Knowledge of children’s developmental stages informs and guides the design of Breakwater’s curriculum.  Children in our Preschool program range in age from approximately three years old (or just beyond the developmental stage known as Toddler) to five years old (or until kindergarten readiness has been determined).  Children spend two or three years with the same general grouping of classmates and are taught by the same teachers.

Research in the field of early childhood education indicates there are significant benefits from multi-year teacher-child relationships.  Both continuity of care and teacher-parent-child relationships are strengthened when children remain in the care of the same teachers for multiple years.  Mixed-age grouping in preschool encourages a child’s cognitive problem-solving skills as well as the development of positive social behaviors.  Children are afforded opportunities to practice and learn from cooperative play with peers who may be developmentally more or less advanced.

Our first year preschoolers are in transition from toddlerhood.  In their world they are at the center of everything.  Everything they come into contact with is a learning experience, and at the heart of their learning is play.

By their second year in preschool, our students are old pros at navigating the social and intellectual challenges they face in a structured and creative school program.  Teachers provide developmentally appropriate materials and activities, facilitating and expanding the social and cognitive accomplishments of each child’s prior experience in preschool.