The Preschool at Delmar is a year-round, arts-based program that serves children ages 15 months – 5 years old. The students learn through painting, sculpting, music, dance, drama and kid’s yoga. Many of the key experiences for the development of children occur while participating and creating through the arts:
- Visual arts – helps children to think creatively, communicate ideas, and develop physical skills utilizing tools
- Dance – expressive, children learn patterning, awareness of their bodies, spatial concepts, gain flexibility
- Music – children learn coordination, goal-setting, concentration and gain self-esteem with personal achievement. Studies have shown music enhances sports skills, as well as speech-flow, mathematics and reading achievement.
- Drama – teaches imagination and social growth
- Kids Yoga – enhances their self-esteem, develops imagination, teaches self-discipline, and they learn ways to relax and reduce stress.A Harvard University study concluded music, visual arts and dance can be used to develop critical thinking, which includes the ability to use logic and reasoning in problem solving.
- Delmar uses the High Scope Curriculum, a curriculum designed to help children succeed in elementary school. The fundamental premise is children are active learners, i.e., they learn best from activities they plan and carry out themselves. A professional teacher trained in High Scope understands how children mentally construct the world, and then builds on the thoughts and actions of a child.
In the High Scope classroom children have daily opportunities to decide what they want to do. The trained teacher uses that decision as the starting point for teaching. Each classroom is designed to facilitate this learning experience, beginning with the materials used in the classroom.
Children are active learners, and in High Scope there are 5 ingredients to active learning:
- materials for each child
- manipulation of those materials
- the choice by the child of what to do with the materials
- the words chosen and used by the child
- support by the teacher that helps the child think about his/her actions
The goals of High Scope are:
- To support the preschoolers’ emerging skills
- promote active learning
- help the child carry out the activities
- provide direct experience with real objects
- apply logical thinking to the experiences
- establish and maintain a daily routine
And because it is learning in a fun environment, the children associate learning with fun at an early age, which creates a mindset for future success, to better prepare your child for kindergarten.
Delmar uses Conscious Discipline as a behavioral management tool.
What is Conscious Discipline?
- Conscious Discipline is a longtime leader in the integration of classroom management with social/emotional learning, utilizing everyday events as the curriculum and addressing the adult’s emotional intelligence as well as the child’s.
- Conscious Discipline empowers adults to consciously respond to daily conflict, transforming it into an opportunity to teach critical life skills to children.
- Conscious Discipline is evidence-based, and was named as a national model for character education by the Florida State Legislature.
What are the advantages? Research has shown that Conscious Discipline:
- Increases cooperation
- Decreases problem behaviors
- Decreases aggressive acts
- Increases academic scores
- Increases teaching time
- Increases parenting effectiveness
- Creates a positive school climate
The preschool at Delmar is also dual language. Your child will learn English and Spanish, and learn about many other cultures. We have families of all faiths, cultures and nationalities including Hispanic, Russian, Turkish, French, and more!
At Delmar, we believe it takes a village to raise and educate a child. That is why we enthusiastically welcome and encourage parent involvement. Once teachers have identified an interest in their children that they would like to explore together as a class, they reach out to parents who may have related knowledge or talents to come and share an activity with the group. Delmar also holds community building events at least once a month, these include our annual Chinese New Year celebration, Kite Day, Thanksgiving Pot-Luck Dinner, and our Labor Day BBQ.