Open House

The GPPSS District Open House will take place on Sunday October 20, 2019 from 1:00pm-3:00pm. All schools will be open including The Barnes Early Childhood Center! No appointment is necessary if you would like to come tour our building and learn more about our programs!

See you there!

Preschool Volunteer Day

On May 4, several staff members from the Child Development and Preschool Program volunteered at Gleaners Community Food Bank. This was a great morning to give back to the community, and to grow closer as a team. Our group packed bags containing all of the ingredients necessary to make a delicious bean soup. In about 3 hours, we packed nearly 10,000 pounds of food.

We enjoyed our second annual Gleaners trip and are already looking forward to next year!

STEM

Yesterday, we were honored to have a visit from Miss St. Clair Shores, Shelby McPherson. Shelby is a graduate from Lawrence Technological University where she studied Architecture and Construction Management. She shared with the students her passion and involvement with STEM. She linked their current experiences- drawing pictures, constructing with legos, to STEM.

She led the students through two activities. The first was building with toothpicks, marshmallows and gum drops. The students constructed various configurations, and shapes. Shelby talked about how making a strong base would allow their structures to grow taller.

Second, the students did an experiment with Chromatography. They saw how one color is made up of many colors. They colored with a single color on a coffee filter and observed the colors separate in water.

We really enjoyed our visit from Miss St. Clair Shores! We wish her the best as she continues to grow in STEM!

Teacher Appreciation Week

Wow! What a week we've had! We are so grateful to the generous parents who spoiled us this past week! They brought in so many delicious goodies for themed lunches and snacks each day. We have awesome parents in our program who help support our amazing staff.

On behalf of the preschool leadership, we want to thank all of our teachers and caregivers who are the heart beat of this program. We appreciate all that you do each and every day for your students and the whole program. Thank you! #thankateacher

For bios and pictures of our wonderful staff, please visit our website!

#WOYC18 Wrap Up

Wow! We had a super fun week celebrating the National Week of the Young Child. The Week of the Young Child™ is an annual celebration hosted by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) celebrating early learning, young children, their teachers, and families. Each day had a different theme with plenty of fun to go around! Here is a picture review of our week:

Music Monday:

Tasty Tuesday:

Work Together Wednesday:

Artsy Thursday:

Family Friday:

#woyc18

Today begins the National Week of the Young Child 2018! This annual celebration is hosted by the National Associate for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). Our classes have different activities planned for each day. Teachers will also be sending home some activity ideas for home, and informational articles from NAEYC. Check back at the end of the week to see pictures!

Music Monday

Tasty Tuesday

Work Together Wednesday

Artsy Thursday

Family Friday

Miss Wayne County

Miss Wayne County 2018, Hannah Dell visited the GPPSS Child Development and Preschool Program at Barnes today! She visited each classroom with Pete the Cat stories in hand. The children were excited to see a real "princess" at school!! Hannah will be visiting our elementary school locations on January 26.

Thank you, Hannah, for giving your time to the children! We wish you well in the upcoming Miss Michigan Pageant!

Enrollment is here!

We are accepting applications for the GPPSS Child Development and Preschool Program 2018-2019 school year now through January 31, 2018. Families on our current waiting list for 2017-2018 will need to reapply to be considered for 2018-2019.

Application Process:

Online applications will be accepted starting on January 3, 2018. Applications will be collected until January 31, 2018. If there are more requests for admission than space available, a lottery will be held. If your name is pulled in the lottery, you will receive notification by telephone and email.  You will have 24 hours to accept or decline. Please do not submit your application until January 3, 2018. Applications are located on the preschool website, under each specific age group/program.

Deposit:

There is no deposit required to apply. If you are selected for a spot, you will be responsible for a non-refundable registration fee. The registration fee for full day programs is $100, and $75 for half day programs. You will be sent an invoice via email and can pay with a credit card or check. Tuition pricing is available online.

Program Locations:

Programs will be offered at the Barnes Early Childhood Center, Ferry Elementary School. Monteith Elementary School, Richard Elementary School and Trombly Elementary School. Please visit our website for the hours and ages of each location. Offerings vary per location.

