Reply to ISO Two Rivers @ Young Families

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[quote=Anonymous]PK3 parent here.

I think the expeditionary learning approach is terrific for preschoolers.  In PK3 last semester, the expedition was storytelling.  So they focused on books and plays -- learned all about the different elements of a story, the different roles that are involved in writing a book (author vs. illustrator), incorporated the expedition into the drama class that they take a few times a week by doing plays, took a field trip to see a play, and ultimately wrote and illustrated their own story and wrote and performed a play for the parents at Showcase.  At the Showcase, we received our daughter's first draft (she dictated it to the teacher, who typed it up), which was colorful but only about a paragraph long.  The teachers worked with the children to expand their stories, and the final product was a story (with matching pictures, illustrated by our child) that I was really delighted by -- it was colorful and imaginative, with a surprising amount of detail.  For my child, at least, having a semester-long project really allowed her to engage with and become deeply interested in what she was working on.  I noticed that during the semester her interest in and engagement with books (like when we did bedtime reading) also increased.  This semester, their expedition is gardening -- they are planting flowers on the Young campus and learning about the parts of flowers/plants, etc.

I like the school culture (with its focus on caring for your community and related principles like being considerate, working hard, etc.) quite a bit.  I like that they truly reinforce their principles both in the classroom and through things like community meeting.  I like that the school is small, which encourages a true sense of community because everyone seems to know everyone.  The principal (Mr. Guy) and assistant principal (Ms. Ann) are at the door almost every day during arrival and drop-off (and if they aren't someone else, like the drama teacher or counselor, is) and they know my child (and, it appears, the other children) by name.

The great outdoor space cannot be overstated.  There is a huge lawn and a very big, brand-new playground.  The kids not only make use of it during school, but you will see kids running around and playing on it both before and after school.

I'm not sure how they use the assessment performed at orientation, except maybe as a baseline for skills and to identify children who might need additional assistance?  I will say that it really opened my eyes -- I wasn't aware that my child was able to do several of the things she successfully performed during the evaluation.  In any event, the assessment was pretty fast and my child seemed to enjoy it (it is play-based things like asking the child to complete a simple puzzle, asking the child to draw shapes or a line or whatever, and answering some simple questions).

I wish aftercare ran a bit longer (like 6:30 instead of just 6) as it can be a bit logistically challenging for one parent to pick up both my baby from daycare and my child from Young on the days when the other parent is out of town.  But I actually have been generally pleased with the aftercare and the on-site folks -- they separate the children by grade (so the little PK3 kids aren't in the same room with, say, the 1st graders), and at least in the PK3 room, the teacher I see at pickup is truly lovely and seems to really be fond of the kids (and my child is in turn very fond of her).  I also like that you can pay by the day and, if you reserve a day in advance and then decide you don't need it, you can get a credit for the day's fee to be used toward a different day as long as you cancel the night before.

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