Prosper preschool: Pre-K Program / Prosper ISD Pre-K

Preschool Programs | SPES | PK3-TK

At Saint Paul’s Episcopal School, we focus on developing the spiritual, intellectual, creative and physical gifts of our children while also teaching them to be responsible members of their community. Saint Paul’s currently offers the following preschool programs for children ages 2-6 (children ages 3 and up must be potty-trained):

• PreK 2 – children aged 2 by Sept. 1: 2-day, 3-day, & 5-day programs
• PreK 3 – children aged 3 by Sept. 1: 2-day, 3-day, & 5-day programs
• PreK 4 – children aged 4 by Sept. 1: 3-day & 5-day programs
• Transitional Kindergarten – children who would benefit from advanced instruction to get ready for kindergarten:  5-day program

Classes are offered Monday- Friday, from 8:15 am – 2:30 pm. Children may be dropped off in in the Commons Area for precare in the morning any time after 7:30 am; students will be taken from precare to their classrooms at 8:00 for school start. For those families needing extended hours in the afternoons, aftercare is available each day from 2:30 until 5:30 pm for an additional fee; any student not picked up by 2:30 will go into aftercare and charges will be applied. Saint Paul’s Episcopal School follows the Prosper ISD school calendar for student holidays as well as inclement weather delays/closings.

Areas of Instruction

The preschool programs at Saint Paul’s provides a safe, loving, collaborative environment in which students are encouraged to thrive, each at their own pace. Our low student:teacher ratio of 8:1 allows a strong relationship between the student and teacher, allowing children to flourish. Based on contemporary best practices for pre-K and kindergarten, our curriculum provides a readiness foundation to equip our students to be successful in Kindergarten and beyond. Our teachers utilize multiple sources to extend and enrich every student’s experience in the following areas:

• Language arts – Pre-reading, pre-writing and listening skills as well as expressive and receptive language development; letter and word identification; relationship of objects to words; recognition of consonant and vowel sounds; rhythm and tone; memory skills; sound differentiation; language patterns; sound awareness; word recognition
• Math– Shape and number recognition; valuation; sequencing; classification; making comparisons; counting; patterning; graphing data; spatial relationships
• Science/Environment– Exploration of the natural and mechanical world: sequencing: methods of classification; making comparisons; making and evaluating predictions; observation of relationships between characteristics of objects like shape, size; gathering data and drawing conclusions; measurements and weights; physics
• Social Studies/Cultural– Multicultural awareness; civic structure; careers; social skills; manners; role play of familiar situations; family and community roles; problem solving; developing self-confidence; teamwork; language skills; introduction to basic Spanish vocabulary (numbers, colors, etc. )
• Art – Creativity; imagination; design; expression of ideas; experimentation; Hand-eye coordination; fine-motor skills
• Music– Self expression; creativity; exploration of rhythms and patterns; sound recognition
• Movement/Physical Education– Fine and gross motor skills, physical activity and team work through games and guided activities; physical strength and health; balance; body awareness
• Technology– An introduction to the computer as a tool for learning; keyboarding; mouse familiarization; reinforce curriculum content
• Religion and Service– Daily chapel; prayer; Bible verse; foster a spirit of giving through service outreach

Prosper ISD begins construction of $35 million Early Childhood Center in McKinney

Coming Soon

Prosper ISD begins construction of $35 million Early Childhood Center in McKinney

By Grant Johnson
|

12:37 PM Jun 24, 2022 CDT

Updated

12:37 PM Jun 24, 2022 CDT

The Prosper ISD Early Childhood Center will be located at 450 N. Luckenbach Drive, McKinney according to a permit registered with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. (Rendering courtesy Prosper ISD, Huckabee)

The Prosper ISD Early Childhood Center will be located at 450 N. Luckenbach Drive, McKinney according to a permit registered with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. (Rendering courtesy Prosper ISD, Huckabee)

The $35 million project includes a courtyard and enclosed play area with a tricycle path for outdoor play. (Rendering courtesy Prosper ISD, Huckabee)

A library and makerspace features collaboration areas for students. “We believe that these flexible spaces will allow teachers to create an unlimited amount of different learning experiences for our students,” Deputy Superintendent Greg Bradley said. (Rendering courtesy Prosper ISD, Huckabee)
Construction is underway for Prosper ISD’s early childhood center, which is scheduled to open in August 2023 at 450 N. Luckenbach Drive in McKinney for 3- and 4-year-olds.

The district made plans for the campus after House Bill 3 passed in the 86th Texas Legislature. The bill requires all Texas public school districts to provide full-day Pre-K programs to eligible 4-year-olds. When the bill was passed and signed into law by Governor Greg Abbott, Prosper ISD only offered half-day programs for preschool children, according to Deputy Superintendent Greg Bradley.

In order to fulfill the 2019 state requirement for a full-day program, Prosper ISD added full-day instruction with 18 Pre-K classrooms, 15 of them being housed at Reeves Elementary in McKinney.

