Early Childhood Education in Manhattan, NYC

Preschool of America, New York:
Founded in 2004, Preschool of America opened its first school in New York City’s historic Chelsea neighborhood. Since then we have opened a total of seven centers throughout Manhattan including our center on 345 42nd street in West Midtown, and we continue to grow. The founding principle of establishing outstanding day care centers and preschools for New York City families remains uncompromised. Our Preschool of America programs are carefully researched and thoughtfully taught, and we approach every day with a sense imagination, innovation, and fun to help young children learn comfortably and confidently.

Preschool Programs from Nursey through Kindergarten: 

Infant Program:
Preschool of America understands that the first year of life is an essential time for your child’s development. We provide every infant with a safe, secure environment and a lot of warm adult interaction. This encourages infants to develop, physically, cognitively, socially, and emotionally.

Because every infant has a unique routine for eating, sleeping, and playing, parents and caregivers establish a personalized plan that is continually updated to meet individual needs. Growth and developmental milestones are shared with parents and recorded on a daily basis. Rooms are filled with books, blocks, and toys to encourage discovery and awareness. Explorations of texture, color, pattern, size, shape, smell, sound, and taste are all encouraged. Lots of movement, songs, books, and puppets are integrated on a daily basis.

Each child has a personal crib, providing a sense of familiarity and comfort. Infants are encouraged to reach, grasp, kick, hold, pull, crawl, and stand. We also provide many cognitive experiences for your infant. Caregivers model social language skills such as “please,” “thank you,” and “good job” so infants become familiar with language and sound. Whatever activities engage a child, caregivers promote with positive reinforcement. They expand on each experience at school using rich vocabulary, strong connections, and consistent care.

Our infant classrooms provide personal, warm and loving care in a colorful, stimulating, clean, and healthy environment. The small child to teacher ratio in these classes allow for plenty of one-to-one interaction.

Toddler Program:
The toddler curriculum is based on the belief that children learn best through active and engaging sensory experiences. Walking, climbing, and exploring are some of the activities toddlers enjoy each day. We focus on a toddler’s growth, self-esteem, and natural curiosity. We encourage children to develop unique skills, interests, and strengths. We also encourage children to explore and discover while supporting their growing independence.

Toddlerhood is a time when children begin to develop relationships with others and develop a lifelong love of learning. This educational approach allows lots of direct, hands-on experiences with people, objects, and events. We provide endless opportunities for toddlers to learn and play in an inviting, age-appropriate, and safe environment.

At Preschool of America toddlers develop a variety of skills, including physical, language, social-emotional, cognitive, self-help, and gross and fine motor. These skills are integrated through music, art, table toys, movement, games, puzzles, and books. A predictable yet responsive daily schedule meets the needs of children with both structure and flexibility. Although teachers attend to individual needs, the group or whole class experience is a very important aspect of our program. By continually listening, talking, and describing actions to our toddlers, we help enhance vocabulary, expand expressive language skills, develop self-esteem, and increase awareness.

Nursery Program:
Our program is designed to allow two-year-olds to learn through play while encouraging (and noticing) individual interests. By promoting independence and developing an emerging awareness of social behavior, we help young learners expand their world beyond the home to the school community. Teachers support growing independence by providing opportunities for classroom jobs: putting things away, pouring milk, washing hands, and choosing materials and activities during center time. Many opportunities are provided to increase a child’s ability to communicate by developing active listening and expressive language skills.

Throughout the day children make self-directed (but carefully guided choices), participate in small groups, take part in circle time, and build the confidence needed to try new things. Children enjoy free play to allow creativity and imagination to flourish. Teachers facilitate opportunities for children to engage in reading, writing, listening, and speaking using poems, finger plays, puppets, singing, and rhyming.

The development of language, math, and science is emphasized through whole-group work and encouraged during center time. Thematic units are developed to encourage children to investigate new skills and ideas. As children show an interest in potty training, teachers partner with parents to help accomplish this important milestone with pride. A consistent approach and an encouraging environment are the keys to successful potty training, supporting both children and their families with care and concern.

Preschool Program:
Three-year-olds are full of wonder. This is an exciting time for these young learners, who are changing physically, cognitively, socially, and emotionally. The focus of the preschool program is to give children the opportunity to learn through play in a loving, caring environment. Days are filled with busy explorations, investigations, and discoveries. Children express themselves through art, music, and movement. They practice math and number concepts using age-appropriate materials to organize, sort, count, build, and sequence. They explore the world of science through weather, cooking, and seasonal activities. They develop motor skills and coordination while running, jumping, hopping, skipping, throwing, and catching in the gym. They demonstrate an emerging love of reading and writing, using growing literacy skills during read-alouds, shared readings, reading groups, and writing centers.

Children use language to share, communicate, and interact with friends. They enjoy books, stories, games, projects, and songs based on curricular themes that are introduced in a whole-group setting, then extended to small-group work and individual lessons. A print-rich environment and a love of reading are fostered to allow the children to practice literacy skills in real-life situations.

Our children begin to develop a rich vocabulary and use language on a daily basis through informal conversations with their teachers. They discover a new way to express themselves both in words and ideas. This allows their social world to expand even further. Days are filled with making meaning of every learning opportunity encountered at school.

Pre - Kindergarten Program:
The pre-k curriculum at Preschool of America is designed to encourage four-year-olds to be imaginative, energetic, inquiry-based learners who explore the classroom environment with curiosity and purpose. Preschoolers are eager to learn, and school activities are designed to involve and engage these young students with interesting lessons and materials. Experienced teachers plan thematic units in math, literacy, science, social studies, art, music, and movement to thoroughly prepare children for a smooth transition to kindergarten with a rich, robust learning foundation.

