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About Us
Founded in 2004, Preschool of America opened its first school in New York City’s historic Chelsea neighborhood. Since then we have opened a total of seven centers throughout Manhattan, and we continue to grow. The founding principle of establishing outstanding day care centers and preschools for New York City families remains uncompromised.
Preschool of America prides itself on providing high-quality preschool education with daycare amenities and service in a warm, nurturing environment. We understand that choosing the right center to fit a child’s needs is an important decision, and we strive to meet the expectations of every family we serve.
Our Preschool of America programs are carefully researched and thoughtfully taught, and we approach every day with a sense imagination, innovation, and fun to help young children learn comfortably and confidently. Every curriculum includes a variety of interesting and inspiring activities to stimulate early brain development with a focus on creative play. We encourage a love of learning through working and playing with others. Our children have fun while they learn just another way we make sure children get the most out of their experiences at school.
At Preschool of America, our beautiful and modern facilities provide each child with the ability to learn and grow physically, cognitively, socially and emotionally. Our full-time programs, a good curriculum that provides plenty of hands-on learning and high quality teachers prepare the children in our schools for elementary school and for life-long learning.
Our Mission
Preschool of America is committed to providing a safe, nurturing, and stimulating environment for young children. We provide enriching opportunities every day so students reach their full potential socially, emotionally, physically, and cognitively within the learning environment.
The play-based curriculum focuses on literacy, math, science, social and emotional skills, and physical development. Classrooms are designed to inspire young learners, capturing each child’s interests, ideas, and independence to encourage a growing awareness of self. We prepare students for on-going schools by continually monitoring their readiness for new learning challenges.
We believe that the strength of the program is in the dedication of the teaching staff. Teachers create a kind, caring atmosphere to foster imagination and creativity. We strive to create mutual respect and encourage daily communication between parents, teachers, and administrators. We believe parents are the most significant adults in a child’s life; therefore, our doors are open to parents at all times.
Preschool of America is an organization that values people: the children in our care, their parents, and our employees. We continually work to earn the trust placed in us and strive each day to be the best providers of early childhood education in the community we serve.
(http://www.preschoolofamerica.us/)
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- a commitment to providing a safe nurturing and stimulating environment.
- encouraging children to be independent and self aware.
- emphasizing relationships with parents and creating an environment of mutual respect amongst parents, teachers and administrators.
POA does not mention the DAP in their philosophy statement online, but from my observations the content taught during the day and the activities the children engage in are developmentally appropriate.
POA's website does not directly address diversity in their philosophy statement, however because the school is a Mandarin/English bilingual school, many different cultures and ethnicities are represented. In the 3-4 classroom I observed there were children of Chinese, Dominican, Trinidadian, Taiwanese, Italian and American descent. I found that because all the children in the classroom were so different from each other, there did not seem to be a dominant culture or race and the children were very accepting of each others and their own differences.
If I were to rewrite POA's philosophy statement to reflect some of my own beliefs, I might add more research based goals for the approach used in the classroom. The children at POA have a balanced day of teacher-directed and child-initiated learning, but this is not reflected in POA's philosophy. I might also emphasize the importance of cultural diversity within the school. The POA's website does not fully expand on the fact that they are a bilingual school and that the children are exposed to two languages throughout the day. I feel that the school should expand on this point in their philosophy online so parents can better understand the significance of this experience. Other wise, I might revise the statement to be less repetitive and more to-the-point so that parents can gain the deepest understanding of the school from the information provided online.
Great reflection- I too was left with some of the questions that a parent might have before enrolling their child so I hope that you are able to share your thoughts with the school because it sounds like a wonderful place for children begin their educational career. I especially like how you noted the importance of the balance of teacher/child centered activities as well as the school's statement on assessment that takes into consideration DAP: " continually monitoring their readiness for new learning challenges."
ReplyDeleteJournal Entry Rubric Score (9.25-10 points A, A+)
Writing reflects thoughtful consideration of the material, engaged observation and listening and a clear understanding of the theories and pedagogy that inform and represent appropriate early childhood practices.