The Annandale Co-op is a wonderful facility; beyond the individualized classrooms which exceed VA state and NAEYC requirements, Annandale Coop has an Activity Room, courtyard garden, nature trail, and huge playground. 

The courtyard garden is a living laboratory for our 2 year olds.  In autumn, 2 year olds see pumpkins grow and plant bulbs, in the winter children care for their garden with coffee ground compost and in the spring they plant peas, pumpkins and beans and watch them sprout.  The cycle renews itself when the pumpkins turn color the following fall with the new class of 2 year olds. 

Annandale Cooperative Preschool's huge play ground has two play structures.  One structure features a side-by-side double slide, toddler-sized rock climbing wall and a butterfly ladder; the other, a cork screw slide, stair case and bubble window compartments.  The playground has a sandbox, little village, boat and fire truck along with traditional equipment such as swings and see-saws.  Next to the playground, is the nature trail, a wooded area where the children explore nature.  Autumn leaves, acorns, birds, insects – the sights and sounds of nature await for Annandale Co-op children.

 

 

Our Activity Room is place for small group interaction affording children constant opportunities for social, emotional and physical development. A place where Annandale Coop children learn and grow.

A wide variety of equipment rotates through the Activity Room as it is changed approximately every other week.  A wooden “tree house” with slide and ladder, waffle cubes, a spinning saucer, and a metal walking bridge that rests atop two climbing tripods are some examples of the available equipment.  With this Activity Room equipment, children have honed their skills of balance, climbing, jumping in additional to their skills of turn taking, sharing and consideration.  In the Activity Room, imagination can flourish.  Children have climbed an apple tree and picked apples during an autumn harvest unit; jumped across the Amazon River during a rain forest unit; explored a cave and found hibernating bears during a winter-animals unit.

The 3 and 4 year old classes use the Activity Room for small group interaction.  The teacher halves the class.  Each small group rotates to the Activity Room with the co-oping parent while the other half works on a thematic project with the teacher in the classroom.  Then, the small groups switch so every child has Activity Room time and small group time with the teacher.  Each day can be individualized.  If two children have a budding friendship, the teacher can group them together.  If particular children need help with a concept, the teacher can work with them during the thematic project time.  For example, the teacher can play a board game with the small group to re-enforce social skills such as turn taking or cognitive skills such as letter recognition.  Perhaps, the teacher works on a sewing project with the small group to observe fine motor skills or spacial development.  The Activity Room affords a time for small group interaction among classmates as well as individualized attention by the teacher.

Field Trips and Class Visits
Although our philosophy is learning through play, each class room teacher has a personalized curriculum to share with the children.  Field trips and class visitors are often used to enhance the learning experience.  For example our farm unit, musical instrument unit and gardening unit come to life with trips to Frying Pan Park, Woodson High School 's Orchestra Performance and Green Springs Garden. Other field trip destinations include Hidden Oaks Nature Center where children can hold a snake, Cardinal Bank where children can stand in the bank vault, and Oxen Hill Farm where children can milk a cow. 

Community visitors bring their world to Annandale Co-op students.  In the past the fire department, police officers, nurses, veterinarians, even a folk singer has enlarged the world of our preschool children.  Additionally, Annandale children enjoy special performances by Barbara E, the story lady, whose music, song and props captivate children.  Kay Dee Puppets visits Annandale Co-op as well; their stories and puppets bring a child's imagination to life.

 The 2 year old classes use the Activity Room as an entire group; the teacher, co-oping parent and the eight 2 year old students go together.  In this fashion the teacher can directly monitor and shepherd the social, emotional, cognitive, and physical development.  Additionally, remaining as a class group lends a sense of security for the 2 year child as they come to understand the larger school community surrounding them.

Free Choice Centers
The school day begins with Free Choice Centers.  Free choice with a focus on emotional, social, cognitive and motor development is the philosophy that drives the program.  During this time the classroom teacher is with the children and is able to spend individualized time fostering their development.  The classroom is alive with activity.  The imagination station, arts and craft center, science zone, puzzle center, construction zone, quiet corner, and fine motor/manipulative table are open and available.  Children circulate from center to center as they desire.  The classroom teacher tailors these Free Choice activities to the students' individualized needs as well the class' curriculum theme.

Each classroom is outfitted to meet the needs of that particular group.  For example, the 4 year olds could be making pesto from scratch during their garden unit, while 3 year olds might be “gum banding” T-shirts in preparation for a tie dying project during their color mixing unit, and 2 year olds would be listening to their hearts with a stethoscope during their community helpers unit.  The sensory table might be filled with water for an oceanography unit or filled with bird seeds to support a bird unit.  In one classroom the imagination station could be a post office while down the hall it is a grocery store.  Beyond the individualizing, this Free Choice Center time allows a classroom teacher to be solely with the students at the beginning of the day; she can quickly understand and focus on their social and emotional needs for that day. 

In addition to various persons who visit Annandale Cooperative Preschool, children enjoy animal guests  throughout the year.  Turtles, tadpoles, toads, frogs, fish, birds and praying mantis have visited in the recent past.  In April the 2 year olds tend to an incubator as they hatch baby chicks from eggs; when the first chick hatches from its shell there is a sense of celebration and wonder throughout the school.  In May as part of the science program, each classroom cares for caterpillars which then make their chrysalis.  One by one they emerge.  On the day the butterflies are released, the school flutters with activity.  Our animal visitors offer so much to the Annandale Co-op children: an opportunity to see something new, to observe something different, to learn about the world around them and to learn about themselves.

Screening
Finally, on a developmental note beyond the field trips, the class visitors and performances, Annandale Co-op invites the Fairfax County Health Department to our school for vision screening, hearing screening and speech screening.  This service is not so much a part of the curriculum, but a service to help children get the most out of their preschool years.