Westside Parent Participation Philosophy

Play is a major part of our school's philosophy and structure. It is important to a child's development. Through play, children learn what no one can teach them. It is the way children explore and orient themselves to their environment.

 

Play is a child's work. It is a means of helping the child solve his/her problems. Playing allows a child to develop social skills and relationships, to take turns, to lead and follow, to ask for what he/she needs and to understand the roles of adults in the world. The contact with other children in play brings out the need for children to communicate and thus stimulates language development. Play is one of the most important experiences of childhood and through it children develop physically, emotionally, socially and mentally.

 

American Academy of Pediatrics -
The Importance of Play in Promoting Healthy Child Development and Maintaining Strong Parent-Child Bonds (PDF)

 

See also these articles from the acclaimed Bing Nursery School at Stanford University:

How Young Children Learn

What Should Children Gain from Nursery School?


 

In the classroom a child should experience school with positive feelings. By widening his/her experiences, learning with curiosity and confidence, and by free expression through many different kinds of media, each individual child can learn at his/her own pace. The philosophy of the anti-bias curriculum is supported by our classroom practices, focus areas, materials, themes, and invitations to our parents to share who they are. Diversity in all its forms is respected and celebrated. The classroom areas of concentration are as follows:

 

For the child:

  1. The opportunity to develop self-esteem and have a positive school experience.
  2. To increase the child's ability to communicate.
  3. To increase the child's range of experiences.
  4. To increase the child's ability to listen.
  5. To allow the child to develop at his/her own pace.
  6. To allow the child to experience situations which will encourage him/her to think, analyze problems and arrive at possible solutions.
  7. To help the child adjust socially in a group situation. (Later this will help him/her adjust more easily to kindergarten.)
  8. To encourage independence.
  9. To increase the child's physical skills (fine and gross motor development) as well as his/her cognitive skills.
  10. To expose the child to different cultures, differently-abled people, different gender roles, and a variety of ages and languages.

 

For the parents:

  1. To promote a better understanding of child growth and development.
  2. To learn techniques for working with preschool children.
  3. To increase skills in selecting and using materials and equipment for preschoolers.
  4. To operate in a preschool which is totally dependent on its members.
  5. The opportunity to share new experiences with their child.
  6. To provide an environment where the children can make some decisions for themselves.
  7. To provide an opportunity to be a part of a community with other families.
  8. To learn teamwork and leadership skills.

 

Westside Parent Participation Preschool believes that this environment will help young children develop trust in themselves and in others as they explore their own world.

 

The Parent Participation Community

 

A parent-participation preschool provides a healthful, varied environment in which your child can develop socially, physically, emotionally, and mentally. You will see and work with other children of the same age, become aware of the common behavior patterns, and learn more about how to deal with them. You will also work with other parents, sharing the problems and joys each parent has with his/her preschooler.

 

A parent-participation preschool is a growing and changing organization. No two years are exactly the same. Ideas are advanced, retained, or discarded. The organization depends upon new ideas and all members are encouraged to make suggestions for changes to improve the school. You, as a participating parent, can help share in shaping the program that helps develop your school. These are some of the greatest advantages of a cooperative preschool.

 

A parent-participation preschool is one in which the parents assume the many responsibilities of the administration of the preschool. This means that all activities pertaining to the functioning of the school are in your hands. These activities are many and varied. The active participation of every parent is needed to accomplish this. Therefore each family chooses certain duties in addition to the parent's work as a parent-teacher at school.

 

The ideas of participation go farther than the means by which the school is operated. A school such as ours could not function without thoughtful consideration of each for the other. We help each other by switching work days with another parent, working out transportation problems, volunteering for necessary duties, and being considerate of others. The working together and the give-and-take is what most of us particularly enjoy in our school.

 

One of the basic tenets of parent participation philosophy is the concept of shared leadership whereby each participant feels a responsibility to make the group work. There is not only acceptance of individual differences, but a faith that the real strength of the group can only be realized when each individual feels free to make his/her own unique contribution in an atmosphere of real acceptance and responsibility.