Heather Farm & Civic Park Preschools Walnut Creek Recreation Division runs a preschool program which offers several different classes serving children 2 1/2 through 4 years of age. Enrollment is open to the public on a space-available basis beginning July 7, 2008. General Program Information Preschool Brochure Schedule and Fees Registration Form Medical/Information Form Permission Form CIVIC PARK PRESCHOOL PONIES Welcome to Civic Park Preschool. Our multi-age program offers numerous enrichment activities to enhance your child’s physical, social, emotional, and cognitive development. On the first day of school, you and your child may arrive at any time between 9:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. You are welcome to stay as long as you like in order to become familiar with the classroom. This day is set aside for you and your child to experience and explore the room together. Feel free to play in any area, explore any activity, meet other parents, children and our staff. There will be no snack provided on the first day. On the second day, we will follow our regular schedule beginning at 9:30 a.m. and ending at 12:30 p.m. Our daily schedule is subject to change, but will generally be as follows: Ponies Activity 9:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. Arrival/Free Play 10:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. Table/Block/Art Free Play 10:30 a.m. – 10:45 a.m. Snack Time 10:50 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. Outside Play Time 11:35 a.m. – 12:10 p.m. Circle/Small Group Activities 12:20 p.m. – 12:30 p.m. Closing Activities/Pick–up All parents will need to pay a one-time lab fee and snack fee each quarter to help pay for needed supplies of scheduled activities. Prior to the start of the fall session, there will be a Parent Orientation Meeting. It provides an opportunity to discuss any questions you may have about the program. At this meeting, we will also go over the classroom schedule in more detail and answer any questions you may have. Please note that before your child can attend our classes at Civic Park Preschool, we need to have your child’s current immunization records. Please include them with the registration forms. We want to be as careful as possible with your child’s health and safety. Thank you. We look forward to an exciting year with your children. Thea Sorscher, Head Teacher HEATHER FARM PRESCHOOL PUPPIES & PENGUINS Welcome to the Puppies and Penguins classes at Heather Farm Preschool. We are pleased to have you and your child join us! For many of you, this will be the first experience your child will have with “school,” so we will try to make this beginning as comfortable and relaxed as possible for everyone. The first day of school will be a Visiting Day. There will be no special class times on this day. You and your child may come anytime from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon to see the classroom, use the playdough, paint a picture or play with blocks. You will meet me and the aides who will help in the classroom. Plan for you and your child to stay 30-45 minutes. Please bring a recent picture of your child to put on a cubbie and write your child’s name on the back. On Visiting Day, we will not be having a snack. Parents may, however, begin to sign up for snack days. You will probably need to bring a snack two or three times during each session (each session is approximately ten weeks long). This will depend on how many children are in the class. I will let you know how many children to provide for, and if there are any changes. Snack consists of juice (100% juice, please) or milk to drink and something small and nutritional to eat. When we start our regular class times. Puppies meet from 9:00-10:30 a.m. and Penguins meet from 11:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m. If you can, please stay for circle time (about 20 minutes or so after the class starts). Circle will last ten minutes or less, and your presence will help your child learn what to do at circle. Thanks for you help! It is hard for children to let go of their parents in a new environment, so please stay as long as you like on Thursday. As much as we like to see our children become independent, it is sometimes difficult for parents to let go of their children. So…..during the second week of school, you are welcome to stay five or ten minutes, but then it is better to leave and let your child begin learning to be at school without you. Please work to establish a short “good-bye” routine that is simple but meaningful to your child. And please... please ask if you have questions. Separation can be difficult. One way that you can help your child learn to “separate” more easily is to schedule some time for him/her to play with friends without your presence. A half-hour with a close friend in a comfortable setting will help your child learn to be away from you. When you return, you can reassure your child, saying “You knew I’d come back” or “You’ve been playing while I was gone,” or something similar. If you have questions, please call me. When your child comes to preschool at Heather Farm Preschool, the most important activity that your child will