Preschool – Excellent Preschool Since 1964

Our goal is to meet the total needs of young children with high quality child care, education and positive guidance. It is extremely important that we create a warm, loving environment so we can instill in our young children a Love for Learning that will last a lifetime. The purpose of Mary Sears Children’s Academy is to meet the total needs of your child, emotionally, physically, socially and intellectually with love and understanding.  The learning objectives of this curriculum are aligned with early learning and include child-focused activities that address language & literacy, math, science, social-emotional, and physical development.

Your child’s classroom will have an individualized lesson plan posted every week. Each activity on the lesson plan is purposeful and intentionally planned based on the teachers’ observations of each child in the classroom.

Everyday Experiences Help Children Learn About Language

To support language and literacy skills, teachers:

• Help children listen to and follow simple multi-step directions
• Model & teach children how to ask questions
• Teach children how to hold a book and turn the pages from left to right
• Read together in the reading area and during group time
• Sing songs with rhyming and repetition that builds vocabulary & encourages phonological awareness
• Describe things and have conversations that help increase communication skills and vocabulary

Developing Math Skills

Preschoolers discover mathematical relationships every day when they notice how things are similar or different, sort and match objects, talk about numbers, count, explore shapes, and describe patterns.

To encourage mathematical exploration, teachers:

• Sing songs, finger-plays and nursery rhymes that include numbers
• Use mathematical language, such as large/small, under/over, up/down to describe position and location
• Provide toys that engage children in exploring size and shape, such as blocks
• Provide tools that allow them to measure objects such as scales, rulers, measuring tapes, clocks, timers & measuring cups
• Count with children and touch each object as they count

Life Sciences – Your Child’s Start to Nature

Life science is learning about living things and preschoolers are fascinated by people, animals & plants.

To promote scientific learning, teachers:

• Provide magnifying glasses to explore objects
• Plant seeds and water plants with children
• Ask children to compare different types of leaves and objects found in nature
• Read non-fiction books about pets, plants, bodies, water, etc.
• Worm hunts
• Butterfly

Positive Learning

An important aspect of a child’s development is learning how to interact with peers and how to express their emotions in a positive way.

To help children develop and practice social-emotional skills, teachers:

• Provide children with opportunities to lead and gain a sense of independence through classroom jobs and making choices throughout their day
• Read books that are related to helping children describe and understand their feelings.
• Model appropriate interactions and help children develop the language to express their emotions
• Play games that encourage children to stop and go, thereby controlling their actions. For example, games like Red Light Green Light & Simon Says, which require children to think before they can act

Physical Health & Wellness

Playing outdoors every day is essential for children’s health and wellbeing.  At Mary Sears Children’s Academy, we have excellent outdoor facilities at each of our locations whereas, all children learn to laugh, run & have fun!

To promote healthy physical development, teachers:

• Provide balls, bean bags and materials for children to roll, throw, bounce, and catch
• Encourage children to collect, dump, and fill small objects, whether they are natural materials like leaves, seeds, shells, and rocks or they are toys to bring outdoors.
• Teach children how to garden and plant seeds or care for plants.

High-Quality Early Education

Our goal is to provide an individualized, responsive and inclusive educational approach for children and families that promotes opportunities for the healthy growth, education and development of infants, toddlers and their families. We regularly track and assess each child’s progress across early childhood development domains as well as assess our teachers and their interactions with the children under their care. Staff also participate in on-going training and coaching sessions.