“By consolidating all our PreK students into one school, we would be able to provide an extraordinary opportunity to create an awesome learning environment for our littlest learners,” said Deputy Superintendent Greg Bradley.

At a May 16 school board meeting, Prosper ISD revealed its design plans and construction timeline for the campus to community members. The facility was designed by Huckabee, an architectural firm with which the district frequently collaborates. Construction is slated for an Aug. 1, 2023 completion date to welcome students for the 2023-2024 school year.

“The Early Childhood School is going to be an engaging, innovative environment for our three and four-year-olds that gives them the opportunity to explore, create and learn, guided by a phenomenal group of educators who have specialized training in our youngest learners,” said Superintendent of Schools Holly Ferguson.

By Grant Johnson

Grant joined Community Impact Newspaper as an editorial intern in May 2022. Grant studies Television and Digital Media Production at Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York. Grant is pursuing minors in journalism and atmospheric science. Grant is a Prosper native and graduated in 2021 from Rock Hill High School, where he was a part of the school newspaper and broadcast program. In 2021, Grant was named the Texas High School Journalist of the Year and National High School Journalist of the Year Runner-Up.

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Pledge of Prosperity – Education Newsletter – LiveJournal

J Jon Murrow, a 35-year education journalist, speaks out on early childhood education in the United States.

Every child of preschool age should be able to attend preschool of the highest quality free of charge. It will be up to parents or guardians to decide whether or not to take advantage of this opportunity, but the right to choose should be provided to everyone. Everyone knows that the most intensive development of the brain occurs before the age of 6 years. It’s also common knowledge that most of America’s parents work outside the home, so they don’t have time to take care of their kids, and daycare isn’t always available. In other countries of the world that are America’s economic competitors, 3-4-year-olds have the opportunity to attend quality kindergartens for free, where they successfully develop and come to school prepared. It has been proven that quality pre-school education has a positive impact on the economic well-being of these countries.
Of course, there have been attempts in the US to create early childhood education programs. Lyndon Johnson’s “War on Poverty” program became the basis of the federal Head Start early childhood education program, introduced in 1965. Its goal was to create favorable conditions for the development of 4-year-old children from low-income families. This task has not been completed to date.
Children from poor families from birth begin to lag behind in both educational and linguistic areas. Knowledge-based parents speak about 2,100 words per hour to their preschool children, while poor parents speak only about 600 words per hour. Of course, no one talks to their children all the time, but if we assume that parents spend 5 hours a day, 365 days a year with their children, then over 5 years a difference of 11 million words accumulates. This is called “vocabulary difference” and can affect school performance. In turn, poor academic performance can lead to early school leaving, which has serious social consequences for both the student and society as a whole.
One of the reasons Head Start failed was that the emphasis was not on academic skills but on social skills, resulting in some early childhood education centers not even teaching the alphabet. However, the main reason for the constant gap between children from different segments of the population is a much more responsible attitude towards preschool education of people with medium and high incomes.
These parents enroll their children in preschool because they know that 3-4 year olds are ready and willing to learn. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, less than half of underprivileged 3-5-year-olds receive some sort of preschool education.
Another factor of differentiation is the level of education of parents. Only 35% of those children whose mothers did not complete high school are enrolled in any kind of preschool education program; among children whose mothers have a bachelor’s degree or higher education, 73% attend kindergartens. It is also obvious that children from these two groups are trained in preschool programs of absolutely different quality.
Most developed countries provide free high quality pre-primary education for 3-, 4- and 5-year-old children, regardless of the income level of their families. Almost all 4-year-olds in England, Luxembourg and the Netherlands go to public schools; about 70% of 4-year-olds in Germany and Denmark are in public schools, and in France, Italy and Spain, the number of 4-5-year-olds attending public schools is 90%.
In the US, the early childhood education system is a patchwork quilt. The quality of early childhood education programs ranges from very high to very low, teachers’ salaries ranging from $45,000 per year to $8 per hour; the cost of early childhood education is $15,000 in some cases and $0 in others.
It is necessary to create a single system of preschool education for all children in the United States. In order for it to turn out to be of high quality, separate programs for children from low-income families should not be used.
As for me, I would close the last years of high school and use the money saved to organize a really good pre-school education.

Source : Huffingtonpost.com
Translated by Anna Shivrina

School performance is paramount. Children who fit well into the school environment and perform well in primary school more easily overcome all levels of education: college, lyceum and further vocational training, higher education …

Those who do poorly in primary school are more likely to drop out of school without getting a certificate, and it is much more difficult for them to find their place in life. Therefore, the priority of school reform in France is the initial stage of education. In this chain, kindergarten, or preparatory school (école maternelle, lit. “mother school”) has a special place: if the child is well prepared for learning, he is more likely to receive a full education.
Already in kindergarten, a child gets used to acting in a team, to realize himself as part of a group, but at the same time he learns to express his individuality.
Here is what is said about the kindergarten, its mission, structure on the website of the French Ministry of Education:

Become a student
The goal is to teach the child:
1) to recognize what makes him different from others;
2) make him be seen as a person;
3) live with others in a community organized according to certain rules;
4) understand what a school is and what is its place in it.
Becoming a learner is a progressive process that requires the teacher to be both flexible and consistent.
Act and express yourself with the body
The child discovers the possibilities of his own body through physical activities aimed at self-expression for artistic purposes. This allows him to acquire a comprehensive understanding of his body.

