What Is a Cooperative Preschool?

A cooperative preschool is a place where parents and children learn together. Parents learn more about their children as the children learn more about the world.
The classroom experience can provide parents with a valuable understanding of how their child behaves like other children and how he or she is unique. By helping in the classroom, and participating in the parent education program, parents can acquire skills in guiding their children and meeting their physical, social, emotional, and intellectual needs. The cooperative preschool is organized and administered by the parents. Parents hold offices, work on committees and assist the teacher as “parent helpers” in the classroom. The classroom operates under the direction of a trained teacher. The teacher determines the curriculum, maintains standard procedures for the school program, and serves as a resource on child development and parent education.
In a cooperative, the parents enrich the program by contributing their commitment, talent and skills. Their participation helps ensure the smooth operation of a high quality program. Parents find that the more they give, the more they, and the children, receive.

From Our Teacher: Anette Horten

 

As an early childhood educator, I am committed to providing a place where preschoolers can explore, discover and learn through play. I see the preschool years as a time for children to discover who they are, learn about the world outside their own family, and become excited about school and learning.

I am a credentialed teacher, and have taught elementary and middle school in addition to my preschool experience. I have completed my master’s degree in Cognitive Development in Educational Psychology, and am continuously interested and involved in the study and theories of childhood development. As the mother of four, I look for ways to put those theories into practice on a day to day basis.

In the classroom, my priorities are to foster positive self-concepts and strong socialization between other children and adults. I believe these are basic to a child’s success and academic achievement in the subsequent years. I hope to encourage this through a variety of physical and quiet activities, explorations and lots of play, play, play.

Our philosophy for teaching:

• We believe children deserve the opportunity to learn and grow at their own pace in an environment that provides many opportunities for them to “discover” the world they live in.
• We believe children should be free to explore and make choices. Children can only learn the things they have been given a chance to “do.” Each child will take advantage of different opportunities, and learn different things from the available choices.
• We believe we must respect our children, their minds and their bodies. We must respect the choices they make and the thoughts and feelings they have.
• We believe children can learn to take responsibility for their actions when given clear direction and realistic expectations.
• We believe a cooperative preschool offers a unique opportunity for you and your child. It offers the chance for the teacher and parents to work together to the benefit of the child. In a cooperative, everyone works together.

YOUR CHILD CAN:

• Learn to work cooperatively in a group.
• Learn to move from activity to activity with grace.
• Learn to be self-directed.
• Make friends.
• Learn to solve conflicts constructively. .
• Continue to develop skills needed to work toward academic success.

PARENTS CONTRIBUTE TO SUCCESS BY:

• Being on time for class and parent helping.
• Following through with class activities by talking with your child about school.
• Sharing information about your child with the teacher.
• Talking with the teacher about any concerns you may have.
• Treat all children with love and respect

THE TEACHER WILL:

• Teach your children with love and respect.
• Have planned activities that will lead children in their growth.
• Keep you informed about classroom activities.
• Be a resource for you, and be available by phone, or in person, by appointment to discuss any concerns you have or to share knowledge of normal development.
• Refer you to other sources if unable answer your questions.

PCPO (Parent Child Preschools of Oregon)

Tillamook Cooperative Preschool is a member of PCPO (Parent Child Preschools of Oregon), a statewide organization composed of preschool parent representatives and officers and preschool teachers who meet monthly during the year. The purpose of PCPO is to upgrade the standards of preschools, and to serve as a central body providing valuable information and services for preschool education and functions.
PCPO is broad in scope. It offers parents and member schools a chance for total improvement in all phases of preschool education, plus the knowledge and support of an organization fully informed on a state and national level.
Some services available to us as PCPO members are: Spring parenting conference, monthly parent education meetings, access to a central file of educational material, an insurance program, informative bulletins, school evaluations, teacher support, teacher placement information, personal help and visitations when requested, a directory of all preschool members of PCPO and reliable information on each, a new officers’ workshop each spring, and many other helpful services. PCPO can be reached at 293-6161 or www.oregonpreschools.org.

