Frequently Asked Questions

Absent / Illness

If your child is unwell, please do not bring him or her to school. A child must be symptom free for 24 hours before returning to school. A teacher will contact you to pick up your child immediately should they have a suspected communicable disease, or if they become ill at school. If your child will be absent, please advise the teacher.

Communication

As part of the Little Sprouts Preschool family, you will receive:
– Newsletters, emailed the week before the start of a new month to let you know upcoming events and learning goals.
– Week in Review posts on ClassDojo, posted over the weekend to let you know what your child worked on the week before in the classroom. Includes stories we read, art activities and specific learning subjects.
– Parent Satisfaction Surveys – Twice per year you will be asked to contribute anonymously to help us create better programming.
– Student Assessment Reports – Twice per year, you will receive an assessment specific to your child.
– Parent/Teacher Conferences – Twice per year will have the opportunity to sit down and discuss your child’s progress.
– Parent Communication App – Once we have finalized classes, you will receive an email invitation to download an app on your smart phone. Once connected, you will be able to message your child’s teacher in the event of an absence, review pictures of your child as they are added, and receive important news and updates as they are posted to the app.

Discipline Policy

At Little Sprouts Preschool our educators guide the children in resolving all conflict themselves and developing self-control skills. The main method of discipline we use is called “redirection”. An educator will remind your child of safe and acceptable methods of play. The child has the choice of altering their play methods or choose a different play area. We encourage them to resolve issues with their words and to develop empathy for others.

Children are NOT put into a time-out situation, as it is not a developmentally appropriate discipline method. We pride ourselves on teaching conflict resolution and prefer time-in situations and discussions.

Drop Off/ Pick Up

The outer school door will open at the designated class start time, and educators will welcome the children into the school foyer where they can hang up their coat and backpack and change their shoes. The first ten minutes of each class is considered drop-off time, and the children complete attendance tasks and play in centres until all peers have arrived. If you are late to drop-off and the outer school door is closed, please ring the doorbell. Class dismissal begins ten minutes before the schedule end time to allow all parents sufficient time to find parkng. Please be courteous of our educators’ time and your child’s feelings and pick up promptly. Your pick up is considered late after five minutes have passed since the scheduled end time, and a fee will apply; $1 per minute, paid directly to the Teacher.

Please note, only persons listed on your child’s form may pick up your child. If you need to add a name, please do so in writing, in person, or via email or online message. Any person we are unfamiliar with is subject to an identity check – please ensure they bring government issued ID with them.

Field Trips

We take a few field trips each year; Our first field trips is in October, and is a parent-mandatory trip. We use this field trip as a fun way to get to know our students and their families, and for parents to get to know one another. This field trip has a minimal cost to it (under $15 per student). In the spring, we all board a big yellow school bus, and attend an off-site field trip. Each class also participates in small, local, off-site field trips as possible.

In Class Literacy Program (Pete the Cat, etc.,) 

Our Preschool & Junior Kindergarten programs participate in a literacy initiative we developed at Little Sprouts Preschool. In a rotation, each child will take home their classroom Pete, Chester, or Little Fox, corresponding storybook, a journal and crayons. The children are free to take their classroom mascot on whatever adventures they would like (library, grocery store, etc.,) and draw a picture in the journal. Parents are requested to write small details about what their child did with the mascot so that we may ask questions. Your child will return to class and tell the story of what they did with the mascot. This helps their memory and story-telling skills, both important pieces of literacy comprehension.

Snack

At Little Sprouts Preschool, we provide snack. The snack plan for the month is posted in the hallway each month. We choose 2-3 items from Canada’s Food Guide to serve. Items like apples, bananas, carrots, cucumber, muffins, crackers, yogurt, and granola are served frequently. We are a “nut-free” and “meat-free” school, meaning that to respect allergies and dietary and cultural choices of our families, we do not serve anything that contains nut or meat, including gelatin.  Parents may bring store bought cupcakes or treats on their child’s birthday.

Magic Bag & Special Helper

In class rotation, each child is given opportunities to bring home the “Magic Bag”. For their next class, they are to bring something from home inside the bag. During our final circle time of the day, the child will sit on the Teacher’s chair with their bag, and the other students will ask questions, such as “What colour is it?” or “Is it hard or soft?” in order to help each other deduce what the special item is. Once the item has been guessed, your child will be able to elaborate or provide more details about their special item from home.

On your child’s Magic Bag day, they are also the “Special Helper”. They wear a special tag, sit in a special place, hold the calendar pointer and dress the weather Sloth during circle time. It is their time to be the classroom leader, helping them to gain self-confidence and leadership skills.

Volunteers

After the first month of school, Little Sprouts Preschool as an open-door policy, meaning parents can volunteer any time throughout the year. We encourage parents to volunteer on their child’s Special Helper day, but are welcome any other time as long as another parent is not already volunteering.

What does my child need to bring to school?

Children should bring a labelled bag or backpack to school every day, a labelled water bottle with water (instead of juice or milk), a change of clothes including underwear and socks, and labelled indoor shoes. Their indoor shoes may be left at school, and do not need to be brought back and forth from home. Unfortunately, we do not have room to store extra clothes and water bottles overnight.

If your child has dietary restrictions, allergies, or is particularly picky, you may want to pack them a non-perishable snack just as a backup.

Children should wear clothing that is comfortable. We use white glue, paint, glitter and other art materials – although we wear smocks and have the children roll up their sleeves, this does not guarantee that your child will not get art material on their clothes. Please be mindful of this when sending them to school.

Indoor shoes should be clean and non-marking. Flip flops and loose-fitting shoes are not considered safe choices. Indoor footwear is a necessary requirement in the event of the emergency evacuation.

What Will My Child Learn?

Little Sprouts Preschool’s philosophy is “Building Brains, Inspiring Minds!”. This means that children are encouraged to use their imaginations, create through play, and participate in classroom activities and routines. Each moment spent in our classrooms your child’s brain is forming relationships and a foundation upon which skills will continue to build and grow. We foster inclusions, differentiated learning, and we foster a love of learning.

Throughout their day at Little Sprouts, your child will be offered both structured and unstructured activities and situations, both of which contribute to their social, physical, intellectual, creative and emotional development. The children will have opportunities to participate in creative art activities, games, stories, open-centre play, and specific dramatic play situations. Our dramatic play area is a “house play” centre for two weeks each month, and then is a themed centre the other weeks (EG: Flower Shop, Grocery Store, Vet Office). The table centres are rotated each week and focus on developing literacy, math, and fine motor skills (IE: Roll & Count, Letter Trays, Colour/Shape sorting).

Each month we have monthly themes, special colour and theme days, that contribute to encouraging your child to have fun and be playful at preschool.

Our qualified and caring staff introduce the children to play situations that help develop important skills and contribute to their growing knowledge of how the world around them works, including how to react/interact in social situations with their peers. Teachers are always available to support children while they navigate the ideas of sharing and turn-taking, as well develop from parallel play to interactive play with their peers.

All of our programs work on letter, number, shape, colour, and name recognition where developmentally appropriate. Our three-day and Junior K programs also build upon the fine motor practice and correct grip from our two-day program and encourage the children in fun and playful ways to learn to write their name.