

• When celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr. we talked to children about how they, too, can change the world.  Children then identified ways they could make change.

Maintaining children's artwork in the classroom and saving in portfolios helps children to reflect on their past experiences, and to discuss events represented in their artwork.