Program Philosophy

Tillamook Cooperative Preschool provides a child-centered, play-oriented preschool program for children from 2¾ to five years old. We believe that young children learn best when they actively explore their environment through play, and that young children are intrinsically motivated to do so when the environment supports this type of learning. We believe that young children’s social, emotional, physical, and intellectual development is inter-related. Therefore, we seek to educate the whole child.

Emotional Development

We believe a young child’s emotional development is promoted by providing a safe, nurturing environment with adults who are both caring and sensitive to a child’s individual needs. When children know they are safe, that their rights will be protected, their needs met and individual differences valued, they are free to develop their emotional selves more fully. They begin to develop a sense of self that is individual, autonomous, and safe, even when parents are away.
We continue this process by providing lots of opportunities for the child to act independently, make choices, and initiate activities in a free play environment. By assuring these activities are appropriate to the child’s level of development, we provide many opportunities for success, which helps the child to build a competent, positive self-image.
Throughout this process of developing autonomy and initiative, children experience a wide range of emotions. We believe it is vitally important to validate these emotions, by communicating to the child that these are normal, acceptable ways to feel. We then move on to help children identify their emotions and find appropriate ways of expressing them. By providing positive, consistent guidance and limits, we further the child’s sense of security by letting her know that we will keep her safe at all times and help her regain control if she should lose it. Please ask before you hug, tickle, or play roughhousing games with kids. Some enjoy this, some don’t! We respect the child’s physical and emotional boundaries.

Social Development

We believe young children’s social development is promoted by providing them many opportunities to interact with peers in a variety of self-chosen activities. During these early interactions, we try to stay nearby and attentive to the situation to provide help if needed. However, we are careful not to intervene too soon, allowing children to work their problems through themselves whenever possible. When we do intervene, we encourage children to think of solutions to the problem in order to help them develop the problem-solving skills which will enable them to solve such problems on their own eventually.
We further positive social development by providing activities which encourage children to share, take turns, cooperate, help, become more aware of each other, and value diversity among people. We model these behaviors for our children when we work together as parents and teachers in running the school.

Physical Development

We believe young children’s physical development is vital to their overall well being. We provide a safe, healthy environment with many opportunities for children to move and develop their bodies. Opportunities are provided daily for children to develop large and small muscles. The daily schedule includes time for active play outdoors, or indoors in inclement weather.
We expect movement to be the norm for young children and provide for lots of movement within the classroom. When limits need to be set regarding movement, we try to redirect the child to an area where they can run, for instance, rather than stop the activity altogether. We provide for children’s fine motor development by providing a variety of open-ended activities which children can participate in successfully at varying degrees of difficulty.

Intellectual Development

We believe young children’s intellectual development is promoted through providing a variety of child initiated, open-ended activities. Especially important to intellectual development are activities in which children can develop physical knowledge about their world (gravity, objects in space, scientific properties of matter) by exploring and playing with real objects and materials such as sand, water, and wood blocks. Also important is the development of mathematical knowledge when children put these objects into relationships with each other during play and notice that each block has a specific size, weight, and shape, and notice how they relate to each other.
Dramatic play areas promote literacy development as children learn to use symbols, first in their play, which they will later transfer to letters and numerals in their grade-school years. Puppets, music, stories, and much exposure to the printed word, in fun, meaningful ways teaches social knowledge and creates a disposition in children to be readers and writers later on. Daily creative opportunities allow children to experience the impact they can have on their world. We are a play school, not an “academic” school, but much learning takes place while we enjoy these young children today for who they are, how they learn, and how they play.

Why a Play Curriculum?

Compiled by Melody Bucholz, former Portland Tillamook Preschool teacher

Play provides the ultimate opportunity to learn what you need to know when you need to know it.

I am not being idealistic when I say that I feel the aim of the curriculum is to prepare the child for a meaningful life within his community, to give him the opportunity to know himself, to explore his ability, to extend his skills, to acquire competencies so that he will feel sufficiently confident to go out and try new things, so that his curiosity and creativity will continue to operate throughout his lifetime.

