Educational Philosophy

We believe preschool should be an exciting and educational experience for children. Because preschool is usually a student's first exposure to peer group interaction and the basic fundamentals of education, it is our intent to provide an environment that enriches these first experiences and instills in the child an enthusiasm for school now and the years ahead.

General Goals

Building Blocks aims to accomplish the following goals:

• Build self-esteem by encouraging students to express themselves in daily, creative activities and projects.

• Provide a creative but structured program that makes learning exciting. This includes special events that not only involve students but parents as well.

• Create an enthusiastic environment for learning.

• Provide the "basic" fundamentals of education with an emphasis on listening and thinking skills.

These goals will be accomplished through a creative but semi-structured program. To accomplish these goals, we offer a comprehensive curriculum that covers Preschool—three and four year olds — and Transitional-K and Kindergarten — five and six year olds.

The Child Has Several Tasks to Master

• Shift from dependency upon parents and a secure home environment to dependency upon peers and other adults.

• Manage separation anxiety; some accomplish this with a minimum of distress. For others, the threat of the loss of Mom or Dad is frightening and extremely stressful for both the child and the mother/father.

• Accept the friendship of adults other than family members. This is a new experience for them.

• Realize that the word "stranger" can be good or bad. Remember, their new teachers are strangers. They must be "good strangers."

Is My Child Ready?

Children cannot be forced to succeed at any of the following tasks too rapidly. Certainly we expect our children to gradually develop independence. If the youngster cannot attend to most of these tasks, she/he may be very unhappy at school and probably will not get along with his/her classmates. When children begin to master these tasks, they are ready for preschool:

• Knows his/her own clothing and attempts to put on outer clothing and boots.

• Toilet habits: cares for self at toilet; does not wet or soil clothes; is able to wash hands after toileting.

• Speech and talking: is able to talk in short easy sentences instead of pointing or crying; puts six or more words together in a sentence to express his or her needs and wants.

• Paying attention: is able to give fairly constant attention to a play project; listens quietly to a short story; and sits reasonably quiet for periods of 10 minutes at a time.

Highlights

• Theater at ULowell center for the arts for the five year olds.
• Semiannual progress reports.
• Parent/teacher conferences upon request.
• Teacher pupil ratio of 1/10.
• Licensed biannually by the Massachusetts Office for Children.
• Monthly cooking and science projects.
• One field trip annually for four and five year olds.
• In-house special activities featuring guest speakers.
• Holiday parties.
• PC computers.
• Buddy Bear program.
• Formal Fridays.