OUR PHILOSOPHY
The De Winton Community Preschool’s philosophy is that children learn through play and socialization. Our goal is to provide an atmosphere that allows our students the opportunity to grow in a safe and nurturing environment while making learning fun and interactive.
For young children this is their way of exploring their environments, developing age appropriate concepts and making meaningful relationships with their peers. As a result, children are able to relate learning with a positive experience, which is beneficial in preparing preschool children to cope with more formal education in kindergarten and beyond.
Children primarily learn through a process of sensory stimulation. Use of the five senses (sight, sound, smell, taste and touch) is the best way to communicate with preschool aged children when introducing new concepts. Hence, learning needs to involve as many of these senses to give the maximum experience and get the best responses.
Learning through play is what comes naturally to most children and must be encouraged to help build confidence and awareness when meeting the children’s developing needs. Movement is another key concept that has had profound experiences. After all, the act of ‘doing’ is both gratifying and rewarding.
PARENT INVOLVEMENT
The De Winton Community Preschool is a nonprofit parent run program. Parental involvement and input is essential in making our program successful as well as keeping tuition costs to a minimum, all while covering the operating costs of the preschool and paying for upgrades to play equipment, toys, books, and other learning tools. Your volunteer time is greatly appreciated and essential to our preschool. This time will not only give you some insight into the day-to-day operations of the preschool, but it also helps to create a sense of community by building relationships amoung our students and their parents.
The following are 3 ways that parents can help out, making our program run smoothly:
“Classroom Helper” Volunteers
The most important volunteering role in our preschool is that of the “Classroom Helper”. Due to being a community and parent run program, we have made parents active partners in their child’s preschool experience and education. Parents are required to fulfill 6-10 “Classroom Helper” volunteer days throughout the school year. The number of days required and the dates are determined depending on the number of students in the classroom as well as special dates such as birthdays and holidays. In addition, there are several opportunities that arise throughout the year in the form of special celebrations, in which parents are encouraged to participate. This helps keep parents involved and interested in supporting the preschool program as well as being active in our local community.
Fundraising Events
Parents are encouraged to participate in fundraising events throughout the school year. Past fundraising events have included donating baked goods for the annual Christmas bake sale, raffles and food/chocolate sales. Money raised from these fundraising events allows the preschool the opportunity to update teaching aides, classroom toys, etc.
Other Volunteer Opportunities
Parents are also encouraged to join the De Winton Community Preschool Parent Volunteer Committee and/or volunteer for other various committees and jobs at the preschool such as organizing the annual Christmas Concert, planning the year end party, helping with the fundraising committee, classroom snack co-coordinators, etc.