LIFE IN BALANCE
It’s all about balance & keeping life in moderation.
It’s a good adage for us all but we believe it’s especially important when designing a preschool program. The one central rule we have tried to keep clear is that we offer a balanced program, a balanced curriculum, a balanced schedule and a balanced meal program. What does this mean to you and your child?
By planning and allowing the day to unfold, we believe we have provided a balance of guided activities for children while affording the child to have influence over their day, the activities they do and sometimes they will inspire the teacher’s plan.
Balanced Schedule
We plan a developmentally appropriate time frame for young children. The magic is to make just long enough to increase attention span and allow for ample enjoyment without boring other children or making one child less inspired or feel stifled.
Balanced Learning Style
We strike a balance between balanced teaching or exploring, unearthing, allowing, wondering, pondering and the style of “feeding data”. We all want children to learn new words, new facts, and new ideas but not at the expense of stifling their inquisitive nature, their spark for wonder, and their personal take on an idea.
Balanced Program
It’s important to balance the quiet or passive activity opportunities with the wild and running opportunities. It’s important to provide times for alone play and times for social interaction.
Balanced Nutrition
Within the scope of all of our meals and snack, we seek balance; a balance in nutrition that our food is whole and fresh, but not ‘crazy-making’ for our cook. Food is good. Let’s enjoy it. We live in a great area with locally grown fresh foods. Let’s experience these. The tastes we provide range from savory to sweet, the spices include a range of flavors. Not all children will like all foods and tastes. We accept that and know that no child will leave hungry.
Morning Preschool Program
The daily rhythm of the center will vary depending upon the age and interests of the children. However, there is a structure designed at both of our campuses that will give teachers a guide to this daily rhythm to ensure a balanced and varied program for children, and compatible sharing of space by alternate class groups.
| Time | Activity |
|---|---|
| 7:00 Open (Table/Floor Activities) | The teacher will greet children and parents and children will help open the school and choose activities, greet/feed pets, etc. Teacher will prepare breakfast, sometimes with the children’s assistance, whenever safe and possible. They may crack eggs, flip pancakes or help with scrambling. All breakfasts consist of at least three food groups. |
| 8:00 Breakfast | During breakfast, children will serve, pour and pass food to others at the table, and of course hand wash before and after. After breakfast and clean up the children will have some outdoor play time. |
| 8:30 Outdoor Play | The entire yard is available for running, digging, discovering and even individual spaces for playing alone. There are opportunities for gross motor skills like balance beams, slides and steps as well as natural play areas in gravel, sand, grass and rocks. There is a large patio with space for chalk play, a mirror wall, sound garden or banging post and naturally scented sensory garden to enjoy and explore. |
| 9:00 Morning Greeting | All of the children and teachers will meet briefly as an orientation to the whole day with the whole school. This is a great chance to announce if there is a new child, a substitute teacher or even a large mud puddle! In this way children are a part of the mechanics of school and not surprised by sudden changes. |
| 9:05 Circle Time | Children will be divided into small groups, their classes based on what is developmentally appropriate by age and level of understanding. Circle Time consists of language development, concept introduction and academic concepts. Circle Time also is when children practice daily routines such as ‘checking in’ (roll call) and practicing calendar concepts. Our teachers use Circle Boxes to introduce the theme to the children in hands-on interactive ways. Circle Time will be filled with songs, finger plays, stories and lots of conversation. Two year olds will have diaper checks at this time. |
| 9:30 Focus/ Outdoor Play | Each class group will have a Focus activity that hones-in on one particular skill, each day. The activity will be fun and engaging to the children and varied. The teacher will balance Focus activities throughout the week to make certain all areas of development are in focus. Skills will be wide and varied, from topics like: alphabet recognition to gross motor skills, from fine motor, eye-hand coordination to following directions or leadership skills. |
| 10:00 Snack | Snack will always begin with hand washing. Snacks are prepared in some cases in front of the children so they benefit from learning the methods and terminology of the food they are eating: the peel, the core, the rind, seeds, pits, etc. Children will pass food and beverages, use utensils to serve themselves and clean up their space when finished. |
| 10:15 Social Play and Morning Art | Our rooms are designed for centered-choices, i.e. blocks and building, reading, playhouse, puzzles, etc. Teachers will enrich the environment at times with theme-related activities to keep the space new and interesting. In the older classrooms a writing center is available to children to help them develop pencil holding skills, in the younger classroom softer blocks, more rounded materials and more floor space for their younger developmental needs. Morning art will be offered to all children, they will be encouraged but never forced to participate. Most of our art activities are exploration of materials with little guidance and never using a right/wrong model. Although we make attempts to keep children clean throughout the day, art substances will be on their clothing and parents should prepare to dress children in play clothes so they are comfortable to freely discover their inner artist. |