You can find all of this information and more, by visiting our website: ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­

http://gpschools.schoolwires.net/site/Default.aspx?PageID=960

If you have questions you can call the preschool office at 313.432.3809.

Curriculum

We had a great time meeting and talking with families last night at the Preschool Fair. Many families were interested in learning more about the curriculum of our program. All of our early childhood programs from infancy through 5 years old follow an emergent curriculum with aspects of Highscope.

Emergent curriculum lends itself to play-based learning. The goal of emergent curriculum is for our teachers to respond to the children’s interests and generate lesson plans based on these things. It is open-ended, providing a wide canvas for the learning process. It is individualized, allowing for our teachers to interact with and expand upon each child’s questions and interests. It is process-based, enabling our teachers to give considerable attention to the quality of how learning is happening.

We encourage anyone with questions about our curriculum, tuition, hours or enrollment to call the preschool office. We'd be happy to talk with you about the variety of programs offered through the Grosse Pointe Public School District.

Applications

The application period for enrollment in the 2017-2018 Child Development and Preschool Program is currently open. If you are interested in enrolling your child, please submit an online application by Friday Feb 3, 2017. Detailed information about the application process is available on our website. Click here for more information.

Representatives from our program will also be at the Grosse Pointe Library Preschool Fair on Wednesday Feb 1, 2017 at 6:00pm to answer questions and meet with families.

If you have questions regarding any of our programs, please contact the Preschool Office.

Thanksgiving

Child Development and Preschool Programs will be closed Wednesday November 23-Friday November 25. We want to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. This year, our staff at Barnes took a moment to reflect on what they were most grateful for. Staff members wrote notes of gratitude on a feather for our Thankful Turkey. Our teachers were grateful for opportunities to work with young children and build relationships with families and co-workers... and of course coffee and pumpkin pie! We hope you enjoy this holiday season.

Art Auction and Yoga Night Fundraiser

 

Our Art Auction is on display in the main hallway and open for bidding! Each classroom worked together to create their masterpiece. Along with the canvas, you will see documentation of the children in action, as well as the ideas and conversations they had. This Art Auction goes along with our Family Yoga Night on Friday April 22, 2016.

As previously mentioned, our school has been celebrating the National Month of the Young Child with an emphasis on physical activity and healthy eating. Family Yoga Night is a great addition to this celebration.

All donations from Yoga Night and the Art Auction will be going directly to our playground fundraiser. We are in the beginning phases of fundraising for an infant and toddler play structure. This structure meets safety requirements for children 6 months- 24 months of age, and is compliant with our licensing regulations.

We can't wait to join together with our school family tomorrow night for yoga, art and healthy living!

We owe a big thank you to our yoga teacher Ms. T.J for leading our yoga class, and also to Trader Joe's for donating healthy snacks!

Hope to see you there!!

Kid's Talk

This morning, Pre-K children had their last session of Kid's Talk. Over the past 12 weeks, Ms. Rebecca from the Children's Advocacy Center has been meeting with our Pre-K children to talk about important safety topics. Each Kid's Talk session is about 10-15 minutes in length and includes time for children to ask questions.

Over the course of the program, children learned about fire safety, gun safety, and body safety. They learned an important body safety rule- "No. Go. Tell." We are proud of all of the important information the children have retained over these past few weeks. 

We are grateful to Ms. Rebecca for providing such an empowering learning experience for our children!

Firefighter Exploration

Recently, our Preschool Prep class has been very interested in fire trucks and fire fighters. The children were curious to know things like:

• Why is the siren on a fire truck so loud?
• Can both boys and girls be fire fighters?
• Where is the hose on the fire truck?
• Do you have to wear a seat belt on the fire truck?

Their exploration led to many activities and stories. The children were guided by their teacher, Ms. Stephanie K, who also arranged for a visit from the Grosse Pointe Woods Fire Department. All classrooms and ages were invited to participate. The children had the opportunity to ask questions, see and try on fire fighter gear, and explore the fire truck. 

What an awesome experience! Thank you GPW for supporting safety, learning and community involvement. Thank you for working hard each and every day to help keep us safe!