Sheffield Preschool Program

Your children will play London Bridge and hide-and-seek, climb and jump, dance with scarves, be cuddled and understood. They will explore sensory materials, such as clay, sand, finger paint, water, shaving cream, pudding, pillows, and scarves. We know that it is not us, but you, the parents, who have the greatest influence on your child’s development and education. Therefore, for each child to receive the maximum benefits from our program, your help and suggestions are vital.

The Vision for a Mixed-Age Preschool Program
We have a vision of what our two-to-three–year program will give to your children:

The first year is a year of investigation and discovery.
The second is a year of comfort and mastery.
The third is the culmination of the previous two years, which naturally leads the “senior” preschooler into positions of leadership and self-confidence.
Children begin with us overwhelmed by the newness of the group, leaving their parents, our expectations, and all of our toys, activities, and relationships. The children immediately adore the older children and begin to trust their teachers, their peers, and their friends’ parents. By the end of the first year, each child has found a place in the group that is comfortable and secure. This can take anywhere from one to six months.

The second year is usually easy and comfortable. It is like being a junior in a three-year high school: the second-year preschooler knows all the rules and how everything works, without having the responsibility of the senior year nor the confusion of the sophomore year. The second-year children are turning three and four years old and having a lot of fun.

The third year is one which always generates a lot of pride from our director and teachers. Third-year children step into leadership roles naturally because they know in their bones how things are done at the Sheffield Preschool, which songs are sung for which subjects and holidays, how to mediate disputes, and their own unquestioned position of specialness in the group. By the time these children leave for kindergarten, they believe that they know all there is to know about preschool, and they are ready and eager to get out into the big world of “real school.”

Some years ago, Erin’s mother, Mary, told June, “Now, I get it. At first I didn’t see the advantage of keeping Erin with you for several years. I was afraid that she would be missing out on something if she didn’t go to another preschool before kindergarten, until I started to notice how eagerly she anticipated celebrating holidays and studying things like dinosaurs and birds; and I saw her growth and development illustrated in things like her gingerbread houses that she made three years in a row, which became more elaborate and creative each year.”

We have had many compliments through the years about our graduates from both private and public elementary schools. The combination of structure and nurturing that we provide seems to be a good preparation for kindergarten. We are always happy to have children with us for as long as we can, but our preference is to keep them for two, or even three, years.

It is a rare and precious gift for your child to be provided with a warm, safe, and challenging place for the years of early childhood before moving into the demands and rigors of elementary school life. That is what we provide here at the Sheffield Preschool Program — and we’re proud of it!

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