WHAT MAKES US DIFFERENT

Curriculum

Our curricular philosophy is two pronged:

1) we believe in designing and implementing developmentally-appropriate activities for our children and

2) we believe in educating the whole child. That is, we create activities that promote a child’s social, emotional, cognitive, and motor growth.

We have chosen to use both the Portage Guides to Early Learning and the Core Knowledge, Preschool Sequence as the foundation for our curriculum. To these we also add a theme-based approach to the structure of our days.

Portage Guides
The Portage Guides are assessment and curriculum tools that support and track some 580 developmentally sequenced behaviors occurring naturally from birth to age 6 in five areas: socialization, self-help, language, cognition, and motor development. Every child in our school will have her development tracked quarterly with her individualized TOP (Tool for Observation and Planning) Booklet, from entering our program through age 6.

Core Knowledge
“The Core Knowledge Preschool Sequence is a set of model guidelines describing fundamental competencies and specific knowledge that, for children from ages 3 to 5 years of age, can provide a solid, coherent foundation for later learning in Kindergarten and beyond.” The Preschool Sequence is intended to guide the planning of experiences and activities for preschool children by offering a coherent progression of skills and knowledge in the following areas: physical well-being, motor development, social and emotional development, approaches to learning, language, and knowledge acquisition.

Themes
Theme teaching is content-based and cross-curricular. In theme teaching children explore a given concept or theme from many vantage points. The teaching of fundamental preschool skills is embedded in a topic of interest to the children. So, while exploring a given topic, children are also practicing math, reading, science, language, handwriting, fine and gross motor control and socialization. This approach gives children many opportunities to practice the necessary skills for proper development in all areas.

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Spacious Classrooms

We believe that quality care and education flourishes in pleasant surroundings. At Golden Pond School, we limit class sizes so that there is always plenty of "elbow room" in each of our classrooms. Our classrooms average around 40 square feet per child -- considerably more than the 25 square feet minimum required by state regulations. Additionally, you will always find our classrooms to be well-maintained and well-painted with bright, cheerful colors, further adding to the sensation of spaciousness.

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Class Sizes and Ratios

At Golden Pond School, we are committed to providing quality education and care for your children. A cornerstone of our approach is to limit class sizes and to maintain a lower adult to child ratio than that required by the regulatory authorities. In our full time programs for two and a half year-olds, we will operate at 1:7 ratio versus the 1:10 permitted by regulations. In our 3 and 4 year-old programs, we will maintain a 1:9 ratio versus the 1:12 allowed by the authorities. Our full-day Kindergarten ratio will have a maximum of 17 students as contrasted with the 22 or more found in the public school system.

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Superb Outdoor Play Areas

We have three different, developmentally-appropriate playgrounds at Golden Pond School. The two-year old playground features a large sandbox for sensory experiences and a tricycle path, climbing structure and small bridge for muscle development. Our youngest children also enjoy a fire engine and playhouse with a "talk-tube" for developing their social skills.

The 3 and 4-year old playground also caters to these three areas of development with an even larger sandbox, a very large (and well-used) tricycle path and a complex, multi-function play structure. For dramatic play, we have a gas station, a telephone booth and a playhouse. There is also lots of plain old open space for running and ball games. Finally, this playground has a large covered play area for shade on hot summer afternoons or protection on drizzly days.

The third playground is for our school age children. It includes a large climbing structure, gymnastic bars, a basketball/game court and a small soccer field, all designed for older children.

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Owner Involvement

Golden Pond School is a single-site facility with the owners present daily and directly involved in every aspect of the school's operations.

Golden Pond School commenced operation in December 2000 under the management of the original owner, an experienced childcare center real estate developer. The current owners, Kathie and Steve Burrell, purchased Golden Pond School from him with the transaction closing in late December 2003.

Since that time they have been engaged in the continuing process to transform Golden Pond School into the very best preschool and early education establishment. In this effort they have made significant investments in classroom equipment and materials; a new curriculum, books, toys & games; a new and expanded playground; building modifications; and staff (pay, benefits, training and working conditions).

You will find Kathie, a teacher with 20 years of early childhood experience, at school every day working along with the teaching and administrative staff. Steve spends his days working for Golden Pond School as well - sometimes from home and sometimes at the school.

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