Amherst-Pelham
Early
Welcome to the
early education center! We hope that
this handbook will answer some of the questions you may have about your child’s
class.
What is an
Our program
integrates children with and without special needs. In a class of 15 children, up to 7 may
receive support services while the other 8 children receive regular early
childhood education services.
A teacher,
assistant teachers, and a speech and language pathologist are the primary
instructional personnel. The Physical
Therapist and Occupational Therapist also spend time in the classrooms. The classrooms have also served as authorized
training sites for student teachers in the areas of early childhood education,
special educations, occupational therapy, and communication disorders.
Program Philosophy
Young children in
an integrated setting learn from the staff and from each other. They learn developmental skills (cognitive,
social/emotional, communication, small and large motor skills) as well as the
acceptance of other people and themselves as unique individuals. Integrated early childhood programs enable
all children to participate to their fullest capacities in the mainstream of
education. Special support services are
provided in the classroom in a relevant and functional manner.
The classes are structured to further the
total development of each child. For the
child with special challenges this may mean offering special assistance and
structure in some areas. The children
without special needs also receive teacher attention appropriate to their own
level of development. Parents remark
that all children grow with the experience of sharing, learning with, and
understanding children with different areas of strengths and needs. Frequently children without special needs
have opportunities to help others and take pride in their friend’s progress and
at times the curriculum offers opportunities for the child with special needs
to teach others a new game or activity.
The curriculum is developmental and the children learn through
interactions with both staff and peers.
We also believe
that parents are a vital part of the child’s development and education. We welcome and encourage parent participation
either directly or indirectly in the classroom.
Our Goal
Our goal is to
provide a developmentally appropriate educational experience, rich in diversity
and available to all children. Each
child is able to make progress at his/her own pace in all areas of development. Our stress is on a language rich environment
where children learn how to communicate and be members of a larger group while
providing a wide variety of learning experiences.
Class Schedule
The class begins at
_____ and ends at _____. We ask that you
follow these time limits in order to provide all children the most of each day
and allow staff opportunities to plan and set up for each day. The first day of school is ____________ and
after that we follow the public school calendar.
We offer a variety
of program options. Three of the classes
meet 4 mornings per week, two meet 5 mornings per week, and one meets 2
afternoons/week. All the classes include
enrollments of children between the ages of 3-5 years.
The day begins with
a limited free play period followed by a circle or morning meeting. The morning meeting provides the children
with opportunities to sing, develop listening and speaking skills, and to
review the schedule of the day. After
this meeting, the children either begin activity time or go outside to
play. Outside the children are
encouraged to play on the play structure, swing on the swings, ride the trikes,
take a walk with a teacher, or play a game.
They often have a chance to play with children from another class.
Activity time
allows children to select and participate in several choices within the
classrooms. Cooking activities, art
experiences, fantasy play, block building, and working with a variety of
manipulative toys are some of the choices that are available at this time. Development of thinking and problem solving
skills, communication, motor skills, and socialization are the focus of this
time of day. We also have opportunities
to expand early literacy skills through picture books, writing, and drawing
opportunities. We offer experience for
hands on learning through science projects while also encouraging children’s
powers of observation and experimentation with sand, water and other medium. Children are encouraged to ask for things,
taught to resolve conflicts, and praised for sharing, turn taking, and
cooperative play
Music often signals
the end of activities accompanied by a clean up announcement by one of the
children. This is a coveted classroom
job, one of many in each classroom. All
children are responsible for assisting in clean up.
Every day we offer
a snack mid-morning or breakfast. The
children wash up prior to snack and we have special snack helpers each day to
set out the food, drinks, cups, and placemats, offering lots of opportunities
to count. Here the children learn
independence while practicing pouring, spreading, cutting, and communication
skills. They also clean up their own
snack mats.
Every day we have a
story time that could be a picture book, a flannel board story, or even a puppet
show! During the transition story time,
the children are invited to look at one of the many beautiful books that each
classroom offers. The books are changed
frequently and often complement a focus or classroom theme.
Schedules vary from
classrooms to classroom, but each program offers all of the periods
described.
Speech and Language at the Early
The model used in
the program for delivery of speech and language services is a co-teaching
model. This means that the teacher and the
speech and language pathologist work together to plan and implement curriculum
within the classroom setting in order to meet the speech and language
objectives of children with challenges.
