This is the height of the admissions season at the preschool. Applications for the fall 2012 were due in mid- January and plans are afoot for the next school year. Starting in September we will be offering a new program at the preschool. Currently we offer half days with afternoon classes Monday through Thursday. This year’s classes include; cooking, soccer, science and art. The afternoon classes are open to three and four year olds and run from 12:30 PM to 2:30 PM. Starting in September we will offer full days on Mondays and Wednesdays for our three and four year olds. In addition, dismissal will be extended from 2:30 PM to 3 PM. Rather than our mixed age afternoon classes, where three and four year olds are combined, students will remain with kids in the same age group for the afternoon. This will reduce the number of transitions during the day for the students, and give them longer periods of time to focus on activities. The goal is to slow down the pace of the day and to give the kids longer periods of time to more deeply explore activities at their own pace. We will continue to offer “afternoon explorers” classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays for our three and four year olds. Dismissal on Tuesdays and Thursdays will also be extended from 2:30 PM to 3 PM.Another component of our afterschool program is a French language immersion class which we added last spring. This 45 minute class is offered on Fridays. The class is taught be Sophie Amieva, a native French Speaker and co-founder of Brooklyn Beanstalk. Sophie’s locally based company offers classes in French and Spanish for children. Sophie has worked in the fields of puppetry and mime as well as teaching circus arts, drama and movement. She has also taught clown performance to professional actors and undergraduate students at New York University for the past six years. Sophie’s afterschool French class is extremely popular and we are so fortunate to have her with us at the preschool.

-Susan Sporer, Preschool Director