do is to play. Play is the best thing for preschoolers to do, and we will spend most of our time playing. When your child builds with blocks, she is learning mathematical and scientific concepts. When your child plays in the house corner, he is learning good nutritional practices and real life skills. When your children play together, they are practicing planning, organization, communication and negotiation. At Heather Farm Preschool we do not have direct instruction of the alphabet or numbers. We do encourage the children to draw, color and write. We help them count, practice one-to-one correspondence, number conservation and seriation. The children will listen to stories, look at books and sing songs to enhance their language skills. They usually do not know all this is going on; they are having a good time playing! If you have questions about the curriculum at Heather Farm Preschool, please catch me at school or call me at home. Heather Farm Preschool asks that you pay a lab fee. We use this money to pay for seasonal extras like stickers, pet food, playdough ingredients, books and many other items. Please pay this lab fee as soon as possible (in cash if you can). The daily schedule for the Puppies and Penguins will run approximately like this: Puppies Activity Penguins 9:00-9:45 a.m. Arrival and play time 11:00-11:45 a.m. 9:45-10:00 a.m. Pick up and circle time 11:45-12:00 noon 10:00-10:15 Snack and reading time 12:00-12:15 p.m. 10:15-10:30 a.m. Outdoor time 12:15-12:30 p.m. Before your child can attend our classes at Heather Farm Preschool we need to have your child’s current immunization records. Please include them with the registration forms. We want to be as careful as possible with your child’s health and safety. Thank you! We’ll have a great time together! Welcome to the Puppies and Penguins! Trish Konzak Head Teacher P.S. The children call me Trish. HEATHER FARM PRESCHOOL BEARS Welcome to the BEARS three-year-old class at the Heather Farm Preschool. It’s wonderful to see so many familiar faces with us this fall. Your children are going to have a great year at “Bear School.” We’ll be singing songs, listening and role-playing to stories. We’ll be having math and science experiences as well as new language experiences. We’ll be painting, building, cooking, and having a great time. Our first day of school is a Visiting Day for you and your child. You may come anytime between 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. to see the classroom, use the playdough, paint a picture or build with blocks. You will be able to meet me and the aides who will help in the classroom. Please plan for you and your child to stay 30-45 minutes. On the second day, we meet for our regular class. School starts at 9:00 a.m. and lasts until 11:30 a.m. On Visiting Day, we will not be having a snack, but parents may begin to sign up for snack days. You will need to bring a snack two or three times during our ten week session. We will let you know how many children to provide for and if there are any changes. Snack consists of 100% juice or milk to drink, and something small and nutritional to eat. Heather Farm Preschool asks that you pay a lab fee. The lab fee is used to buy food for our cooking projects, special supplies for science or math, and seasonal extras (like Halloween balloons or stickers) for your children to use. The daily schedule for the Bears will run approximately like this: Bears Activity 9:00-9:20 a.m. Arrival and play time 9:20-9:30 a.m. Circle Time 9:30-10:30 a.m Small group activities followed by free play 10:30-10:45 a.m. Pick up time 10:45-11:15 a.m Circle, snack and reading time 11:15-11:30 a.m. Outdoor time every day except in terrible weather, so please be sure your child has a jacket These times are approximate because every day is different. We will adapt daily (and minute-to-minute) to the children’s mood changes, the weather, the number of children at school that day and so on. Circle times are short at the beginning of the year and lengthen as the group’s attention span lengthens. Now that we have our “backyard,” we will spend more time outside and take some of our “jobs” outside too. When your child comes to preschool at Heather Farm Preschool, the most important activity that your child will do is to play. Play is the best thing for preschoolers to do, and we will spend most of our time playing. When your child builds with blocks, she is learning mathematical and scientific concepts. When your child plays in the house corner, he is learning good nutritional practices and real life skills. When your children play together, they are practicing planning, organization, communication and negotiation. At Heather Farm Preschool we do not have direct instruction of the alphabet or numbers. We do encourage the children to draw, color and write. We help them count, practice one-to-one correspondence, number conservation and seriation. The children will listen to stories, look at books and sing songs to enhance their language skills. They usually do not know all this is going on; they are having a good time playing! We will have Show and Tell days, where each child will bring something from home to show the other