Students make independent choices in a child-centered learning environment, following well-established structures and routines to guide them. Opportunities for hands-on learning are presented daily, allowing students to grow through play and real-world experiences. Daily activities are scheduled in whole group and small groups to promote socialization and community building. Students engage in conversations with teachers and friends daily, learning to take turns, listen, and share.

Print-rich classrooms enable students to be immersed in literacy acquisition, developing letter and word recognition. Throughout the day, physical, cognitive, social, and emotional development are nurtured in a warm, caring, safe environment, providing students with the early skills to become lifelong learners.

Test prep activities are embedded in the curriculum to prepare our pre-k students to take the exams for admission to gifted and talented public school kindergarten programs and independent private schools. We attempt to give our students an advantage through practice, exposure, and familiarity with test taking skills and formatting.

Kindergarten Program:
Kindergarten is a special time in a child’s life. Children at this age are developing physically, cognitively, socially, and emotionally. Our skill-based kindergarten program includes reading, language arts, math, science, social studies, art, music, and physical fitness activities. The program helps children develop all of these skills in a warm, nurturing environment.

We encourage continuing language development through letter and sound recognition, writing activities, reading, stories, singing, nursery rhymes, and finger plays. Children have the opportunity to practice writing their names, letter strings, words, and short sentences. They play alphabet games and dictate original stories. They develop math and spatial skills with activities that focus on counting, matching, sorting, building, and number and shape recognition. Children use crayons, paints, and markers to explore artistic expression. They are encouraged to learn through hands-on discoveries in each classroom learning center.

Teachers provide opportunities for children to create, communicate, and collaborate with others, whether in a whole-group setting, small groups, or individual lessons. Our program encourages the development of social skills through activities that promote friendship, teamwork, sharing, and caring.

Children at this age are eager to explore, discover and investigate everything around them. Our program encourages exploration and discovery while providing a formal education in a safe and secure environment.

After-School Program:
Preschool of America offers a safe, convenient program for after-school hours, school holidays, and other school closings. The overall goal of the after-school program is to help children develop valuable skills while encouraging the smart choices and healthy habits that last a lifetime. We provide a nurturing, stimulating, and fun environment where children further their learning experiences and explorations. Our centers pick up children from neighborhood schools at the end of each school day, including days when there is early dismissal. We provide a nutritious afternoon snack each day while kids socialize with their friends.

Student needs are met through warm interactions with teachers, who provide help and guidance with daily homework, reading, studying, and special projects. They work with children one-on-one or in small groups to complete their school assignments. Teachers also provide enrichment activities and time for independent learning to help children build on what they already know.

The after-school program encourages activities that foster teamwork, helping to build a child’s confidence, self-esteem, character, and social skills. Children are also given the opportunity to play word and board games, create arts and crafts projects, participate in music and movement activities, and enjoy physical fitness. Teachers take children outside for neighborhood walks or to local parks or playgrounds when weather permits.

Our staff guides and encourages the children in completing daily written homework assignments and assists them in studying for tests and exams. The teachers also help the children to strengthen their reading and math skills through enrichment lessons and games.

Gifted & Talented Program:
The Gifted & Talented /ERB/OLSAT test prep activities are designed to enhance the curriculum and prepare our pre-k students to take the exam for admission to gifted and talented public school kindergarten programs and independent private schools. The goal is to give students an advantage through practice, exposure, and familiarity with test taking skills and formatting. Some skills to be taught are: following directions, classification, reasoning, analogies, arithmetic, and sequencing. English/reading and phonics skills will also be taught. These skills will be reviewed on a daily basis using worksheets that address the skills necessary for taking the exam. Teachers use sample questions that are similar in style and content to actual test questions so children become comfortable with the format.

We are aware of the skills and knowledge admissions directors seek from kindergarten applicants and we understand the kinds of questions likely to be asked. Through positive reinforcement, which builds children’s confidence and ease with test taking, results are strengthened. Many of the gauged test skills are taught in the classroom during center activities and circle time; however, individual and one-on-one instruction are also provided. Although pre-reading skills are an important part of our curriculum, reading is not a prerequisite for these tests.

Every year most of our pre-Kindergarten students take the ERB/OLSAT exam. A lot of these students are accepted into both private and public school Kindergarten gifted and talented classes.

Summer Camp Program:
Having fun and learning is what Preschool of America’s summer program is all about. Our new summer program “Around the World in 50 days” is a great enrichment to our standard program. Students will be exposed to the rich traditions of South America, Africa, North America, Asia and Europe. Our summer program will enable children to learn about the distinct and various languages, foods, dress and traditions of specific regions. Children will be engaged in meaningful hands on learning, where they will be able to participate and share in all of the different traditions that make each region unique.

Additionally, Preschool of America utilizes all of our local resources to expose children to the arts. Musical concerts, children’s theater productions, visits to the park for water play, exciting field trips, in-house entertainment and exposure to lots of sunshine are just some of the fun things we will do during the summer.

Our new summer program was designed for children on the go. The theme-based program was created to inspire your child to explore, create, interact and stay active during the summer months. We have chosen developmentally and age appropriate activities, lessons and games for both learning and fun to enhance what your child has already learned. Your child’s summer vacation at our program becomes a strong foundation for future success.