Our Philosophy

At The Tot’s Spot, we believe in a child-centered approach to learning through play and experiential opportunities. We strive to nurture each child and help them develop a sense of independence, foster curiosity, and cultivate a lifelong love of learning.

We offer children the opportunity to learn, play, and grow in a multi-age classroom, in which students learn from their peers as well as those older and younger. This enables us to group students by interests and learning levels rather than strictly by age. Our grouping of children is flexible and ever-changing depending on the activity. 

To further enhance student experiences at The Tot’s Spot, our children benefit from working with the same teachers year after year, also known as looping. Looping positively affects academic performance for children; these advantages include: minimal wasted time at the beginning of the school year, increased parental involvement, improved social interaction among classmates, decreased child study team referrals, individualized instruction, and extended learning opportunities during summer vacation. Children also benefit by experiencing less stress, participating in more instructional time, and having an increased sense of stability.

We strive to provide an environment and curriculum which encompasses and nurtures a child’s growth socially, emotionally, creatively, physically, and cognitively. 

Socially, we work with students and provide opportunities that promote appropriate interactions with both peers and adults; we work to help students verbalize their thoughts, emotions, questions, and ideas that help navigate their social world. Areas of particular focus for young children include: how to share with others, develop patience, and appropriately participating in conversations, games, and activities with others.

Emotionally, young children are beginning to recognize, understand, articulate, and handle their feelings. We seek to help children develop a positive sense of self by giving them opportunities to identify and express emotions in an appropriate and socially acceptable manner. 

We help to develop a child’s creativity by providing opportunities to explore and express oneself in a variety of different ways, including through: song, dance, pretend play, and art.

During the preschool years, physical growth includes both fine and gross motor development. Examples of fine motor development include: cutting with scissors, coloring with crayons, writing with a pencil, picking up objects using tweezers, and building with blocks. Gross motor development includes, but is not limited to: running, skipping, galloping, throwing a ball, and climbing a play structure.

We encourage cognitive growth in our students by helping them to develop a sense of curiosity, which in turn leads them to explore, question, and think about the world around them. Through hands-on experiences, we work to promote problem-solving and thinking skills in each of our children.

Preschool builds the foundations for children as they enter their schooling years and learn to navigate the world around them. It is our goal at The Tot’s Spot to guide and support each individual child as he/she develops and grows in a positive environment within our school family.