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Seattle, WA
Harvard Avenue School Capitol Hill

Parents at this school would recommend this school to other parents.

Review this preschool

neighborhood: Capitol Hill/Montlake ·  Telephone: (206) 329-5187  · Website: www.harvardavenueschool.com

• Summary
• General Info
• School Philosophy
  & Day-in-the-Life
• Curriculum &
  Teaching Approach
• Quality of
  Teaching
• Home/School
  Connection
• Discipline,
  Health & Safety
• Ages, Schedule
  & Tuition
• Application &
  Admissions
• Kindergarten
  Placement&Tips

General Approach to Learning

	Play-based
	Play-based with some structure
	Predominantly teacher-led instruction
	Montessori
	Waldorf
	Co-op
	Reggio-Emilia

source:

Director's Comments

The children have at least 45 minutes a day of in-class free choice time and free play at recess, but the teachers do prepare circle time lessons and art and academic projects for the children to participate in daily if they choose to. It is difficult to check a box to indicate our general approach to learning because none of the options really seemed to apply to us; we view ourselves as a different type of preschool!

Social Skills & Work Habits

OVERALL RATING (4.5)
This school has increased my child's:
Ability to listen and follow directions
Ability to sit still for longer periods of time
Ability to be a part of a group of children
Self-sufficiency and independence
Awareness of others’ feelings
Cooperation with other children

source:

Curriculum and Teaching Approach

	PLAY-BASED	PLAY-BASED WITH SOME STRUCTURE	MOSTLY TEACHER LED	NOT FORMALLY IN CURRICULUM	CONDUCIVE ENVIRONMENT
Language					Yes
Oral language	-	-		-	n/a
Nursery rhymes, poems, songs	-	-		-	n/a
Storybook reading	-			-	n/a
Emerging literacy skills				-	n/a
Cognitive Development					n/a
Math and number sense			-	-	Yes
Time & space	-	-		-	Yes
Sci. reasoning/physical world		-		-	Yes
Music	-	-		-	Yes
Visual arts				-	Yes
Physical activity	-			-	Yes
Other subjects taught	French instruction is provided to each class for about 15 to 30 minutes twice a week. During class, children learn vocabulary words relating to fruits, vegetables, animals, colors, and numbers. The children also practice speaking and conversation while playing games, singing songs, and doing artistic activities.				n/a

source:

Director's Comments

Harvard Avenue School program is designed to foster the creativity and natural curiosity of each child. We provide excellent instruction and guidance in fine motor, mathematics, french, science, botany, geography, language arts, practical life (everyday living skills), sensory development, and art in a relaxed, fun environment.

The classroom is divided into different areas of study. The Fine Motor and Art areas provide a wide range of daily living exercises and stimulating art projects that your child can enjoy. These materials help the children to develop control and coordination of movement. Practical Life (fine motor) activities include caring for his/her self and the environment as well as grace and courtesy skills. These activities build independence and self esteem in the children.

Harvard Avenue School mathematics area has a variety of materials ranging from 1 to 10 in the toddler classroom to counting to 1 to 100 counting in preschool and pre-k. As the children master corresponding quantity to symbols, they move on from 1 to 10 to teen numbers, and then 20 to 100 (usually in pre-k). Children will also be introduced to addition, subtraction, multiplication and fractions when they are showing readiness to explore those topics.

The whole language approach to learning encourages language expansion with daily reading, singing, vocabulary cards, etc. The children learn the phonetic sounds by tracing, writing and using matching objects. Later, in preschool, children may use the moveable alphabet to create simple three letter words.

The sensorial area of the classroom is a favorite with the children. The goal of sensorial materials is to provide a true sensory experience that builds thought construction and problem solving abilities. With the use of the sensory materials the children build visual discrimination skills. Puzzles, blocks, smelling and touching activities are examples of sensorial materials. Other materials in this area teach the child to classify and sort items by objects, colors, or textures.

Geography and other social sciences are taught to and experienced by the children throughout the year. They are encouraged to be curious about the world around them, exploring a wide range of cultural differences and similarities ranging from animals around the world to shelter to clothing which are similar and different in various world communities. The children are taught to be aware that they are part of a larger community.

Parents' Comments

Parent #1
This preschool is much more structured than most others and they are more focused on academics than most.

Parent #2
The school opens with guided free play, where they have projects or educational toys that the children can choose to do. They then have circle time where students take turn with updating the calendar, counting how many days they have been in school and giving the weather report. They have an art room and a language room, and they have worked on math and are now beginning to read.

Parent #3
The school offers, French, art, yoga, etc. There is structure but the kids also have choices. My girls love the centers!