Preschool meets from 9:15 - 11:45AM on Tuesday, Thursday, & Friday. Children must be 3 years old by August 31 of that year to participate.
Kris has been at Wallingford since the fall of 2005 and has a Master's Degree in Early Childhood Education from the Bank Street College of Education in New York City. Her curriculum is based on the developmental interaction approach which views children's emotional, social, and physical development as interdependent with their cognitive development. Children develop along a continuum in their own way and time and learning takes place through interaction—play—with materials and the social world around them. Kris sees her job as carefully creating the environment and schedule and choosing and presenting materials to promote curiosity, interest and interaction with an eye toward competence, individuality, socialization and integration of learning experiences.
The classroom at Wallingford is filled with open ended materials that meet and challenge children where they are and with which children can recreate their growing understanding of the world in many different ways. The classroom environment includes a large block area, art area, sensory tables, manipulatives, a dramatic play area, drawing and writing table, science and discovery area, fish tank and a library. Charts, graphs, signs, class books and child-created books support early literacy while math and science foundations are supported by manipulatives, exploring counting and sorting materials, cooking, blocks, graphs, planting and studying the diversity between ourselves and others. Kris has a well-developed art program which includes daily easel painting where children learn to mix their own colors and paint with one brush, printing, watercolor, collage and clay.
Social studies—who we are, how we are alike and different, how we relate and what we do—is a core theme in the curriculum. These are the questions which are important to children and which give rise to further curriculum development. Each day begins with Meeting where children gather as a community to talk, listen, exchange ideas and hear about new or ongoing projects. Kris wants children to feel that they are important and known for who they are and that they feel like significant members of the group. Whether they choose to chat or not, each is a part of the group and respected for the choice they make. Kris also uses elements of the Second Step Program to support social-emotional understanding and problem solving skills. She pays close attention to how children play and seeks to understand what that play says about where the children are in different aspects of development. These observations are a part of her assessment and individual goal-setting for every child. Each spring, the curriculum focus is a long-term study of the children themselves culminating in an “About Me” book which features pictures and dictation from the child.
Kris loves her job and continually takes classes to keep abreast of the newest research and ideas to refresh and expand her knowledge. Her energy, use of humor and singing are well-known accompaniments to the children during their school day. As a former coop mom, she hopes that parents in her class have a chance for moment of laughter each day with the knowledge that we are all together in the crazy and wonderful job of parenting. Kris and her husband have two boys in Seattle public schools.
Please contact the Parent Coordinator through the co-op openings web-link to register or check available class openings.