About the Preschool

 

The Marda Loop Communities Association Preschool is an exceptional community-based preschool, offering a supportive and caring environment for children 3 and 4 years old. Our preschool fosters each child’s intellectual and social-emotional development. Together, we learn and explore through age appropriate play, activities, and materials that lay the foundation for future education.

We promote peer-teacher-student relationships that develop our students’ self-esteem and self-awareness. Teachers encourage children to explore their environment through various sensory stations and enrichment programs which promote child-directed learning at a pace that meets each child’s needs.

 

MLCA Preschool teachers prepare our students for success by implementing The Importance of Play-Based Learning’s four-pillar approach:

1. Students take an active role in the classroom
2. They are engaged
3. Information is meaningful
4. Learners interact in a social context

 

The Room 241 Team. “The Importance of Play-Based Learning.” Concordia University Portland Oregon, A Blog By Concordia University Portland, 27 Sept. 2018, education.cu-portland.edu/blog/classroom-resources/play-based-learning/.

 

 

About Play Based Learning

Play Based Learning is instrumental in childhood learning and brain development; it sets the foundation for future emotional, social and academic learnings. Research states that purposeful play allows children to express themselves and engage in ways that allow them to test new knowledge and theories. This is done so through intentional learning spaces that have been strategically designed to allow for purposeful play across various learning platforms; this leads to the facilitation of new experiences, conversations and problem solving.

“Play is the earliest form of storytelling (and) is… crucial to children’s learning and development. Their intellectual, physical, and social-emotional abilities emerge and are strengthened through play.

The Importance of Play; The Room 241 Team. 2018.

 

Classroom

The preschool offers structured and unstructured activities and several play centres, allowing our students to engage in activities that spark their interest. Our teachers observe and engage in ways that aid in the students learning at each station. Our curriculum rotates monthly, and incorporates a variety of topics including seasons, weather, shapes, colours and letters. Play centers include:

 

Arts & Crafts

Building and Construction Toys

Dress-up and Imaginative Play

Puzzles & Games

Books and Quiet Corner

Science

Drama/House

Rotating Sensory Stations (water, snow, bubble wrap, sand, etc.)

 

 

Daily Activities

Our preschool curriculum allows for a play-based environment, while offering routine and new learning opportunities.

Daily structured carpet time: Songs and stories, calendar activities, class engagement activities such as Bingo.

Person of the Day: Our 4-year-old students have the opportunity to be the teacher helper for the day. A list goes out monthly, showing what day your child will take on this role. Responsibilities include: being line leader, checking the weather,  and participating in other helpful classroom tasks. Fridays are show and tell where the leaders of the week bring an item from home and tell their friends why it’s important to them.

Physical Activity: We are proud to bring in various physical activities such as dance, yoga and sportball as available.

Community Enrichment: GrandFriends, community garden, police officer, firefighter and doctor visits.

 

Snack

We ask that parents send their children to school with a healthy snack each day. After morning play, our students have bathroom break and then eat together at the table as a group. Following snack, our students practice cleaning their dishes/placemat, putting their items in their backpack and washing their hands. Please note that our school is nut-free and we ask that no nuts be brought into the classroom.

 

Parent Involvement

Our preschool is run by a committee of parent volunteers, please reach out if you are interested in joining the committee! It is a great way to meet other parents and help make the preschool great.

All parents are asked to take on a small volunteer role during the year, such as making playdough, assisting with craft prep, or toy washing. As we have two full time teachers there is no mandatory in class volunteering.