Explorer Preschool’s mission is to honor each child's individual ability to learn through play and empower parents to become child advocates at home and in their community.
Explorer Preschool’s philosophy is to provide a developmentally designed program with the intent of providing a strong early learning environment for both parents and children. Our children's program is based on the growing knowledge of child development. Materials and methods are research-based and children are given a choice of activities, which are supervised by the teacher and/or parents in the classroom. Parents are trained as aides through practice and observation in the classroom and through seminars and discussions with credentialed teachers.
What is a Parent Participation School?
A parent participation (or co-op) school is a family enterprise; Explorer’s Director, teachers, and parents work together to operate the school. While the Director and teachers focus on our curriculum and execution of our day-to-day classes, our parents, led by a Board of Directors, take care of all the behind-the-scenes needs of running the school, including administration, maintenance, fundraising, budgeting, and more.
Our teachers and parents work in tandem to provide a robust educational environment for our children. Families are able to take advantage of our teachers as resources for their own learning, gaining a better understanding of positive discipline and becoming better informed caregivers. Since the families and faculty work together with all facets of the school, it allows the community to create the best possible experience for our children to learn, play, and grow. Together we celebrate and support children’s learning and growth in this special and unique period of their lives.
What are the benefits of Explorer’s parent participation program?
A parent participation (or co-op) school is a family enterprise; Explorer’s Director, teachers, and parents work together to operate the school. While the Director and teachers focus on our curriculum and execution of our day-to-day classes, our parents, led by a Board of Directors, take care of all the behind-the-scenes needs of running the school, including administration, maintenance, fundraising, budgeting, and more.
Our teachers and parents work in tandem to provide a robust educational environment for our children. Families are able to take advantage of our teachers as resources for their own learning, gaining a better understanding of positive discipline and becoming better informed caregivers. Since the families and faculty work together with all facets of the school, it allows the community to create the best possible experience for our children to learn, play, and grow. Together we celebrate and support children’s learning and growth in this special and unique period of their lives.
As well as having opportunities to learn from teachers in the classroom, families are also offered parenting support through an excellent parent education program involving both our teachers and outside parenting experts. All families receive opportunities to expand their knowledge and skills related to parenting and healthy child development. Through this process, parents grow in their abilities to be educators of their children, both at home and at school. Learn more about our Parent Education Program on Our Parent Education page.
Our teachers are constantly educating themselves through conferences and outside classroom visits. They monitor what other preschools are doing as well as current kindergarten expectations and goals. This allows them to stay up to date on the most current happenings, research, and teaching methods.
What is the curriculum at Explorer Preschool like?
Explorer’s mission is to honor each child's individual ability to learn through play, and empower parents to become child advocates at home and in their community.
Explorer Preschool’s curriculum is guided by the California Preschool Learning Foundations and we are proud to be one of the few local programs accredited by the National Association for Education of Young Children (NAEYC). Our credentialed teachers put together our curriculum and work hand in hand with parent volunteers to provide a well-rounded and enriching play-based program.
Our teaching staff is well-trained and experienced in early childhood development. Explorer embraces several key teaching methods across our curriculum implemented in developmentally appropriate ways. Current research clearly shows that young children learn best through self-chosen play activities in a well-prepared environment, with the support of well-trained adults and this concept has been ingrained in Explorer’s program since their beginning. Each class experiences large blocks of uninterrupted child-directed play where children get to choose from various activities throughout the class space. Children are respectfully supported with predictable routines at the beginning and end of their class, as well as through transitions in and out of teacher-led group times. Parents are trained in positive discipline and attentively support children’s problem-solving skills and social-emotional development. Carefully selected books, process-based art projects, sensory experiences, celebrations, outdoor activities, and other daily choices allow children the freedom of open-ended curiosity and discovery of individual interest and learning style.
Every lesson and activity is thoughtfully crafted by our teachers as an invitation for developmentally appropriate learning. Through play, children develop their cognitive, physical, literacy, and social skills. They will practice getting along with their peers and adults, advocating for themselves, and being empathetic with other people’s feelings. They will have the opportunity to expand their feelings vocabulary and learn to manage their own feelings in emotionally healthy ways. Our school’s general philosophy toward creative media is to leave the children free to work at their own pace. This enables the children to progress at their own rate, eliminating the frustration that can occur when expectations are beyond their capabilities.