All children participate in activities and use the materials within the
classroom which have been designed to meet their specific needs on a daily
basis.
The reasons for
providing services in this way are based on information about how speech,
language, and communication develop. All
children between the ages of 3-5 years develop language. These are some of the most important language
learning years of a person’s life. Some
children develop language more slowly and some develop less effective
strategies for learning and/or using language.
Others have sensory or motor challenges which inhibit their
learning. But all of the children with
or without special needs are in the midst of their most productive language
learning years. Language is learned as
it is used and in these early years much of the language happens when children
communicate with each other. Therefore,
embedding language intervention into these activities provides that
intervention in the most natural and motivating setting.
Parental Involvement
Parents are encouraged
to play an integral role in their child’s school experience. Teachers communicate with parents when they
drop off or pick up their children, as well as by phone, communication
notebooks, daily classroom logs and/or newsletters. Parents are invited to visit the classroom for
observation or participation. Please
make arrangements with the classroom teacher prior to a visit. Semiannual parent conferences are offered to
discuss your child’s progress. Social
family get togethers are held during the year.
We may ask for your assistance with field trips and at other social
project times during the year.
We recognize that
parents have very busy lives and applaud any level of parental involvement with
which you are comfortable. Please note
that it is now school policy that all parents coming to the classroom to assist
children or supervise a field trip will need to have a criminal background
check and be approved by the school system prior to the visit.
Confidentiality/Records
Our policy is to
discuss a child only with his/her family members and appropriate staff
members.
Under state and
federal law, all contents of a child’s school file are to be maintained in a
secure place under supervision of a school official. Only qualified staff involved with the
child’s program have access to this information. A parent has the right to see all of the
contents of a child’s folder and to request amendments of any inaccuracies that
exist. Records will be forwarded to
another school or institution only at the written request of a parent.
Clothing
Children should be
dressed in clothing suitable for play, i.e. the clothes do not inhibit movement
and it is not a concern to keep them clean.
It is recommended that your child wear sneakers or rubber soled shoes
which makes it easier and safer to run and climb.
Children should
have a complete change of clothes including socks, a shirt, pants, and
underwear to leave at school. In the
winter especially, some children bring slippers to wear at school when they
take off their boots. All extra clothes
as well as outerwear should be marked with your child’s name.
We got outside on
most days so please have your child prepared for the weather.
Field Trips
Various field trips
will be taken throughout the year. We
will tell you in advance and send home a permission slip. We welcome your company on trips.
Birthday Celebrations
Birthday parties
are big occasions in the lives of children.
To be invited to a party is very exciting: to be knowingly excluded can
cause great hurt. Therefore we suggest
the following:
a.
Party
invitation be sent through the mail rather than handed out at school
b.
Parties
planned for the weekends if possible or on Friday afternoon.
c.
If
possible, birthday presents to be given at a party not be brought to
school. If unavoidable, please put them
in paper bags.
Many children enjoy
sharing their birthdays in school by bringing a special snack to share with
their class. If you would like to do
this, please inform us so that we can plan and help. Of course, parents are welcome to share in
this.
Medical Policies
All children must
have up to date immunizations and a recent physical on file with the school
nurse. Please do not send your child to
school is she/he seems unwell-has a sore throat, a fever, been vomiting or had
diarrhea within the last 24 hours. Notify
us if your child will not be in school.
You can leave a message with the school secretary or the program
coordinator, Jan Ryan at 362-1600 or 362-1610. We would especially appreciate
knowing of any contagious illnesses so that we may let other families know as
well. If your child takes the bus,
please also notify transportation at 362-1854.
Research
Any outside
research proposals are carefully considered by the early childhood staff as
well as administration. Your permission
will be required before your child participates in any research study. For the internal evaluation of the program,
observational data may be collected on all children in the class. If used in any evaluation report, the data
will not be attributed by name.
Evaluation data does not become part of any child’s individual file.
Tuition
The
extended day option from 11:30-1:00 –Total tuition is $2835/year
The
extended day option from 11:30-1:00 (12:00-Fridays)total tuition is $3387/year
We are committed to
making your child’s experience positive and memorable. We look forward to working together with all
of our families towards this goal.