2 to 5 Year-Olds

2 to 5 Year-olds

With emphasis on joy, community, independence, and discovery through open-ended play and exploration, our preschool program is built on the foundations of what we know about the needs of young children in their early childhood — physical, emotional, social, and intellectual. We believe that “best practice” early childhood education involves finding a balance among these areas in order to support the whole child. RHP’s approach to developing meaningful, challenging, and innovative early childhood curricula continues to evolve as we reflect on our work each year, delve deeper into the Reggio and Montessori approaches that we’ve been exploring and implementing pieces of for over a decade, and learn about and incorporate others.

Our classrooms, arranged to provide an aesthetic, consistent, and engaging base for play and learning, are filled with materials that are educationally rich and selected to inspire questions and wonder in young learners. Our open work times give children opportunities for successful independent, self-guided, and collaborative experiences. Child-led investigations are also an integral part of open work times. Each child is an individual and is given the opportunity to follow their instincts and to direct and take ownership over their experience, while teachers provide guidance, structure, and appropriate challenges to support and extend learning.

To find out more about our distinctive emergent curriculum, how investigations are developed, and the many kinds of work and play children are engaged in daily in our classrooms and outdoors, follow this link. You can learn more about RHP’s mission, philosophy, and values here.

daily schedule

The school day at RHP begins as teachers greet children at the door, help them say goodbye to their caregivers, and escort them to their cubby and classroom. We start with a morning meeting or “circle time.” Classes spend time outdoors each day, weather permitting. Lunch is followed by a rest period, which for older children is shortened as appropriate. The regular-day program ends with a goodbye meeting during which we sing songs, read stories, and reflect as children are picked up.

Classrooms (two to three, changing year to year dependent on enrollment) are grouped by age, with children from each classroom mixing throughout the day; our building also houses studio/atelier spaces as well as a multi-use room. We offer 3- and 5-day schedules (see our admissions FAQ for the range of schedule options we offer) beginning at 8:30 am and ending at 3:30 pm, and an Extended Day program that runs from 3:30 to 6 pm.

Our Daily Flow

* In addition to their classroom teachers, children have opportunities to work with specialist teachers (art, science, garden, music), indoors and outdoors.