Play, exploration, and guided learning, every day
Wonderspring Preschool at Smith Memorial Playground serves children six weeks to six years.
How we see children
Children learn about the world around them through a balance of play, exploration, and guided activities. The curriculum is fun and educational, building language, literacy, arts, sciences and athletics. Teachers plan project-based activities around children's inquiries and interests in each study topic, so the work follows what children are already asking about.
In the rooms, that means materials set out for children to handle and investigate, and teachers who watch what a child is drawn to before they plan the next activity. A study topic takes shape over days, not one morning, so children can return to a question and go deeper. Teachers work with small groups, listen, and add a prompt when interest begins to fade.
What Keystone STARS Star 4 means in practice
The whole child
Children learn through play, exploration, and guided activities that build language, literacy, arts, sciences, and athletics.
Responsive teachers
Teachers plan project-based activities around children's own inquiries and interests, so learning follows the child.
Lasting relationships
Qualified staff and an age appropriate curriculum support learning and growth in a child's most important years.
What you notice in practice
Teachers drop to the child's level to talk, watch what holds a child's attention, and build the next activity from that interest. Project-based learning means a study topic grows out of the children's own questions. Children work in small groups, in language, literacy, arts, sciences and athletics, with teachers guiding rather than directing.
Rooms are set up so children can reach what they need and choose where to work. A day moves between active play and quieter guided activity, with time to finish what a child started. Teachers read the group and shift pace when energy runs high. You can ask to see the daily rhythm during a tour.
How we work with families
At pickup, teachers tell you what your child did that day, what they worked on, and where they needed a hand. Questions that come up between drop-off and pickup can go to the classroom teacher directly, or to the office. The parent portal keeps forms, announcements, and updates in one place. If something needs a longer conversation, ask to set a time.
