If you’ve got a soon-to-be five year-old who won’t be quite ready yet for a full day of Kindergarten in the fall, you may want to check out a new “5’s program” offered at Woodland Park Community Preschool (717 N. 36th St.) The program is ideal for students who are:
- taking a transitional year before starting kindergarten
- enrolled in half-day morning kindergarten
- turning five by December 31 and ready to start Pre-K
Classes will meet Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays from 1-4 p.m. The school is currently enrolling students who will be five years old on or before December 31, 2012. Here’s a little more information from the school:
The Woodland Park 5’s program is best described as a progressive, play-based curriculum, one that starts from the premise that children learn best when given the opportunity to freely engage with the world around them, pursuing their own passions and curiosities in a community setting.
‘Teacher Tom’ Hobson has been Woodland Park’s teacher since 2002. He thinks of the school as a community in which families choose to raise their children together. Just as earlier generations learned everything they needed to know from their neighbors and neighborhood, Teacher Tom strives to create a classroom in which children are stimulated to explore the world beyond their own homes in partnership with the adults who love them.
This is a cooperative school, which means it is owned and operated by the families of its students. These parents take on essential roles both inside and outside the classroom, serving both as assistant teachers as well as fulfilling every role in the school from executive to janitorial, with the teachers being the sole paid employees. The powerful dynamic of parents working shoulder-to-shoulder with the teacher helps insure a unique and vibrant learning experience for each child.
For more details and enrollment information, please visit our <a href= http://woodlandparkcoop.
wordpress.com/woodland-park- >Web site</a>.5s/ The Pre-3’s and 3-5’s classes, which are part of a network of independent cooperative preschools run through NorthSeattle Community College, are also enrolling new students for the 2012-13 school year. Please visit <a href=http://coops.northseattle.edu/
coopbasics/enrollment.html >here</a> for registration information.
My daughter has been at this school for nearly 3 years now, and I can’t say enough good things about it. If you’re on the fence about kindergarten next year, I strongly encourage you to check out this new 5’s program.
This is also a great opportunity to work with Teacher Tom Hobson if you haven’t before (he’s very popular and his preschool classes tend to fill up fast with long waiting lists).