Corner Garden Preschool
Our Philosophy and Program
Corner Garden Preschool philosophy puts special importance on the following:
- Mixed-Age
- Time spent outdoors (sensory!)
- Movement Friendly
- Child-led Play
- Food education
Why mixed-age?
Our program is mixed-age. We like best when we have a good spread of ages and developmental stages, as well as when children join us as infants/toddlers and stay until school. It is clear how a mixed-age learning space benefits everyone. The babies and toddlers observe the older kids and see what they are modeling. They learn about play, about what it means to be a big kid; they listen to the language skills. They challenge themselves to try to do what other kids are doing. The older children learn how to be empathetic toward the younger ones. They learn to be caring and how to structure their games so that the small ones can play, too. This is an invaluable skill.
Our indoor and outdoor spaces are constantly changing depending on the needs and interests of our current group of children.
While we follow a loose daily rhythm (meals and nap are our time anchor points), our approach is play-based and child-led.
We cook the vast majority of our food from scratch, often with the assistance of small helpers. Our overarching goal is for children to leave our care feeling competent physically, intellectually, and emotionally.
Time Spent Outdoors: Sensory
“The more exposure your child has to sensory experiences throughout the day, the more integrated and organized the brain, senses, and body become.” Angela Hanscom, Balanced and Barefoot.
Sensory is an integral part of our every day.
We all know five of the senses — sight, smell, listening, taste, and touch — but my favorite sensory systems are the vestibular and proprioceptive systems. Yep, we have seven senses!
Proprioception is the ability to sense what your body parts are doing without physically looking at them. The vestibular sense is how you know where your body is in relation to the rest of the environment. The way I remember is that proprioception is your body in relation to itself, and vestibular sense is your body in relation to the world.
And the best place for sensory?
Outside.
Sand, water, wood chips, mud, soil (and being barefoot in those things). Feeling the warm sun, the breeze, hearing the birds calling (and the trucks driving past), tasting snacks from the garden. The roughness of tree bark, the softness of dandelion fluff. The aroma of crabapple blossoms, freshly cut grass, an approaching thunderstorm. Spending time out in the rain and puddles. It’s May, so I’m in spring mode, but there are variations on this for every season.
For the vestibular system? That’s why we encourage children to move however their body needs to move. Climb, bounce, swing, skip, dance. Do you need to spin around in circles? Find space from your friends and do it! Roll down a hill. Go upside down! That’s all vestibular input.
Heavy work is where the proprioceptive system comes into play: pushing, pulling, carrying heavy things, digging. Anything that compresses and stretches the joints. That is how we teach our mind where our body parts are, by activating those receptors in our joints, tendons, and muscles.
