At City Sprouts Preschool, the days are fluid and go where the children's interests lead, so each day can be different. The setup of each developmental area changes weekly or biweekly to support their interests and spark new thinking. The general layout is as follows:

7:30- 9:00 am - Gradual arrival, daily check-ins, free play. Parents are encouraged to take their time with drop off and allow their child an easy transition into the day. It is important that both the child and parent feel safe and secure every day whether it takes a few minutes or an hour for a comfortable transition. There is aways an art activity set up, such as cloud dough or sponge painting and they can more around to any area of the room.

9:15 am - Clean up, then first circle. Every child is encouraged to help clean up the space and this time helps many of them to smoothly transition to the next part of the day. When we are ready, everyone comes together to talk and share at circle time. Sometimes it includes songs or books as we prepare for morning snack. This circle's structure depends on the day, often bringing up any activities that happened the day before and ideas for what the day should look like. 

9:30 am - Morning snack. An organic homemade snack is provided and we all enjoy snack together as a group. The menus for all meals are created weekly and vary based on many factors such as season, and farmers market trips. But, a sample snack might be homemade muffins and fresh fruit. After cleaning up our meal, we move into more free play, often going outside or on a field trip to the park or library.

11:45 pm - Clean up together, then second circle time. As we transition to lunch we come together again to sing, read and tell stories. This is often a more structured circle. Depending on the energy level and mood we may do some dancing and movement songs to get the last wiggles out before sitting, or read stories and do felt activities if we have already had a busy morning. 

12:00 pm - Lunch. An organic homemade lunch, such as chicken stir fry with brown rice, is provided and we all eat together as a group. Often meals are served "family style," encouraging the children to serve themselves and learn how much food they need to take. It also teaches the importance of sharing meals for our whole body's health.

12:45 pm - Clean up and prepare for nap/ quiet time, often with a book. The lights are dimmed and soothing music is played. Children aren't required to nap, but are required to have quiet time by themselves. They may look at books or play with a "quiet toy" in their space. With usually very busy and activity filled lives, children need time to wind down and be just themselves. It is a much needed time to develop imagination and individuality.

3:15 pm - Afternoon snack. An organic homemade snack is provided and we all eat together as a group. An afternoon snack might be veggie sticks with hummus. We sometimes do a cooking activity at this time and then share what we created afterwards. After cleaning up our meal, we move into free play.

4:00 pm - Children get picked up. They can be picked up earlier and parents are welcome to come and stay for any length of time to help their child transition out of school. Aftercare is also available until 5:30 pm.

* Field Trips: On any day we may go out on a field trip to explore the neighborhood, go to the park, the library, or any other place sparked by interest.