We provide a preschool program, consultation, and specialized services at Shelburne Community School, and in local early childhood and home settings for children ages three to five.

Our preschool classroom is a licensed early care and education program that provides a child-centered environment designed to build a strong foundation for successful academic and social experiences. We believe that children learn best through play-based activities in an environment that is intentionally designed to meet their developmental needs. Our curriculum is based on the Vermont Early Learning Standards (VELS) and the Creative Curriculum. Areas of focus include: Approaches to Learning, Social and Emotional Development, Language and Literacy, Mathematical Thinking, Scientific Thinking, Social Studies, Creative Expression and Physical Health and Development. Classroom activities are designed to foster children's strengths, positive interactions with others, and their appreciation of the natural world.

Our daily schedule includes Choice Time, Morement/Outside Time. During Choice and Project Time, all of the centers in our room are open:

Dramatic Play Area - helps children express themselves, practicning Meeting (Circle), Project Time, Art and Music activities, Story/Literacy Circle, and Move life skills, improve social skills and problem solving skills, and builds vocabulary. This center supports literacy development, as children need to be able to develop story lines in play before they can develop story lines in writing.

Block Area - provides experience with mathematical, literacy and scientific concepts of size, shape, spacial relationships, balance, organization, cause/effect and classification. Miniature props promote imagination and story-telling.

Touch Table - allows children to explore and experiment with a variety of textures and substances such as sand, water, mud, snow, rice, aquarium gravel, bird seed, etc. Many mathematical, scientific and language concepts are developed.

Writing Center - promotes literacy through experiences with various writing tools, letter stamps, and other materials. Children can play with their understanding of print, and practice writing their name and other letters and words. Children can develop their own stories through drawing and writing, and can dicate stories to teachers who can write their words for them.

Science Center - offers children hands-on opportunities for observation, exploration, making predictions and experimenting. At the science center, the children have watched a caterpillar make a chrysalis and emerge into a butterfly, and have observed frogs, worms, rocks, and seashells. They have explored magnetism, sink/float, and other concepts.

Art Studio - Children creatively express themselves at the easel as they are developing fine motor skills and concepts of color, shape, size and design. We explore all kinds of paint, play dough, clay, paper, scissors, markers, crayons, etc.

Book Area - fosters a love of reading and literature. Children learn about concepts of print, alphabet knowledge and phonological awareness. Children read independently, look at books together, and snuggle up with a teacher for stories.