PreKindergarten & Junior Kindergarten

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Prekindergarten/Junior Kindergarten

It All Starts With Nature

Maumee Valley's PreKindergarten and Junior Kindergarten students spend a portion of their day exploring Maumee Valley's 75 acres. Expert teachers are skilled at taking curriculum outdoors through all four seasons of the year. Teachers encourage, motivate, engage, and inspire children through positive outdoor experiences. Outdoor education allows children the time and space to develop their interests, skills, and understandings through practical hands-on experiences. Time spent outside is inspired by the Forest School philosophy, playful learning indicators, and co-created curriculum. All Prekindergarten and Junior Kindergarten teachers are certified outdoor educators.

PreKindergarten and Junior Kindergarten students use loose parts and natural materials found on the campus grounds for building, counting, forming letters, and other academic activities that align with curriculum goals. They are able to use their bodies in different sensory experiences and improve their gross motor skills while climbing trees, rolling down hills, and balancing on logs.

At this age, students are emergent writers and expressing themselves through nature drawings and journaling. Fine-motor activities such as weaving vines, picking up bugs with utensils, and creating art in the mud all strengthen their hands and improve their pencil grip. They connect to nature by observing plants and animals during their free exploration time and in different mindfulness practices.

Features of our PK/JK program:

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Multi-aged classrooms using co-teaching models focused on young learners
Small group instruction
14:2 students-to-adults ratio
Two classrooms each with a full-time teacher and a full-time teaching assistant
Forest School-inspired program
Indoor and outdoor learning environments
Two snacks each day (one provided and one from home)
Hot and cold lunch menu selections
Part-time and full-time enrollment options
Access to additional learning areas (art, music, physical education, Spanish, and library)

Explore our Lower School curriculum

Inquiry-Based Learning

Inquiry-based learning is an approach to learning that emphasizes the student’s role in the learning process. Rather than the teacher telling students what they need to know, students are encouraged to explore the material, ask questions, and share ideas.

Forest School

Our goal is to tap into children’s sense of wonder about nature while teaching values and basic natural science principles in the field. In addition to bringing the outdoors into their classroom, the PreK/JK curriculum immerses children in nature for two and a half hours each day.

Relationships

Relationships are the foundation of the Lower School. We celebrate our children’s identity. We focus on the individual child as part of a family, a school, a community, and the larger society. We spend a large amount of time focusing on the children’s individual identity and their classroom community. Strong relationships increase student motivation, reduce behavioral issues, and improve student achievement.

Environment

Classroom environments are co-created with students in regard to their interests, developmental levels, and cultural and geographic backgrounds of the children in the classroom.

Our Faculty

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MICHELLE SAVICKAS

Head of Lower School
BRITTANY CODGELL

PreKindergarten/Junior Kindergarten assistant
AMY DANKERT

PreKindergarten and Junior Kindergarten assistant
ALEX KANIA

PreKindergarten and Junior Kindergarten teacher
CHRISTINE MARKER

PreKindergarten and Junior Kindergarten teacher
JENICA FOX

K-6 music teacher
KATHLEEN MICK

PreK-5th grade Spanish teacher
RENEE MOEBIUS

Library media specialist
HEATHER RAKOSIK

Physical education, heath, and wellness teacher

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Your Educational Journey Begins Today

Welcome to Maumee Valley

For more information contact us at admissions@mvcds.org or by calling 419-381-1313.

1715 South Reynolds Road, Toledo, OH 43614
phone: 419-381-1313 | fax: 419-381-1314

Maumee Valley Country Day School is the only PreK-12th grade accredited, co-educational, and independent school in Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan.