It is that time a year again when the Early Learning Program is looking for children for the 2013-2014 school year.
Children who will be 3 years and 4 years old will be accepted. (ELP does not have a 5 year old program.)
Open House will be at Tokeneke School, 7 Old Farm Road.
December 4th, 2012
6:45pm to 7:45pm
Please click the link to apply to ELP.
Editor's note: Here's how the Darien Public Schools describes the Early Learning Program on its Web pages about the program:
The Early Learning Program is a reverse mainstream preschool where children with special needs and children with typically developing skills learn from each other in a nurturing environment. It has been part of the Darien Public School system since1996. The Early Learning Program has classrooms located at Hindley and Tokeneke Elementary Schools.
Mission Statement
The goal of the Early Learning Program is to enhance each child’s cognitive understanding, emotional development, social skills, language and physical motor development through structured and facilitated language and play based experiences.
Curriculum
The Early Learning Program uses Toni Linder’s Read, Play, Learn. This is a play-based approach to learning, in conjunction with Connecticut’s Preschool Curriculum Framework. Read, Play, Learn provides the thematic components of the Preschool Curriculum which are derived from a collection of children’s literature. The Connecticut’s Preschool Curriculum Frameworks provide the concepts and skills that are being addressed through the thematic lessons. Through play, children learn to negotiate their understanding of the world and how things work. It also provides them with the opportunities to practice “being people” and how to interact with each other. Play-based curriculum is used to strengthen developmental processes and increase functional skills across the cognitive, social emotional, communication and sensorimotor domains.
Staff
Our staff includes special education teachers, speech therapists, occupational therapists, para educators, a physical therapist, a school psychologist, and a nurse. All of our teachers and professionals are certified.
Benefits
- Small class sizes containing a high staff to student ratio (enables teachers to individualize learning opportunities)
- Utilizes the Connecticut Preschool Assessment Framework, which is a curriculum-embedded tool for assessing ALL 3 & 4 year old children in the program (helps document areas of growth as well as areas of concern and enables teachers to plan and implement curriculum that addresses student progress towards specific learning standards, rather than planning curriculum around activities)
- Trans-disciplinary approach
- Participation in elementary school wide activities that are deemed appropriate
- Snack provided by Darien Public Schools
Class Options for Darien residents
The 16 hour a week program for 3 and 4 year olds follows the Darien public schools calendar, only Monday through Thursday, from 9:30 to 1:30 at both Hindley and Tokeneke schools.
Tuition Assistance
Town scholarships are available for those who qualify. Paperwork is available upon request. All requests for scholarship information are confidential.
