Around the age of 2, students at our school transition from the Toddler Class to what is typically their permanent class for the remainder of the time that they continue their education at our school. Once placed in a class around the age of 2, we strive to keep students and teachers together for as long of a duration as possible. Consistent with the teaching philosophy of early childhood learning expert Glenn Doman, we believe that a critical foundation to the most effective learning environment is a strong, loving bond between teacher and student as well as mutual respect and trust. For this reason, we believe in maintaining consistency for our students with respect to their teachers, their classmates and their daily routine. As opposed to the traditional American approach embraced and implemented by the vast majority of other centers of transitioning students to a different classroom with a different teacher and likely new or different classmates on an annual basis, we believe that keeping the same students and teachers consistently together year after year fosters and continually strengthens a sense of trust, confidence and safety which, in turn, maximizes the effectiveness of our curriculum and learning environment.
Each class is assigned a lead Spanish teacher, a lead French teacher and a lead Chinese teacher. We offer a well-rounded curriculum taught in a highly structured, teacher-directed environment with a heavy emphasis not only on foreign language acquisition, but also on the development of reading and math skills. We believe that the window of time between 2 years and 5 years of age is a critical time to promote and encourage a love of reading, and students spend at least an hour each day engaged in reading activities. Additionally, we focus on building handwriting skills with worksheets throughout the day. Math skills are introduced including numbers, counting, grouping, sorting, identifying, creating and extending patterns, telling time, identifying and building geometric shapes, adding and subtracting. Important social skills such as listening, following directions and respecting others are also fostered. We believe that through the implementation of our structured, accelerated curriculum, your child will leave our preschool program not only exceptionally prepared for and ready to enter and excel in kindergarten, but also bilingual or multilingual with the ability to speak and understand Spanish, French and/or Mandarin Chinese. This will put your child ahead of the curve in his/her kindergarten classroom and in accordance with Glenn Doman’s philosophy “Children who start ahead, stay ahead.”