 Times of Transition - Preschool
Because we are a year round school, our summer was busy transitioning in many new children and families. We are now all settled in for fall! The transition into preschool is an important way to build trust between the children, the parents and the teachers. We work with each family on an individual basis to ensure the process feels right to everyone involved. Some parents stay with their children at school for several days. Some are able to successfully say goodbye on the first day. Each child is assigned a “transition teacher” to stay close in the first few weeks to make sure the child’s needs are being met. When a child is able to ask for and receive help from the rest of the staff, we know they are settled and can back off a bit. To help with the transition process our classroom theme is,” Me, Myself and I”. We sing songs with our names in them. We make a book filled with our baby pictures, and did full size tracings of our bodies. This helps us to get to know each other, and ourselves better. This is how we build and strengthen our community. A 3-year old girl whose family recently relocated to Santa Monica needed her parent to spend a little extra time in the environment during her transition. Once the child and her transition teacher, Paula, got involved in an activity (the pillow room is one of her favorites!) her father was able to move to his "Daddy Chair" across the classroom while she played with new friends. For more information about the YWCA's Family Cooperative Preschool, please contact Nina Moench, Preschool Director/Teacher, at | 