Discover the world
In kindergarten, a child discovers the world around him, learns to find and apply spatial and temporal landmarks. He observes, asks questions, and learns to absorb a point of view different from his own. He acquires a taste for logical thinking. He learns to classify, arrange and describe with the help of words and various means of expression (drawings, diagrams), how the living differs from the inanimate (matter, objects).
Perceive, feel, imagine, create
Kindergarten seeks to inculcate the original artistic perception. Drawing, plastic pictorial compositions (application, modeling, etc.), on the one hand, the development of voice and listening skills, on the other, develop the child’s ability to perceive.
General parameters:
Kindergarten, as noted above, literally translates as “mother school”. Children are accepted there from 2 years (subject to availability) and up to 6 years. Education before primary school is not compulsory, but almost all children from 3 to 6 attend kindergarten.
Subject differentiation:
There are three age groups.
The first – from 2 to 4 years old, where children only play.
The second (middle) – from 4 to 5 years, in which children are taught modeling, drawing and other practical skills, as well as oral communication.
Third (senior) – from 5 to 6 years – teaching reading, writing and counting.
The total number of teaching hours per week in kindergarten is 24 hours.
Working hours: gardens are open five days a week, six hours a day (three in the morning and three in the afternoon). In large cities, preschool institutions are open from early morning until 18–19hours including holidays.
Final testing: there is no final testing as such, there is only a list of skills and abilities that a child must master before elementary school. The main educational tasks of preschool education are to help each child become independent and acquire the necessary knowledge and skills. He must have a good vocabulary and oral speech, understandable to others.
As noted at the beginning, in connection with the reforms aimed primarily at the reconstruction of primary schools, special attention is now given to preparatory classes (kindergarten). First, they seek to involve as many children under 3 years old as possible in the school system. It is expected that this will allow more children to succeed in primary and secondary school and better adapt to society. The attention paid in kindergarten to the development of speech and the French language in general is very important. Among the children who find it difficult to study at school, there are many people from immigrant families, for them such training is of particular importance. Secondly, in the preparatory classes, first of all, it is recommended to apply new methods and game forms of learning. In France, for a long time, the theory of non-coercive education, based on stimulating a child’s interest in learning, has been developing and putting into practice.
Thirdly, it is in the preparatory classes that new programs should be introduced first of all. The old ones are recognized as too overloaded and ill-conceived. In general, the primary school and, above all, the preparatory school has now become a priority for school education. This is where the foundations for future successful learning are laid.

Based on materials from the website of the French Ministry of Education
Education.gouv.fr

Text translated and compiled by Alexandra Ratay

Lack of men and free places

The main feature of kindergartens in Germany is not much different from Russia: there are not enough of them. The existing number of places in preschool institutions does not correspond to the real needs of the population of the country, especially, according to research, this applies to large cities in the western lands.

Two-thirds of the places in kindergartens are created by church communities and large charitable organizations (Caritas, German Red Cross). In recent years, against the backdrop of growing demand, the number of private kindergartens has increased significantly. Enterprise-funded kindergartens for the children of employees are also common.
Kindergartens in Germany are accepted from the age of three, before that the child can attend a nursery. The application must be sent in advance, otherwise there may not be enough space in the desired institution. All German kindergartens are paid, visits and meals are paid separately. If the family is on social security, the child’s stay in the garden is financed from the city budget. The cost usually depends on the time spent in kindergarten.
Educational standards for kindergartens are set by the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth. The main goal of preschool education is individual support for each child at all stages of development, in which the emphasis is on his strengths, and not on his shortcomings. The legislation of each of the states can make its own clarifications. Thus, the educational standard of Baden-Württemberg emphasizes, for example, that it is necessary to distinguish between kindergarten and school education, the primary school curriculum should not be used in preschool institutions.
Early childhood education focuses on developing the child’s social skills, understanding of the world around them and the ability to interact with others. In kindergartens, there are usually many classes in music, drawing and other types of fine arts.
In order to work in a kindergarten, a teacher does not need a higher education, a specialized secondary education is sufficient. Mostly women work with preschool children – in 2011 the share of male teachers was 3%, in 2012 – 3.8%. The Ministry of Family Affairs plans to increase this figure to 20%.

Sources: Bild.de, expatica.com, de.wikipedia.org
September 27-29 Moscow will host the UNESCO World Conference for the upbringing and education of young children. Eleonora Mitrofanova, Chairman of the Executive Board of UNESCO and Permanent Representative of Russia to this organization, spoke about the importance and main problems of preschool education, about the peculiarities of early childhood education in Russia and other countries in an interview with RIA Novosti.