GREENFIELD — Colorful drawings line one of the walls in the Cougar Cubs preschool classroom at J.B. Stephens Elementary School, showcasing what the children hope to be when they grow up. Some dream about being firefighters, police officers or doctors. A few say they want to be a princess.
While the 3- through 5-year-olds in the Greenfield-Central preschool program are quite a ways out from adulthood, they’re learning the social, emotional and cognitive skills needed to prepare for their upcoming K-12 experience through “purposeful play,” the program’s leaders say.
This year, Cougar Cubs preschool — which has a full-day class at J.B. Stephens and at the Greenfield-Central Educational Services Center — revamped its curriculum and structure. The corporation hired two licensed teachers this summer and is pursuing the state’s highest preschool accreditation through Paths to QUALITY, a child care rating system administered by the Family and Social Services Administration.
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Click here to purchase photos from this galleryPreviously, the corporation offered special education preschool classes — which they still provide in four half-day classes — as well as a preschool for general education students. The structure of the general education preschool, which met the basic requirements for the state, had been inconsistent over the past few years, said Megan Thompson, director of elementary education for Greenfield-Central schools.
Last spring, Greenfield-Central administrators decided to make a change and pursue the accreditation. Thompson, who joined the G-C staff this past summer, said Paths to Quality is an assurance for families in the community. An outside consultant assesses the program and gives the preschool a rating.
By November, Thompson said the preschool should be a level three program, which means the “planned curriculum guides child development and school readiness,” according to Paths to QUALITY standards. Thompson said the district’s goal is to reach level four, the state’s highest accreditation, by mid-2021.
Alisha Savage, who oversees Cougar Cubs Preschool East at J.B. Stephens and serves as the program’s lead instructor, has experience with a preschool moving along the process of Paths to QUALITY.
“It shows others we have quality care, we have curriculum, we meet the basic health requirements, we have good interactions with our kids,” Savage said.
Each day, the children spend time in group work, class lessons, snack time, recess, nap time and free-choice play. Savage said while each day is different, she wants to keep the class as routine as possible. That way, the students can learn about the structure and consistency of a K-12 classroom.
Kids regularly engage in sensory experiences, such as digging in a sandbox and playing outside; dramatic play in a theater station; and creative stations of building blocks and drawing, Savage said. Throughout the “purposeful play,” Savage said she and Tonia Haines, the preschool instructor at Cougar Cubs Preschool West at the educational services center, weave in academic and cognitive instruction.
“We’re really the building blocks to what they’re going to do in the K-12 years,” Savage said.
Haines said she enjoys getting to know the children and understanding their different personalities.
“You just have to see how they’re learning,” Haines said, “whether they’re a hands-on learning, whether they like to sit and read books and pick up the information that way and how they work together as a team or individually.”
Developing a more robust preschool program at Greenfield-Central gives local families another choice for their children, Thompson said, who added that there’s a lack of licensed preschools in Hancock County.
Mt. Vernon offers its Mini-Marauder preschool; Southern Hancock has a developmental preschool program and Pre-K classes; and Eastern Hancock offers a developmental preschool class. The county has a few child-care providers, such as Shining Stars Child Care Academy in Greenfield and the Greenfield Parks and Recreation Preschool, as well as several churches that offer child care ministries.
Cougar Cubs Preschool costs $125 a week for each student, with a discount for kids of G-C staff members. Thompson said families who qualify as low-income through the Family and Social Services Administration can also receive financial assistance, allowing the corporation to reach more of the area. At close to 40 students split between the two classes, Thompson said the program is at capacity.
If Greenfield-Central can start preparing its future students at the age of 3, Thompson said, that will give them the foundation and readiness needed for kindergarten when they start there two years later.
“We just felt it makes the most sense to offer a robust preschool option from our school system in order to serve our people instead of them going somewhere else for preschool and then acclimate to our school system,” she said.
