Looking into preschools, need advice

~Lily~

I'm looking into preschools for my 3 year old and will be visiting with them over the next couple days.  What should I look for and what questions should I ask?  The ones I am looking at are 2 days a week for 3 hours a day.  I will be bringing DD with me on the visits. 

JillAly

I just chose the pre-school for my 2 year old after looking at tons of places.  After visiting many and seeing them in person, I started knowing what I did and didn't like.  Some seemed too structured, some not enough.  When I walked into the one I chose, I just "knew" it was right. 

Things that were important to me were:

student-teacher ratio

safety - was there locked doors or could anyone walk into the school?  did my child have to climb to a 2nd floor room or was it on the 1st floor?  when you look around the room and see a fridge, are the plugs out of reach of the kids, wires away, etc.   

did they have a general plan for each day - a structure the kids would easily learn and be able to follow (i.e. your coat goes here, you walk inside, you wash hands, we have playtime then circle time, then science time, etc.)

they all do art, reading, etc.  But what kinds of additional activities do they have - whether it was teaching spanish, sign language, music teacher coming in to teach rythym, some did zumba, others had soccer.

google pre-school philosophy - check out montessori vs. waldorf etc.  They might talk about them when you visit and you should know generally what they're talking about - here is one site I read -  https://www.greatschools.org/find-a-school/defining-your-ideal/1111-preschool-philosophies.gs

Hope this helps.  Visiting them is by far the best way to get a sense quickly of what is important to you.

ktshoff

JillAly:

I just chose the pre-school for my 2 year old after looking at tons of places.  After visiting many and seeing them in person, I started knowing what I did and didn't like.  Some seemed too structured, some not enough.  When I walked into the one I chose, I just "knew" it was right. 

Things that were important to me were:

student-teacher ratio

safety - was there locked doors or could anyone walk into the school?  did my child have to climb to a 2nd floor room or was it on the 1st floor?  when you look around the room and see a fridge, are the plugs out of reach of the kids, wires away, etc.   

did they have a general plan for each day - a structure the kids would easily learn and be able to follow (i.e. your coat goes here, you walk inside, you wash hands, we have playtime then circle time, then science time, etc.)

they all do art, reading, etc.  But what kinds of additional activities do they have - whether it was teaching spanish, sign language, music teacher coming in to teach rythym, some did zumba, others had soccer.

google pre-school philosophy - check out montessori vs. waldorf etc.  They might talk about them when you visit and you should know generally what they're talking about - here is one site I read -  https://www.greatschools.org/find-a-school/defining-your-ideal/1111-preschool-philosophies.gs

Hope this helps.  Visiting them is by far the best way to get a sense quickly of what is important to you.

This is great info!!  Thanks

KL777

It depends on what's important to you. 

Such things as:

-Is it faith based?
-What type of credentials do the teacher's have?
-What type of curriculum do they use
-What is their philosophy on learning?
-Student to teacher ratio
-How is the day structured? (mixture of academics and other skill areas)
-Policy on parent visits
-How secure does the school appear
-How well maintained does it appear?
-How much does it cost in comparison to other schools?
-How close is it to home, work, etc.?
-Were you treated with friendliness when you met the staff, etc.?
-What do other parents have to say about the school?

 www.greatschools.com is a great site to get parent and student reviews.