PRESCHOOL COMMITTEE

Parents’ Day Off Preschool is a non-profit and is administered by a Preschool Committee consisting of the Director, Church Members, Christian Education Director of the church and the Pastor.

The Committee welcomes you and your child. We know that most of you have your own church and that’s great! We do, however, know that some of you do not have a church. Either way, we want you to know that you are always welcome in our church-- whether just to attend preschool, to attend church services, or to attend any of the varied activities that our church presents.

 

PURPOSE

The purpose of Parents’ Day Off Preschool is to provide a Christian environment of quality child care and preschool development in a structured setting for young children and to proved parents with time off for personal fulfillment in order to improve the quality of their parenting.

 

 

PRESCHOOL CLASSES AVAILABLE

Toddlers: Children who are 12 months old and walking by August 1st may start this class in September. Toddlers will learn by experiencing the environment through their senses, by physically moving, and through social interaction.

Climbers: Children who are two years old by September 1st may start this class in September. Climbers will learn through experiences which emphasize language, messy activity, creative movement and music.

Runners: Children who are three years old by September 1st and potty training, may start this class in September. Runners will expand their knowledge through a variant of experiences. While building on previously learned material, they will enjoy more small motor activities. Child- initiated, teacher-supported play gives the children experience in problem solving.

Pre-K: Children who are four years old by September 1st, may start this class in September. The Pre-K children are exposed to experiences which combine ideas into more complex relations. Children will enjoy both fine an gross motor play. This class provides school readiness skills in preparation for Kindergarten. Pre-K is also used for young 5’s waiting to go to Kindergarten when 6.

 

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**Each classroom at PDO Preschool is designed to be child- centered. Curriculum for Toddlers and Climbers deals with the child’s immediate experience of self, home, and family. Runners and Pre-K curriculum are expanded to interest the children in the world outside their own. These older two classes expose the children to developmentally appropriate activities in the areas of language, writing, math, and science.

 

A TYPICAL DAY

A typical day at PDO Preschool might include the following:

-Minds in Motion
-Circle Time– songs, fingerplays, stories

-Creative Time– painting, drawing, creating -Large Motor Play– inside or outside -Manipulatives– puzzles, table games -Lunch

-Rest Time
-Large Motor Play– inside or outside
-Readiness Skills– exposure to language, writing, science or math on the preschool level
-Free Play
-Story

 

SPECIAL EVENTS

-Visit from the South Bend Symphony

-Visit from the Zoo
-Visit from the puppeteer
-Two-Three field trip

-Trip to the pumpkin patch

-Music four times a month

 

DAYS AND HOURS OF OPERATION

PDO Preschool offers two options for parents:
One day program— Upon availability
We offer two, three or four day classes based on availability 
We are open Monday-Thursday from 9:00am-2:00pm
 

 

CALENDAR

Our school year will begin the Tuesday after Labor Day and run through the third week in May. There will be no school on Thanksgiving and the Friday that follows, during Christmas break, MLK Day, President’s Day and Spring Break. (dates to be announced) In the case of inclement weather, tune into WNDU or WSBT for delays or closings.

Each year PDO Preschool has a Christmas Program during the school day and a Spring Program in the evening. These are spe- cial events you will not want to miss!

 

REGISTRATION AND ENROLLMENT

Parents shall register the child(ren) with the director and complete the following forms:

• Developmental history

• Information card

• Consent for emergency medical treatment of a minor child

• Physical

• Field trip parent release form

• Articles of agreement

• Take home authorization

• Nut allergy awareness form

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ADMISSION

Children will not be discriminated against by race, color, sex, religion, or creed.
Children must be completely toilet trained and able to use the restroom unassisted before entering the Runners and Pre-K class. The director will make all final decisions concerning the class placement for each child. Children will be assigned to the class which best suits their needs.

Students are required to have a physical form and immunization record filled out by the first day of school.

A child may be withdrawn by notifying the director two weeks in advance.

 

SPECIAL NEEDS

PDO shall accept children with special needs if the staff and program can adequately meet those needs. The director will work with the family to access if the program can meet the students needs. If the program is unable to provide the best growing environment for the child, the director shall reserve the right to deny or cancel the enrollment of a student who has special needs which are too difficult for the staff and program to meet.

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ILLNESS AND MEDICATION

PDO Preschool is a “well child” facility. Children must be symptom-free 24 hours prior to attending school. Please notify the preschool if your child will be out, and as soon as a physician confirms a disease. If your child has been exposed to a disease a notice will be sent home to alert parents.  Please see the Disease Exclusion List.
If a child becomes ill at PDO Preschool, the child will be isolated from other children. Parents or emergency contacts will be notified. Arrangements should be made to pick up the child immediately.
PDO staff members are certified in CPR as well as Universal Precautions. Staff members are able to administer epi-pens and asthma inhalers.

 

MEDICAL EMERGENCY

If a medical emergency arises and the parent, guardian or emergency name cannot be reached, the school will call para- medics at the parents expense. It is the parents responsibility to see that all medical conditions (allergies, epilepsy, diabetes, asthma, etc.) are on file at PDO.

 

TUITION

PDO is non-profit organization and operation that is based on full enrollment. Because of our commitment to salaries and other expenses, our income must be stable and no credit will be allowed for vacation or illness.

Tuition may be paid by the year, or broken into installments. When paying by the month, payment is due by the 12th of each month. In case of emergency, contact the director to make temporary arrangements. 

 

ORIENTATION

Parents and children are encouraged to attend Orientation Day, which is held in late August each year. This is an introduction to school, the teachers, and the program. Parents are required to complete enrollment forms and pay September tuition at this time.

