This Saturday is the fi
nal public school kindergarten workshop for the upcoming 2010-2011 school year. Soon, children will meet with their potential teachers and from there the kindergarten classes will be set. If one of these kids are yours, you’ll be squared away for the first half of the day.
What about the afternoon?
If you have a child entering kindergarten, you already know that Verona has only a half-day program. But there is a private school option for longer days, whether you need a few extra hours, or your child does.
The Children’s House offers a kindergarten enrichment program during the school year which bridges the gap between kindergarten and first grade. It is Montessori-based with public school in mind and was developed with input from kindergarten and first grade teachers. This is fun learning! The children participate in hands on visual math projects like cutting and sharing food to learn fractions and cooking to learn measurement. During the Valentine’s Day family tree project they learn to face and overcome fears of public speaking. The in-depth study of the human body involves a puzzle I’m not sure I could put together and the geography study starts with the story of a bear that travels the world.
While aftercare is another option (and Verona has those options, too), this is totally different. An enrichment program is an opportunity to grow and learn beyond the traditional public school classroom. An opportunity for children to make friends with children who are not in their current school, and an opportunity to enhance and build on skills being taught in their kindergarten classrooms.
At the beginning of the school year, the children are assessed and the teacher maps out a child-inspired curriculum based on the various strengths of the children. The class is a small group of 10 children with one teacher. A typical afternoon involves children helping to set up and clean up lunch, participation in a group activity, and then completion of individual activities before play time.
Vital program information: Space is limited and spots are given on a first come first serve basis, so sign up early. The cost is $312 per month for 9 months. The program runs Monday-Wednesday only and is from 12:45- 3:00. Tours will be held next week on Monday and Tuesday (May 10th and 11) between 1 and 3 p.m. If you would like a tour, please call the office to schedule an appointment at 973-857-1234.
As far as we know, Children’s House, which also operates a nursery school, has the only kindergarten enrichment program in town. If we’ve missed something give us a shout out–we’d love to hear about it.
