Preschool questions

rosesandpeonies

I think I found a few good preschools to look at for my daughter for next year.  preregistration starts at all of them in January so I want to make my decision soon.  I was curious what things I should be looking for?

Questions to ask?

any info would be great.

 

smiling76

It's hard to say, because my son is in a developmental preschool for his speech delay--but I would think things like:

AM vs PM classes (how does it go with her nap?)

Teaching methods --what do they do during the day

Can you visit the class to see what they do (do the kids seem happy??) 

Try to meet the teachers--you can get a good vibe there

And then address any concerns you might have (development issues, allergies to foods and how they relate to snack time, potty training, etc)

 

LSU628

DD has a dairy allergy, so I asked 50 million questions about how they handle allergies, food policies, etc. I also always asked to see the bathrooms at all of the schools. I asked about the daily routine, teacher to student ratio, went to see the outside play area, looked at the toys available, general cleanliness of the facilities, and what activities/lessons the students receive. I also asked about their discipline policy, if they helped with PTing, and nap schedule. The school we chose invited DD to come play for the morning and I got to observe. We stayed for about 45 minutes so I got a general feel of the teacher, got to see what the kids were doing, the teacher showed me all the artwork the students had done recently, gave me a copy of the monthly calendar so I could see the activities/themes they were learning and what days they were doing art, Spanish, etc.

chelwig89

I ask about the teacher-student ratio, if they have any special qualifications (in our state and possibly others there is the Step Up to Quality stars) or if the teachers are actually certified/have a degree. I also like to see the lesson plans because I like to make sure that they're following content standards and whatnot... I also like to know what their schedule is (even if they admit that they don't always follow it) and how often they take their lessons outside (when possible) and what kind of work they do as far as paperwork v. hands-on.

qsuziez

I agree with PP but I would also ask about daily/weekly progress sheets. I wanna know what my DS is doing since I'm not there watching him so getting a daily sheet makes me feel better.  His is very detailed too, like for food they circle "none, Most, or All" of his food - what times of the day he peed and pooped - their daily craft - what he enjoyed most that day, etc.

It really helps to know that that kind of attention is being given to him every day. The ladies at his school are very warm and loving too. My DS runs to them every morning and gives hugs, so he must like them, lol.