children. Toys, books, shells, rocks, anything slightly educational is acceptable. Show and Tell days will be about every 5-6 weeks and a note will go home to remind you. Before your child can attend our classes at Heather Farm Preschool we need to have your child’s current immunization records. Please include them with the registration forms. We’ll have a great time at “Bear School” ! Trish Konzak Head Teacher P.S. The children call me Trish. HEATHER FARM PRESCHOOL OWLS Welcome to our four-year-old program at the Heather Farm Preschool. We are pleased to be able to offer this class to your children. The class for Owls will continue our basic philosophy of providing an environment that is comfortable, yet challenging, fun, and educational. Our activities will be developmentally appropriate for children who are four years old. These activities will include language development, science and math experiences, and music and movement participation. All this means that we will sing songs, listen to stories, plant seeds, paint, build, cook, count, draw, and so on. Our first day of school will be a Visiting Day. You and your child may come any time from 12:30-3:00 p.m. to see the classroom, use the playdough, paint a picture, look at books and build with blocks. Plan for you and your child to stay 30-45 minutes. On the second day, we will follow our regular schedule of beginning at 12:30 p.m and ending at 3:30 p.m. Please bring a picture for us to put on a cubbie for your child. On Visiting Day we will not be having a snack, but parents may sign up for snack days. You will need to bring a snack three or four times during our ten week session. I will let you know how many children to provide for and if there are any changes. Snack consists of juice (100%, please) or milk to drink and something nutritious to eat. Heather Farm Preschool asks that you pay a lab fee. The lab fee is used to buy food for our cooking projects, special supplies for science or math and seasonal extras, such as Halloween stickers. Please pay the lab fee as soon as possible (in cash if you can). The daily schedule for the OWLS will run approximately like this: Owls Activity 12:30-12:50 p.m. Arrival and play time 12:50-1:10 p.m. Circle Time 1:10-2:30 p.m Small group activities followed by free play 2:30-2:40 p.m. Pick up time 2:40-3:00 p.m. Circle 3:00-3:10 p.m. Snack and reading time 3:10-3:30 p.m. Outdoor time every day except in terrible weather, so please be sure your child has a jacket Every day, we will adapt to the changes in the weather and the children’s mood changes. Please make sure your child has a jacket every day because the weather can change very quickly. Now that we have our “backyard,” we will spend more time outside and take some of our “jobs” outside, too. When your child comes to preschool at Heather Farm Preschool, the most important activity that your child will do is to play. Play is the best thing for preschoolers to do, and we will spend most of our time playing. When your child builds with blocks, she is learning mathematical and scientific concepts. When your child plays in the house corner, he is learning good nutritional practices and real life skills. When your children play together, they are practicing planning, organization, communication and negotiation. At Heather Farm Preschool we do not have direct instruction of the alphabet or numbers. We do encourage the children to draw, color and write. We help them count, practice one-to-one correspondence, number conservation and seriation. The children will listen to stories, look at books and sing songs to enhance their language skills. They usually do not know all this is going on; they are having a good time playing! If you have questions about the curriculum at Heather Farm Preschool, please catch me at school or call me at home. We will have Show and Tell days, when each child can bring something from home to show the other children. Toys, books, shells, rocks, anything slightly educational is acceptable. Show and Tell days will be about every 5-6 weeks and a note will go home to remind you. Other than Show and Tell days, please do not allow your child to bring toys such as Power Rangers, Batman, Pretty Ponies or Barbie dolls to school. These toys are extremely hard to share and some of them encourage violent play that isn’t appropriate at school. Thanks for your help with this. Before your child can attend our classes at Heather Farm Preschool we need to have your child’s current immunization records. Please include them with the registration forms. We want to be as careful as possible with your child’s health and safety. Thank you! If you have any questions, feel free to contact me. We’ll all have a great year! Trish Konzak Head Teacher P.S. The children call me Trish. A word about class age limits The Walnut Creek Recreation Division has over 45 years of experience providing quality programs for children. We set minimum age requirement for each of our classes in order to provide the safest and most enjoyable program for your child. Enrolled children MUST be the minimum age by the first day of class, unless otherwise designated in a program description or by the class coordinator.