Welcome to the wonderful world of Willow Woods!

The students in our room (or “The Woodsies” as we call ourselves) are all younger preschoolers; ours is a mixed-age classroom ages 3 through 4 - they stay with us longer than any other classroom at SPCC. The kiddos make incredibly strong bonds with teachers and each other.

Below, you can view images of our classroom environment, read up on a few of the many things we focus on during a child’s time in Willow Woods, and view our daily schedule. Please note: our schedule is very flexible and subject to change based on the students’ day-to-day needs and interests.

Autonomy

At this age, children are learning how to best articulate and manage the big feelings that they experience. Much of what we do as teachers in the classroom deals with helping our students find helpful language and strategies in order to express their emotions. As they are working to develop prosocial behavior, children in Willow Woods are encouraged to resolve conflicts between themselves first, before seeking adult help.

Community Skills

In Willow Woods, we emphasize the importance of community and the notion that this class is one type of community the students belong to. Being part of a community involves taking care of ourselves and others, as well as our environment. Some of the skills we focus on here include:

• Self-care: handwashing, toilet learning, dressing/undressing, and independently getting ready for outside play (snow clothes and the like).

• Care of others: checking on friends when they are sad or hurt, solving conflict peacefully, and being inclusive in play and work.

• Classroom care: being helpers with Dozer (our classroom pet guinea pig), washing tables, sweeping floors, serving lunch family-style, and cleaning up work when finished.

Small Groups

Woodsies have Small Group Work daily in our classroom. The children are broken into smaller groups (8 or fewer) where they leave the classroom to do specialized lessons in one of our many break-out spaces around the school. Like all of the classrooms here at SPCC, we practice an emergent curriculum where the children’s interests guide the learning and discovery. The teachers then plan activities and provocations to expand on these interests while also introducing concepts in science/nature, early math, and literacy. This gives our students an opportunity to have more individualized instruction with teachers who know the specific social and academic needs of each child in their group.