 

ARRIVAL 

Parents shall walk their child to the appropriate classroom in the morning and be certain their teacher is aware of their child's presence. Parents are responsible for removing and hanging up their child's outerwear, backpack, and lunch when arriving at school.

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PICK-UP PROCEDURE AND FORMS

Each family will be assigned a ID number at the beginning of the year. The director will open the doors for pick-up at 2:00. When you arrive at your child's classroom, please line-up at the designated spot. Students will be ready and a teacher will greet you at the classroom door. Please tell the teacher your student's ID number and your child will be released to you. These identification numbers are for the safety of the students at PDO.

 

If someone other than a parent is picking up the child, a pick up authorization form must be filled out and signed by the parent, prior to the pick-up. (Completed forms will be kept in the student's file. Blank authorization forms are available in the office.) The authorized person will also need to recite the ID number at pick-up. The authorization form and ID number will be required before the child will be released home to anyone.

 

 

LUNCH

The staff at PDO encourages all families to send nutritious lunches. Please send foods that are already prepared and do not need to be refrigerated or microwaved as these are not available in the classroom.  Students must be able to feed themselves lunch. Please send a drink for your child. If no drink is sent, the classrooms have paper cups for water. Please label your child's lunch box, water bottle and any containers you send in. All lunches must be nut-free.

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CLOTHING

Please dress children in comfortable and appropriate clothing. Our program encourages learning through play. Children will be using craft supplies such as paint, glue, glitter, markers, etc and encounter water, sand and other exciting items in the sensory tables.  In order for your child to enjoy the program, he/she needs to feel comfortable and not afraid of getting messy. We ask that each child comes to school with a seasonally appropriate change of clothing in their backpack daily. These clothes should be labeled in a zip-lock baggy with your child's name on the front. Please include an entire change of clothing (example, shirt, shorts, underwear and socks).

 

If weather permits, the children shall go outside to play. Please send a coat, hat and gloves when seasonally appropriate. During the winter months, your child is welcome to wear boots to PDO, but we ask that they remove the boots before entering the classroom and change into tennis shoes to keep our floors dry.

 

COMMUNICATION

Each classroom will post a "what we did today" board by the doorway. Please take the time to read it before picking up your child. Some parents take pictures of the board and use them to ask their child questions that specific about what they did during their day at PDO.

 

A monthly newsletter will be distributed to each family giving information concerning upcoming field trips, special events, classroom news, etc. This newsletter will be available on our website as well.

 

Each Spring, parents shall receive a Progress Report. This is not a measuring tool, it is simply a report of what the PDO staff has observed.

 

COMFORT ITEMS

The teachers of PDO preschool understand that, for many children, this is their first experience away from parents. Comfort items (such as small stuffed animals or blankets) are welcome to attend with your child to help them adjust. When the child is comfortable, these items will be kept in their back pack and brought out at resting time. For sanitary reasons, pacifiers will only be permitted at resting time. Students are also not allowed to walk around their classrooms with bottles. Bottles and water bottles can be packed in lunches.  

 

SHOW AND SHARE

Runners, Climbers and Pre-K will have show-and-share on Wednesday and Thursday of every week. Please write your child's name on his/her show-and-share item. Please limit your child to one item per week and do not send toy guns or other toy weapons.

 

SUPPLIES

Students will need to following supplies for each classroom:

• Toddler students

  • a backpack or tote bag that is large enough to fit all daily supplies and lunch box

  • non-refrigerated lunch and drink

  • extra set of weather appropriate clothing to keep in students bag

  • rest mat and blanket to be left at school (no sleeping bags)

  • diapers for your child

  • one box of Ziploc sandwich bags

  • one box of Kleenex

  • one package of paper towel

• Climber students

  • a backpack or tote bag that is large enough to fit all daily supplies and lunch box

  • non-refrigerated lunch and drink

  • extra set of weather appropriate clothing to keep in students bag

  • rest mat and blanket to be left at school (no sleeping bags)

  • diapers/pull ups for your child

  • one package of white napkins

  • one box of kleenex

  • one box of ziploc gallon bags

• Runner students

  • a backpack or tote bag that is large enough to fit all daily supplies and lunch box

  • non-refrigerated lunch and drink

  • extra set of weather appropriate clothing to keep in students bag

  • rest mat and blanket to be left at school (no sleeping bags)

  • one package of white napkins

  • one container of Clorox wipes

  • one box of ziploc gallon bags

• Pre-K students

  • a backpack or tote bag that is large enough to fit all daily supplies and lunch box

  • non-refrigerated lunch and drink

  • extra set of weather appropriate clothing to keep in students bag

  • rest mat and blanket to be left at school (no sleeping bags)

  • one container of Clorox wipes

  • one package of glue sticks

  • one package of Dixie cups

 

PDO Preschool is an extended day preschool. We offer social, emotional and developmental learning experiences for children age 15 months through 5 years old. PDO Preschool opened in 1981 as an outreach program of Evangel Heights United Methodist Church. The preschool is interdenominational and provides services to families in South Bend, Mishawaka, Granger and nearby communities.

The preschool is housed in the educational wing of the church. Spacious, well lit, and attractive, the rooms are fully furnished and equipped to satisfy children’s needs and to stimulate learning. The fellowship hall and fenced in play yard are used for large motor play spaces.

 

Rest Mats are available for purchase through PDO.

 

If PDO Preschool has to supply any of the necessary items listed above, a charge will be made to your account.