Our Program
Heartwood Community Preschool has been specially designed from scratch to reach children in creative ways.
We go beyond conventional classroom practices to spark enthusiasm and growth. Expectations are high. Some of our techniques are unusual.
We treat our educators as professionals. We find, hire, and train master educators who show creativity, energy, intelligence, reliability, patience, and kindness.
Our classrooms have no more than 20 children each, supervised by three professionals. In addition our Deans of Program Development, Educational Specialists, Early Intervenists, our Director and Deputy Director float through our classrooms helping out.
Each day we begin our play outside for at least two hours, we then rotate through different rooms throughout the week, allowing the children to experience varied spaces focusing on specific kinds of play and learning. In the company of their familiar teachers and all of their classmates, our students rotate through these spaces over the course of the week:
A Dramatic Play Room where children dance, explore music, rhythm and find their voice through dramatic play.
Our Maker Room provides rich opportunities for children to build and create things, in the process actively developing knowledge of colors, numbers, letters, raw materials, and construction techniques.
A Library which features a deep inventory of quality literature, a full schedule of read-aloud time, one-on-one reading, storytelling through puppets, audio recordings and pre-writing and writing opportunities.
A Studio where the creative process is valued by exploring many art mediums and techniques all while providing ample opportunity for fine motor development.
Our Outdoor Room and Play Ground provide children with space for large muscle movement and natural investigation. The Outdoor Room is a large covered courtyard set up with invitations and provocations for learning. Our Play Ground is surrounded by trees, is home to our edible gardens, an island of sand, water play, bike paths, and one of the Lowcountry’s only hills. It’s a high-adventure learning space, not just a recess yard.
Each Friday our children enjoy learning the art of Karate, taught by skilled UFAF Instructors.
We believe children need chances to explore widely and play hard.
We promote educational excitement-avoiding ruts, stale routines, and boredom.
High-quality music is used to set moods and differentiate learning spaces. Rooms are stocked with quality learning materials which are regularly rotated. And all rooms are managed with an emphasis on safety and sanitation.
The variety of environments provides all types of learners with their moment in the sun. There are opportunities for physical learning, oral learning, music and song, exploring literature, and open-ended hands on creativity and construction.
This Preschool could be the beginning of your Heartwood journey!
Our sister school, Heartwood Community School, provides high-quality free public charter education to elementary aged children, and eventually through eighth grade. Familiess who are interested in extending what their children learn at the Heartwood Community Preschool by continuing on to elementary grades at the Heartwood Community School will receive our guidance and help.