Community
Cooperative Preschool is a warm and happy place where children spontaneously
try out ideas. We encourage children to choose activities that offer opportunities
for individual discovery through concrete and cognitive experience, creative
play, and social interaction. We believe that if children are encouraged to
work in their own ways, they will grow in independence and, therefore, develop
a positive self-image. Our guiding principle is that children who feel good
about themselves will be most open to further knowledge, comfortable in expressing
their feelings to others, and ready to develop increased social, physical, and
intellectual competence.
What is a cooperative preschool?
How do parents participate in a cooperative preschool?
Who benefits from a cooperative environment?
What is a cooperative preschool?
The primary difference between a traditional preschool and a cooperative one is that the parents are an integral part of a cooperative school. For most children, preschool is their first experience away from home on a regular basis. Viewed as a transition from home to school, a cooperative preschool merges the two by having parents assisting in the school and sharing their child’s experiences with routines, classmates, and activities. Studies have shown time and again a positive correlation between parental participation and a child’s success in school. Parents at Community Cooperative Preschool play an essential role in their child’s early educational development, which is a rewarding experience for all involved.How do parents participate in a cooperative school?
At Community Cooperative Preschool, parents participate in two ways. First, on a rotating basis (about once a month), parents assist the teachers for an entire class. This gives parents insight into their own child’s development. It offers parents an opportunity to observe other similar aged children and their learning styles and development. Parents see how the teachers and other parents handle various situations and come away with a refined set of parenting skills as a result of the classroom experience. Many parents find this part of a cooperative school the most enjoyable and the most rewarding.Parents at Community Cooperative Preschool also manage the “business” of the school by serving on its board or on one of the various committees needed to keep our school, a nonprofit corporation, running successfully. Because parents run the corporation, we keep costs low and the quality high. Since every parent has a child in the program, each parent is personally invested in making the school the very best setting for the children.
Who benefits from a cooperative environment?
The answer to this question is everyone. At Community Cooperative Preschool, children, parents, and teachers go to school together and help each other in a three-way partnership in creative learning.Children find security in a world where parents and teachers freely work together to create a rich learning environment. Hands-on experiences in music, arts and crafts, science, literature, language, and indoor and outdoor free play encourage skills necessary in later school experiences and in life. Interacting with a variety of children and adults fosters a close-knit community of learners and encourages tolerance of differences.
Parents benefit, too. In a recent annual survey, parents at Community Cooperative Preschool responded that they loved parent assisting because they learned so much about their own child, other children in the age group, and about responding to a range of childhood behaviors. Parents also said they met and formed close friendships with other families. Many friendships continue well beyond the preschool years. One parent commented that the parents she met at CCP with her older children were the same parents she saw every year at PTO meetings, town meetings, and after-school activities. Meeting other parents who share the value of being directly involved in their children’s education is a wonderful characteristic of a cooperative environment.
Our teachers love learning, and they benefit from a cooperative environment as well. One of the greatest advantages to teaching at a cooperative preschool is that each family brings something new and special to the school every year. These experiences and skills enrich the learning environment and help the teachers keep their themed units and activities fresh and fun. The teachers also benefit from the close relationship they form with each family. Their understanding of each child is greatly enhanced because of this relationship, and it helps them to be more effective teachers.