Description

 SciTech Museum Opens Unique Preschool

Thanks to a generous grant from the Dunham Foundation, the SciTech Museum is delighted to announce the opening this September of one of the first STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) based curriculum preschools in the country. Limited to 36 very fortunate children (aged of 3 to 5 years); the SciTech Discovery Preschool will be housed in the museum and offers children exceptional tools for their future.

The SciTech Discovery Preschool offers weekly themed programming teaching science, math, language arts, writing and more in a fun and age appropriate manner. In addition, the program includes specialty programs Spanish, computers, music classes and a weekly visit to our library adjacent to the museum. Daily snacks and hot lunches are organic, allergy free and locally grown. Our student to teacher ratio is a mere 6 to 1 so every student will receive individualized attention.

Preschool Director, Cheryl Newman states, “As a mother and a teacher, I strongly believe that children need to be presented with an individualized approach to education. In our preschool, we offer daily, small group lessons in math and reading. Children working on the same skills are grouped together, and the groups change as needed. We assess the children weekly to insure that our curriculum is effective. We use the award winning Zoo-Phonics program for reading, and Handwriting without Tears, a program developed by an occupational therapist. The children begin with the Everyday Math curriculum and progress to the internationally recognized Singapore Math program.”

There simply was not one science curriculum that we felt contained all of the information that the children could learn. We will be combining several different curricula including the Young Scientist Series (developed with funding from the National Science Foundation) and Science and Technology for Children (by the National Science Resource Center.) The children will learn chemistry, physics, and biology, presented in a developmentally appropriate way. We use the research-based PATHS program (Promoting Alternative Thinking Skills) to teach children self-control and the ability to express emotions in a socially appropriate manner.

Music, Spanish and computer lessons are taught by specialized instructors. The preschool teachers incorporate art into the general curriculum – so the children may design bee wings or paint with melting ice cubes.

Our teachers will amaze you. All lead teachers have teaching certificates, are certified in Illinois; most with additional advanced degrees. Teachers were also selected for their love in working with young children and commitment to help each child develop his or her full potential within our nurturing environment.

We look forward to helping your children discover the wonders of the world around them.

More information on the museum as well as the preschool can be found at: www.scitechmuseum.org

SciTech is accepting applications on a first come, first served basis. As space is extremely limited, we urge families to reserve their spots immediately. For additional information, please contact cheryln@scitechmuseum.org or 630-859-3434 x 236.

The Preschool is scheduled to open on September 12
Open house on September 8th from 4-8 pm