Parents arrive to drop off their children at the playground. Staff and parents have friendly check in regards to the child’s health and mood of the day. Body temperature of the child is taken and hands are washed before they are ready to play. They may choose to play between various playground structures and other playful materials that teachers set up such as books, art materials, dolls etc.

Children are guided to the daily table project for the day. A painting smock is put on the child for watercolor or finger painting day. Children are invited to participate in the snack preparation and daily chores. The tenor recorder is played to signal the end of playing and beginning of clean up time.  We encourage putting away things that we used by songs and modeling.

Once things are put away, teachers and children gather to a circle and sing and greet each other. We enjoy seasonal songs and rhymes, or percussion instruments playing to accompany songs and dances.  Then children are asked to pull up their sleeves for hand washing. Guided by friendly songs and by the teachers, children flow from washing hands to getting their cup and napkin ready for the snack time.

We all sit around a table for the snack. The older children might help with pouring water into the younger children's cups. After a blessing is sung, we enjoy sharing the delicious warm food together. Polite manners are modeled and encouraged. Children take their cup and napkins to the wash tub and we wash and air dry for the next time.

We pack our gears and start our nature walk. We practice staying together as a group while we explore the natural world. Children enjoy the playful walk and seeing the changes throughout the year. All their senses are activated and the children are deeply absorbed in the creative process. When we walk along the road, children are asked to hold a rope or hand. The signal giver gives a signal to safely cross the road. We often see neighbors or other people doing things such as a mail deliverer bringing mail, construction workers taking down a tree, or a jogger running with a dog.

Back at the preschool playground, children play freely until the story time. They make fairy houses under the rhododendron grove, tell stories with animals in the sandbox, push a wheelbarrow or a cart to sell things that they collected or made, and give toy trucks a “car wash”. Children gather around at the story circle made of stumps and listen to the weekly story. Stories are often tied to virtues that we are learning.  We tell the same story for a whole week. By the end of the week, some children can say simple rhymes or verses in the story. We reflect our time together and assist children to get ready for their transition home.