Preschool Program
Parents want their children to be understood, appreciated, and loved at school. They want their children to be safe but challenged, motivated but not overwhelmed, and to learn social skills but also spend time developing a foundation for academic learning. At the Glenview New Church Preschool, these are our goals too, but we claim another unique purpose as well - to extend the teaching and modeling of moral and spiritual values from the home, into the classroom: kindness, forgiveness, God, the use of prayer, heaven, angels, and how to be a wise and loving person.
To be eligible for the All-Day Preschool Program and the Junior Preschool Program, children must be 3 years old by September 1st for the registering year. To be eligible for the Senior Preschool Program, children must be 4 years old by September 1st for the registering year.
Drop off is between 9:00 a.m. and 9:30 a.m., and doors lock automatically at 9:30 a.m.
- Junior Preschool Program is from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., offered two or three mornings a week.
- Senior Preschool Program is from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., offered three or four mornings a week.
- All-Day Preschool Program is from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., offered five days a week.
Your child’s growth at school is very closely linked with their home life. It is for this reason that we feel it is so important to have all our families involved.
The children love to see their parents helping in the classroom and other parts of the school, and consequently setting the good example of helping others.
In the Junior Preschool Program, we strongly encourage a parent be a teacher’s helper at least once or twice a month, particularly if their child is non-English speaking.
In the Senior Preschool Program and All-Day Preschool Program, a parent is encouraged to sign up as a Teacher helper at least 5 times during the year. If a parent is unable to do this, signing up for at least 5 other volunteer responsibilities throughout the year is required.
Volunteering will be addressed in more detail at the Parent Orientation at the end of August (see Preschool Calendar).
Minimum/Maximum Students
Our policy is to keep each group to a maximum of 10 children in the senior group and a maximum of 7 children in each of the 2 junior groups at the beginning of the school year. (This may be increased to 10 in January.)In order for the children to be served as optimally as possible there may be no more than 3 non-English speaking children per group.
Drop Off
We offer a coffee/tea corner and we encourage all parents to spend a few minutes in the morning when you drop your child off at school. This is a time to bridge the transition from home to school for your child, and for you to ask questions, to make suggestions and to make new friends.We do not encourage parents to drop off their children regularly at the door. Please take the time to encourage your child to go to his classroom to great his teacher at the beginning of the day. Of course we understand when there is an occasional necessity to drop and run.
Please use the demarcated parking spaces and keep your child safe, as this is a parking lot. If you have a small baby asleep in the car and you cannot leave her unattended, please phone the school secretary at 847-734-0057 ext 10 and ask for assistance.
Late Arrival and Absence
We are a preschool, not a day care, and our curriculum offers your child important skill development.Your child’s education is important! Missing parts of the day due to tardiness doesn’t allow your child to ease confidently into the day, and he misses out on peer interaction and skill development. Please do not make a habit of this.
If your child is ill (fever/runny nose/bad cough) please keep him at home for his safety and that of the other children. During the morning, if he comes down with any one of the above, we will call you if he needs to be collected.
If he is going to be late or absent, please phone the school secretary (847-724-0057 ext 10) by 9 AM so that his teachers can be prepared. You will receive a call by 9:30 AM if we have not heard from you.
Aggression and Violence
Violence is defined as hitting, punching kicking, biting, forceful pushing and any other intentional action that results in physical harm to another child or adult.- All students will be taught in the regular curriculum and when incidents occur, that violence is an unacceptable means of resolving conflict.
- All students will be taught alternative means of resolving conflicts: by sharing, taking turns, using nice words, walking away/taking time for reflection on behavior (time to yourself) and getting help from an adult.
Dress Code
- An extra/spare set of seasonal clothes should be left at school or brought every day.
- In winter please make sure that the children bring to school clothes which are suitable for going sledding, walking or playing in the snow (mittens, boots, hat and jacket).
- We go outside as often as possible (except if the temperature is below -20°).
- Children should be dressed appropriately for the weather, and may not join their group outside if not appropriately dressed.
- Please make sure all items are labeled.
- Any lost item will be put into the lost and found box in the Welcome Center. Please check this periodically.
Toys
Please do not encourage children to bring their toys to school. Your child may bring something to school to show the group, especially to celebrate a birthday, but we cannot take responsibility for something that is lost or damaged. No toy weapons please.We collect items which you throw away to use in our craft projects!
Please put them into the “Create-it Box” in the welcome center and we will use them in our projects. Items which are very useful:
- Christmas cards
- cardboard/oatmeal boxes
- toilet paper and paper towel tubes
- plastic strawberry boxes and Clementine boxes
- yarn, string, ribbons
- metal coffee cans (all sizes)