Prairie welcomes third section of Early School for first time ever.

By Communications Department | Admission

Owls and Stars and Captains, oh my!

For the first time in history, Prairie welcomed a third section of Early School when classes began this fall. Joining the Wise Owls and Shining Stars – the longstanding nicknames given to Prairie’s Early School classes – are the Creative Captains.

Abby Brzezinski will teach the Captains and joins Terie Carpenter and Kelsey Cassidy as a Lead Teacher in Prairie’s Early School.

We sat down with Mrs. Brzezinski recently to learn a little bit more about Prairie’s newest shipmates.

What is a Creative Captain?

A captain is a leader and Prairie is all about raising up leaders, starting with our youngest children. Creativity is also a strong Prairie value, and is an important piece of child-centered learning.

How do you weave this theme into your curriculum?

There are so many places to go with this theme! We’ve chosen to go with a nautical look, including a boat-shaped reading center, currently under construction. We’re also including the them in our study of transportation, travel, maps, and flags.

 

What does a day as a Creative Captain look like?

Along with the Wise Owls and Shining Stars, we have very full days! Play-based instruction, or teaching through intentional play, is a very important part of every day, as is gym and a craft.  Through the course of a rotation, we go to the library, to music class, Spanish, Math, handwriting, language arts, computers, and more.  Our two class rules are: “Be Safe, Be Kind,” and kindness is a social skill we teach to be lived out at all times.

All three Early School sections offer a full-day academic program for students ages 3 and 4, including foreign language and music instruction, regular field trips, and daily physical education classes.

To learn more about Early School and Kindergarten at Prairie, please join us for Open House on Sunday, March 4th, from 11AM – 1PM. Come meet our veteran teachers and experience how students in Prairie’s Preschool and Kindergarten programs develop socially, emotionally, physically and cognitively.