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Inclusive Preschool

Director of Special Education: �Dr. Dana Blair

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Teachers:

Rebecca Spence (Central),

Sheri Takakjy (Elizabeth Haddon),

and Jennifer Epstein (Tatem)

HADDONFIELD PUBLIC SCHOOLS

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In this Presentation�

  1. Program History/Overview
  2. Curriculum
  3. A Day in the Life

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Program History: Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)

  • Initially passed in 1975 as P.L.94-142 (The Education for All Handicapped Children act)
  • Re-authorized in 1991 to include preschool age children
  • Challenged early interventionists to seek less exclusionary and segregated placements for preschool children with disabilities.

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Haddonfield’s Inclusive Preschool

    • 2002-2003: One half-day section
    • 2017-18: Six half-day sections

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Quick Facts …

  • Children are eligible to attend upon turning 3 years of age
  • There is an am/pm preschool in each of our three elementary schools.
  • It is a half-day program, five days a week for 2.5 hours a day. Partial attendance is not permitted (e.g. M-W-F)

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Inclusive Preschool Benefits Everyone

    • Educational: Every preschool class is staffed with an experienced preschool teacher who is special education certified, two experienced EAs (educational assistants), and therapists who spend considerable time in the classroom providing integrated OT, PT and speech services. This staff has a remarkable skill-set to differentiate instruction for ALL children.
    • Social/Emotional: Inclusivity enables children with and without disabilities to form friendships and to develop respect for and understanding of differences as they begin their school experiences together.
    • Moral/Philosophical: Early interaction with children with disabilities serves to allay fears and clarify information about the strengths and needs of all individuals.

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Program Overview

  • Half-Day Programs, Monday-Friday
    • 8:25-10:55
    • 12:30-3:00

  • Multi-Age Classes
    • Approximately 15-17 students per class
    • 9 typically developing children, 8 children with special needs
    • Taught by a certified Special Education Teacher
    • 1 Educational Assistant

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Program Overview: The Curriculum

  • The Creative Curriculum is implemented in our program.
  • For young children, meaningful and long-lasting learning requires active thinking and experimenting to find out how things work. This is best accomplished through purposeful play facilitated by highly intentional teaching practices.
  • The preschool curriculum is linked to what children will learn in our elementary schools.
  • Research supports that when the content of the curriculum is taught with children's developmental stages in mind, children are more likely to be successful learners who feel excited about and challenged by what they are learning.

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Developmental Stages

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Program Overview: The Curriculum cont’d

  • Addresses all areas of development: social/emotional, physical, cognitive, and language. Content in the following areas are also addressed:
    • Literacy: vocabulary and language, phonological awareness, letters, words, print, comprehension, books, and other texts
    • Math: numbers, patterns / relationships, geometry / spatial awareness, measurement, data collection, organization, and representation
    • Science: the physical properties of objects, living things, the earth and the environment
    • Social Studies: how people live, work, get along with others, shape, and are shaped by their surroundings
    • The Arts: dance, music, dramatic play, drawing and painting
    • Technology: tools and their basic operations and uses
    • Process Skills: observing and exploring; problem solving; and connecting, organizing, communicating, and representing information.

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A Day in the Life

  • Center Activities
  • Circle Time
  • Gross Motor Activities
  • Snack
  • Manipulative Play
  • Closing Circle

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Interested in applying?

  • The tuition-based program is very popular, so the first step is to mark your calendar for one year prior to the enrollment year. If you child will turn 3 in April, then mark your calendar to go on the waitlist the September before the year you wish to enroll.
  • The link will be posted on the Haddonfield website under “Preschool”
  • The link to the waitlist will go “live” on or near the first day of school in September for the next year.
  • Your child must be between the ages of 3 and 5 before October 1st to be eligible.

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For More Information

Karen Nipps, Administrative Assistant,�knipps@haddonfield.k12.nj.us

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Dr. Dana Blair,

Director of Special Education

dblair@haddonfield.k12.nj.us

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