Welcome to Pre-K! Learn about our PreK Program.

Blog Post Written By Paula Barros (School Director) and Emily Edland (PreK Teacher)

Free Pre-Kindergarten. All Day Program. Tablets for Every Student. High Quality Emotional, Social, and Academic Education.

“It takes a village to raise a child” -here at MELA we take this proverb seriously when talking about all of our children, but especially when talking about the youngest of our scholars. Pre-Kindergarten is a wonderful time, full of discoveries, friendships, happiness, and new learnings, but it can also be overwhelming as it is the first time the children are in an Elementary School. To ensure that the children have the best time in their new setting, we establish partnerships with the families, and we work hard to create an environment full of love, respect, and deep connections to ensure that our students feel like they are at home away from home.

As we are a small school, it is possible for the children to establish wonderful connections with our wonderful school staff as well as the older grade students that are often available to model to our Pre-K students how to be a student at MELA; showing our expectations and importance to be mindful, empathetic, leaders, and accountable. As some of the older students have been at MELA since they were Pre-K students themselves, the sense that “it takes a village to raise a child” has a full meaning of belonging in a community that feels like a family, where everyone looks after one another.

We praise ourselves for taking care of our students' well-being, social, and emotional learning. But Pre-K is not only a time for playing. We have an outstanding academic curriculum that focuses on deep learning and student success. 

In the Pre-Kindergarten classroom, we use:

• Bridges in Mathematics - a comprehensive curriculum that focuses on developing students’ deep understandings of mathematical concepts, proficiency with key skills, and ability to solve complex and novel problems. Bridges blends direct instruction, structured investigation, and open exploration. It taps into the intelligence and strengths of all students by presenting material that is as linguistically, visually, and kinesthetically rich as it is mathematically powerful.
• Groves Literacy Framework - The Groves Literacy Framework, is a phonemic awareness instruction that was developed at Groves Academy, uses an Orton-Gillingham based curriculum and is rooted in decades of literacy and brain research. 
• The Creative Curriculum for Pre-Kindergarten - the most widely used pre-K curricula in the nation. It’s comprehensive, research-based, research-proven, and it features exploration and discovery as a way of learning.
• Smithsonian Science Curriculum - The Smithsonian Science Education Center is transforming Education Through Science, in collaboration with communities across the globe. To achieve our mission, we have three goals: STEM innovation, inclusion, and sustainability.
• Calm Connect - our mindfulness program, is a patented system used around the world, that contains dozens of short digital sequences designed to quickly and effectively calm the nervous system and build a bridge to the social world.

The students also have access to top quality educational apps like Dreambox, Lexia, as well as many other programs, as all of our students utilize 1:1 technology. 

Our 4 year olds love to play and learn with each other. Additionally, we have designated times for singing songs, reading stories, playing and working in small groups! During the past few weeks the kids have enjoyed playing outside in the snow! Check out some pictures of some of their adventures below!​