CURRENT PROGRAM

A fun and stimulating environment for our children to grow and learn

The Vegreville Preschool program is based on the Kindergarten Curriculum as issued by Alberta Education, although the subject matter has been tailored to our young learners. We operate by a ‘Learn through Play’ philosophy. We try to prepare early learners for Kindergarten through fun and hands on experiences. Children participate in activities such as Mozart Math, Animated Literacy, community walks, gross motor field trips, theme days, and dramatic play.

Children are also introduced to a variety of musical instruments, fine motor learning techniques, and monthly theme centers are set up in our classroom. Our daily schedules give students opportunities for gross motor play, literacy in the form of listening to books (read both by staff and guests), alphabet recognition, fine motor tasks, themed play centers, creative expression, as well as special guest visits and community field trips.

Vegreville Preschool is a play-based, inclusive early childhood program that aims to prepare children for life- long learning, individually and as part of a community of learners.

• We believe every child is a ‘mighty learner’ – strong, capable, and resourceful with dispositions to be playful/playing, seeking, participating, caring, and persisting.
• We believe ‘play is central’. Children make meaning by participating within open, engaging and responsive environments where exploration and play is intentionally observed, reflected and purposefully planned.
• We believe that preschool is an in-between space that bridges home and school through new social relationships. In preschool, learning emerges in moment-to-moment interactions among children and educators as we learn how to learn from each other.

The 2022-2023 Vegreville Preschool program will be organized around five core areas of early child development that are known to be good predictors of adult health, education and social outcomes. Staff will work with the early learning curriculum framework to create opportunities for play, possibilities and participation in all 5 developmental domains.

Development Domains

1. Health and wellbeing

• Fine motor skills (pre-printing, cutting, hand coordination).
• Gross motor skills (balance, motor planning, kicking, throwing).
• Self-care skills (dressing/undressing, washing hands, toileting routine).

2. Social competence

• Friendship skills (getting along with others; showing respect for others).
• Participation skills (following rules and routines; managing transitions; focusing on tasks).
• Cooperation skills (accepting responsibility for making ‘good choices’; sharing; turn-taking).

3. Emotional maturity

• Emotional regulation skills (expressing feelings and frustrations in developmentally appropriate ways; not too fearful, not too impulsive).
• Separation skills (forming new relationships with trusted adults)
• Relationship skills (negotiating social conflicts with adult support; building on emerging capacity for empathy)

4. Language and thinking skills

• Early literacy skills (sequencing, re-telling, identifying letters and their sounds, rhyming, etc.)
• Early numeracy skills (counting, recognizing numerals, labeling shapes)
• Classifying skills (sorting items according to function or concept - e.g. same/different, big/small, heavy/light).

5. Skills and General Knowledge.

• Play skills (engaging in pretend/dramatic play situations; negotiating, compromising, exploring, imagining).
• Collaboration skills (learning with their peers, asking questions and listening to comments).
• Early science skills (exploring the natural environment; noticing changes and patterns, making
• predictions).

5 KINDS OF PLAY

The Vegreville Preschool program provides possibilities for engaging

in various kinds of play to promote skill acquisition across the domains

1. Outdoor play – opportunities for children to exercise their bodies and minds by running, jumping, digging, swinging, and shouting, etc.
2. Dizzy play – opportunities for children to create disorder and reorder within playful experiences (e.g. rough and tumble play, physical humour, and language play).
3. Socio-dramatic play- opportunities for children to take up cultural roles and imaginatively explore new identities.
4. Constructional play – opportunities for children to invent new connections as they design and create with mud, sand, twigs, cardboard, and blocks etc.
5. Playful exploration and heuristic play – opportunities for children to learn about the physical properties of materials and rules of thumb for problem solving.

Programs and fees are subject to change yearly the information below is for our current program.

SUBSIDY INFORMATION

Families may be eligible for subsidy from the Alberta Government for the parent portion of the fees.

Visit the Government of Alberta Website: https://www.alberta.ca/child-care-subsidy.aspx for qualification information and online subsidy applications. It is important to email the Preschool Administrator at vegpreschool@gmail.com prior to applying for subsidy to discuss your fees.

Affordability Grants

The Affordability Grant will be applied for on your behalf by the Vegreville Preschool. If your child is enrolled in a program one or two 1⁄2 days per week, you are eligible to receive an affordability grant. If your child is enrolled in a full day program, your child must be registered to attend at least 50 hours per month, you are eligible to receive an affordability grant. Any month your child is not registered for at least 50 hours, you are not eligible for the Affordability Grant.