What is the age range of children who can enroll in the developmental preschool?
Children should be at least 2 years-6 months old by September 30th of the school year.
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Is financial assistance available?
There are a limited number of slots available for children to receive financial assistance. Families qualify if their income matches the free and reduced lunch federal guidelines. Families indicate their need for financial aid on the registration form and must include 2 recent pay checks and/or previous year's income tax form and/or letter from Department of Human Services indicating family is receiving assistance.
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Is parent volunteering mandatory?
Due to the fact that we are a not-for-profit center and student fees represent less than 50% of our actual costs per child, each family is asked to give 25 hours per year in volunteer time to the Center. We have lots of different opportunities including writing thank you notes, helping on field trips, sending in a snack, and serving on fundraising event committees.
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Why should I send my "typical" child to your school?
The developmental preschool program has received NAEYC accreditation - the gold standard for quality care and education. The curriculum that is used as part of the preschool program is designed to meet the needs of ALL children. Children without special needs will receive the foundational skills needed to be successful in kindergarten. Each child's strengths and needs are assessed and together with the parent, goals for the year are established during the home visit that is scheduled prior to the beginning of the school year. Ongoing observations are made throughout the year and recorded as part of the "Creative Curriculum" observation and assessment tools that we use.
More importantly having ALL children participate in a developmentally appropriate learning environment teaches the children about diversity, empathy, respect and friendship - qualities that will last a lifetime.
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What is the ratio of children with special needs to "typically" developing children?
We try and maintain a 50/50 ratio between children with and without special needs.
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What is the staff to student ratio?
We maintain a 1:4 ratio in our 3 year old classes and a 1:5 ratio in our 4 year old classes. This does not include the therapists who work with the children with special needs either in the classroom or in a therapy room.
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Do children receive individual attention at Tiny Tim?
Each of our children receives individual attention from the staff during the day. We also encourage the building of friendships with peers in the class room.
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Do the 3 and 4 year olds play outside at the same time, or are they on separate schedules?
The 3 and 4 year old classes follow different schedules. 1 - 2 times per week they may join together for group music.
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What is the weekly schedule?
Half-Day Preschool: Children can be enrolled either 2 or 4 half days per week. (Monday/Wednesday; Tuesday/Thursday; or Monday - Thursday). The morning sessions run from 8:30 am - 12:00 pm and the afternoon sessions run from 1:00 pm - 3:30 pm.
Full-Day Preschool: Children can be enrolled 2, 3 or 5 full days per week. 2 day option is Tuesday/Thursday; 3 day option is Monday/Wednesday/Friday; 5 day option is Monday-Friday. Sessions run from 8:30 am - 3:30 pm. **You have the option of dropping your child off at the Center between 7:30-8:30 am and picking them up between 3:30-6:00 if extended time is needed due to scheduling. This time is included in the cost.
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What is a typical daily schedule?
Each day will be filled with activities that promote social, fine/gross motor, language, literacy, math, and self-help skills. Children will participate in art, music and movement, dramatic play, sign-language, sensory play, yoga, cooking, science exploration, literacy, writing and math activities, and outdoor fun. We provide snack and potty training support to all programs and in addition we provide nap time for the full day preschool program.
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What is a typical lesson plan?
Lesson plans are based on our "story book journey" approach to learning. Each week the staff plan activities that address motor, language, thinking/cognitive, social-emotional and self help skill development.
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Is there a Spanish curriculum at the school? How often is Spanish taught/spoken?
Approximately 10% of the children attending our developmental preschool come from mono-lingual Spanish speaking homes. These children are immersed into our English speaking instruction. We have 3 bi-lingual teaching assistants to help support their learning. All the children are exposed to a small vocabulary of Spanish words (colors, numbers etc). We do not have a formal curriculum to address Spanish speakers.
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Is sign language taught at the school?
A small percentage of our children with special needs are using sign language as their primary means of communication. We know that sign language is a great "bridge" for children with limited communication skills. We use basic sign language (vocabulary determined by the book of the week) every day with the children.
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Do any speakers come to the school or are there any presentations by community members?
At the beginning of each school year, families are asked if they would like to share a family tradition and or cultural event with their child's class (or preschool classes). This opportunity is available throughout the year. For the past few years, we have had members of the fire department come and speak to the children.
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Can I observe how my child is doing or stay with my child all day?
Each class and therapy room has one way mirrors that parents can use to observe their children. If a parent wants to remain with their child for an entire day, we make that decision on a case by case basis. Sometimes children are reluctant to participate fully in their class when their parents are in the room. We encourage parents to volunteer in other classrooms or help out with office duties if they wish to remain on site.
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Does my child have to be potty-trained before enrolling at Tiny Tim?
Due to the wide diversity of children we serve, we can help children who are working on potty-training.
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Are there bathrooms attached to each classroom?
The three year old classrooms have bathrooms attached and the four year old classrooms access a larger bathroom that is not attached. Children are supervised by an adult during bathroom times.
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Are there step stools for the toilets and sinks or are they small (child) sized?
The children's bathrooms are designed with child sized toilets, urinals and sinks.
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Do older children need to bring their own school supplies/back packs to school daily?
All children are asked to contribute to the program supply needs of the classrooms (eg. markers, glue, scissors, Kleenex etc) at the beginning of the year. Items are pooled together by class.
Children are asked to bring a back pack on a daily basis so that notes and parent information materials can be sent home as needed.
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Is snack brought in by parents or provided by the school?
Snack is provided by the school through our Snackin' Up program. This program strives to include healthy snack items for the children. However, if a child is on a very restricted diet, we try and work with the families to ensure that they are getting the proper nutrients (either through the school and/or having the snack sent from home). We have a NO NUT policy at Tiny Tim. If a parent sends in a snack to an entire class, the snack must be labeled with ingredients.
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Are there any peanuts in the school food or are all snacks vegetarian?
We have a NO NUT policy for snacks. Snacks are rotated on a daily basis but typically include at least 2 of the food groups (eg. dairy, fruits/vegetables, whole grains, protein).
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