| 11:15 Outdoor Play | Another opportunity for outdoor play to break up the indoor/outdoor experience. Children who are in diapers will be checked and changed at this time. |
| 11:45 Music | The center will join all teachers and all children for this last program time. This is the perfect wrap up to our morning preschool program filled with joy and fun, dance and music. |
| 12:00 Lunch | Lunch is served and children will again be a part of the passing, pouring and serving in family-style eating. Our lunches are made on site from whole foods with as little processing as we can manage. We try to incorporate our own herbs into the foods so children can experience growing to eating. Our lunches are more like dinner—a hot main dish, side dish carbohydrate, fresh vegetables and fresh fruit accompanied by a beverage, usually milk. |
| 2:30 Wake Up/Warm Up | As children awaken from nap, we have a gentle period that allows them to wake up at their own pace, use the toilet and go to the interesting table activities that teachers have provided. The lights stay dim during this time so that napping children can wake up gently. Teachers will put away mats and assist children as needed with shoes and clothing. Another outside time is generally offered between nap time wake up and snack. |
| 3:00 Snack | Another healthy and balanced snack and beverage is offered. |
| 3:30 Outdoor Play | Creative Discovery may be in or outdoors. We are so fortunate to have our choice of indoor and outdoor spaces for this art/science guided activity. From painting to planting, Creative Discovery is a wonderful component to the afternoon line up. |
| 3:40-4:15 Afternoon Carousel | “Move It!” – “Mix It/Mess It!” – “Do It!” In the afternoon program Carousel makes for an exciting and interesting program with a mixed age group PM program as energies typically have fallen, Carousel lifts spirits and refocuses waning attention. We strive very hard at Caring Connection to provide more than ‘just day care.’ We want children to be interested, learning and wondering throughout the entire day. |
| 4:30 Story Break | As we wind down for the day, an afternoon story break offers a chance to soften the pace of the day, use the toilet and provide final diaper checks. |
| 5:00 Snack | An evening snack is offered to children who stay the whole day. We can provide that snack ‘to go’ for parents who are in a hurry. This snack is not required by law and we make it a light snack, so as not to spoil dinnertime appetites. |
| 5:30 Table Activities | The end of the day is a mirror to the morning. Children of multiple ages are combined as teachers clean the center and children help put their school environment in order. |
| 6:00 Group Games or Individualized Activities | Teachers may lead a small group of organized games, songs or activities or set children up with individual activities to keep the end of the day as interesting as the beginning of the day. |
Enlightened Play Preschool West Sac Campus offers full time and part time care for infants, toddlers and preschoolers.
Thematic Learning: Themes to be Proud of
Because children usually live in a small world, themes allow us to widen their world and help them be introduced to others who look less like them, live differently, and speak in other languages. We are proud to expand our themes and try new ideas like Voting, Lifetimes, Peace, and Ecology.
A Love of Learning
At Enlightened Play Preschools, we promise to keep childhood fun. And one way we can do this is to have fun themes that inspire interest and keep children engaged in their preschool and their love for learning.
Thematic Learning
At Enlightened Play Preschools, we organize each week by a theme. We organize our themes throughout the month into areas that focus on cultures, terrains, animals, seasons, holidays, weather, and character traits (like self-esteem or manners). Within each month our goal is to balance the type of themes to create the widest concepts.
Themes allow teachers to introduce new vocabulary, concepts, and visual images to children. We know that children are learning basic skills like colors, letters, numbers, etc all the time. With themes in play, even the same learning takes on a new level of excitement. To count the clowns during Circus week or count the leaves during Autumn…counting is still in play but the theme keeps it interesting.
Emergent Curriculum
At Enlightened Play Preschools, teachers will plan their lessons based on a weekly theme but we also employ an ideology of Emergent Curriculum. We do this by listening to children’s ideas and input these possibilities into those already planned by the teacher.
Emergent Curriculum is a term that can mean many things to many people. To us, it means that our teachers encourage and include children’s ideas and responses to the days’ activities. Our teachers have always tried to do this while reading, speaking with, and listening to our children. This promotes our role as listeners, not just speakers and validates that children’s ideas are heard.
Want to find out more about our Emergent Curriculum?
Contact us or stop by for a visit.
Outdoor Classroom
Over the nearly 30 years that we have been operating, we have discovered and created the following types of outdoor classrooms.
- Dry Creek Bed – A space for imaginative water play and discovery. Boat and Dock area for play and imagery.
- Mudpie Kitchen – Pots, pans, and natural elements turn into culinary play.
- Banging Post & Mirrored Garden – Encouraging music, movement, and sensory experiences.
- Climbing Hill & Sensory Garden – Engaging motor skills and sensory exploration.
- Decomposed Granite Trail – A summer highlight when mixed with water
- Beach Play Area – Driftwood, shells, and sea glass create a natural seaside escape.
- Log Jump & Social Circle – Supporting gross motor skills and social interaction.
- Sound Garden Fence – A playful introduction to music and rhythm.
- Slide Hill & Climbing Island – Breaking up paved areas with adventure.
- Grassy Meadow – A soft, soothing space for babies and toddlers. Balancing boards and moveable Parts for children’s creation and risky-play.
