Imagine Preschool
Karri P
Imagine Preschool is a perfect fit for our son and for our family. Suraiya has been absolutely amazing and helped us through a very brief period of separation anxiety. (We had rarely separated before, using a babysitter only three times in three years.) Our son seems really proud of himself for being independent at *his* school with *his* friends. He begins his tales about preschool in this way, "All by myself, with my friends, I worked on..." Almost immediately, I noticed his confidence and social interactions take a leap forward. He walks up to kids on the playground and says, "What's your name? Do you want to play with me?" He's learning to use language more effectively to resolve disputes, and I've seen his capacity for empathy grow. It's so exciting to see him mature as his world expands. Imagine Preschool respects each child's unique interests, strengths, challenges, and pace.
The weekly reports that Suraiya sends are extremely thoughtful, thought-provoking, and thorough. They include pictures and descriptions of what the children have been working on during the week and how those activities/explorations fit specific goals (such as fostering focused attention and collaboration) as well as the Reggio philosophy (for instance, children as protagonists in their own learning). I couldn't be more pleased with our experience with this preschool!
Imagine Preschool's director, Suraiya, has 15 years of teaching experience. She has helped other schools develop meaningful curriculum before starting her own school. Imagine Preschool is in a beautiful home setting in the heart of the La Crescenta mountains and a fully licensed large daycare. Imagine is a unique school because it follows the Reggio-Emilia approach to education- "an excellence in early childhood care". We believe that every child is intelligent, capable, and a protagonist in his own learning. Therefore we foster critical thinking, creativity, and of course, imagination!
Our teachers follow the interests’ of the child and create individualized projects. These projects require working with professional artist materials for building, drawing, painting, sculpture, clay, wire work, and so much more, to develop social, reading, writing, science and number knowledge. Also Spanish, music, and yoga is part of the daily curriculum. Visit our website and Gallery page to see examples of the children’s work. We invite you to take a tour as we are currently enrolling.
Our teaching focuses on healthy social and emotional skills, which are modeled by our teaching staff, who have had a minimum of 5 years of teaching experience. The teachers also guide children’s behavior through conflicts, by working in small groups, teachers are able to observe children closely. Teachers use inquiry-based language to encourage children to explore and discover their own answers and to develop their own theories about the world around them. Teachers partner with children to help each child discover his or her place in the world.