— Otto Weininger, Ph.D. Dept. Applied Psych, Toronto, Ontario

Watch your playing child and see how disciplined he or she is. The word discipline comes from the word disciple, a “follower,” and in play the child is following Mother Nature’s agenda, a play-plan built in. Children at play are not doing one thing with their hands or bodies, thinking something else in their minds, and speaking of something else with their voice as we adults tend to do. They are totally absorbed in their play-world.

— Joseph Chilton Pearce

The more abundant the child’s sensory experiences, past experiences and past associations, the richer his perceptions and the greater his learning potential will be.

What do we do in a “play curriculum?”

• Set the stage for abundant sensory experiences.
• Provide many opportunities for self-selected learning activities, especially of the manipulative and experimental type.
• Provide opportunities for children to observe work activities of adults so they will have experiences to think (and talk) about.
• Encourage children with toys, other play accessories, conversations, and art materials to symbolize their experiences through play, art, and language.
• Direct children to learning opportunities they may miss.
• Provide an environment of simple language that helps clothe each child’s experiences with language while she is absorbing the experience.
• Encourage each child to use the language they have to clothe their own experience in their own language.
• Plan opportunities for experiences that will help children discover new concepts and redefine concepts already met, including differentiation of concepts.
• Provide opportunities for vicarious experiences through stories, pictures, and conversations related to recent experiences.

Why Multi-age?

Compiled by Melody Bucholz, former Portland Tillamook Preschool teacher

The State of Oregon Department of Education has sanctioned multi-age as a good option and many elementary schools already have at least one multi-age track. The others will probably do so within the next three years. Why is multi-age such a “hot” idea?

Nearly all research and experience has shown this to be a better way to educate children, when done by experienced, thoughtful teachers. Obviously, multi-age would not be a good idea for a teacher who does not want to change from the traditional format of children sitting quietly at their desks and listening to what the teacher is “teaching.” Nor is it a good idea for a teacher with little experience, who has been trained by a system preparing teachers for single-age, teacher-led classrooms. We are fortunate to have a teacher with years of experience teaching sessions of mixed age groups.

Research and experience show that children in well-managed multi-age classrooms:

• Develop more empathy and caring behaviors. The presence of younger children seems to make obvious the need to be careful with each other and to comfort a sad or hurt peer.
• Seem to be better self regulators. When older children are given the responsibility of reminding younger ones of the rules, their ability to follow the rules seems to improve.
• Are not limited in their friendships or in the quality of those interactions.
• Participate more fully in a wider range of activities. Younger children can participate in more complex and extended play, older children have more leadership opportunities, allowing them greater practice and mastery of social skills.
• Are less competitive and more likely to value individual skills and have an understanding that skills are related to one’s individuality rather than age, size, or gender.
• Have the opportunity to learn from someone who is only “one rung up on them” rather than from an adult. This seems to be a highly effective strategy.

This research and the experiences have been carried out on many age levels — toddlers through middle school. In general, three years seems to be an optimal age range, and there do not seem to be any particular groups that do or don’t work.
Our school’s emphasis on conflict resolution and open-ended activities works well in a mixed-age classroom. It allows children to handle materials in different ways, depending on their level of mastery, and reinforces social skills for older children, while maintaining an atmosphere which allows younger children to learn to be in charge of themselves (not letting older children take over).

Anti-Bias Philosophy

Tillamook Preschool is committed to a program that acknowledges and supports the uniqueness of each individual and the value of the child’s culture as defined by his/her family, both present and past. This approach is integrated into all facets of the school program, such as classroom curriculum, parent education, fund-raising, and budget planning.

All participants in the school are reminded to treat each person, children as well as adults, with respect for their individual differences. We work to remove biased or stereotypical assumptions from our interactions, giving each person the opportunity to grow and learn, without limitations. A final goal of the school is an ongoing commitment of outreach to the Portland community to build a more diverse population in the preschool. We welcome racial, cultural, economic, and religious diversity and families of every composition.

The Anti-bias/Parent Education Coordinator (a Board member) works to insure the ongoing commitment of the school to an anti-bias approach, primarily through parent education and discussion on the meaning and content of the anti-bias curriculum. The Anti-bias/Parent Education Coordinator also acts as liaison and mediator on issues of diversity and as a consultant to the teacher on materials and curriculum.