To provide for optimal learning, our program runs from 8:45 a.m. to 1:45 p.m., Monday through Friday. In our experience, preschoolers learn best before their energy wanes in mid-afternoon. All children bring lunches from home, and the school provides an organic, whole-food-based morning snack.  We follow a daily schedule, but leave room for flexibility to accommodate the changing needs of our group.  Younger children may be picked up earlier until they become used to the full school day.

 

The daily schedule is generally as follows:

 

Drop-off on the playground (children play outside until 9:00, weather permitting)

 

• Morning Meeting: greetings, songs, and introduction to the day's activities
• Choice Time: children choose from open-ended creative activities involving science, math, arts, and dramatic play.
• Snack Time
• Outside Time
• Story or Game Circle
• Lunch
• Rest Time
• Tidy Up
• Outside Time
• Dismissal

 

The week at Russell follows a rhythm, which gives the children a reassuring sense of structure.  Each day of the week corresponds to a specific snack which children help to prepare:

 

Monday is "moon rice" day. Children may bring a vegetable to school and the parent helper cooks our rice and vegetables for snack.

 

Tuesday is "stone soup" day. Children bring a vegetable from home to be added to the soup pot.

 

Wednesday is applesauce day. Each child brings an apple or a pear from home to add to our warm, sweet applesauce.

 

Thursday is bread day. Teachers and children knead the bread dough and form it into rolls, which are eaten fresh-baked with honey or butter.

 

Friday is "Little Bear's porridge" day.

 

Children's allergies are always accommodated.

 

Calendar

 

The school year runs from mid-September through early June, including four weeks of vacation. The school calendar roughly corresponds to the Watertown Public School calendar.