Affiliation
Lincoln Park Cooperative Preschool is one of five preschools in West Seattle that are affiliated with South Seattle College. The college provides professional parent educators to each class to provide support and education to parents/caregivers, ongoing training and support for classroom teachers, and consultation to the Board around running the preschool. Each preschool class is represented at a Parent Advisory Council that offers scholarships, handles registration, and assists with marketing. SSCCP also belongs to The Organization for Parent Education Programs (OPEP).
Organization
Each preschool is an independent non-profit 501c3 organization and is governed by a Board elected from the Co-op membership. The preschool Board hires their teachers and makes budgeting decisions.
Curriculum Philosophy
The SSC Co-op Preschool curriculum is play based. We believe that a child’s play is his work and that learning happens best when children use their bodies, their senses, their hearts, and their minds to discover their world. Facilitated play lays the foundation for architecture of the brain that will support academic success.
Through play in small and large groups children encounter real social situations and learn to regulate their emotions and solve problems. In imaginative play children put themselves in a variety of settings where they can experiment with new behaviors, learn to collaborate with each other, and negotiate conflict.
This learning doesn’t happen automatically or only through unstructured play time. Our high adult to child ratio means that adults are always available to facilitate the social-emotional learning that will help children succeed.
Our curriculum is aligned with WaKIDS, Washington State Kindergarten Entrance Guidelines, and supports family connection, whole child assessment for individualized learning, supporting a smooth transition into kindergarten.
Parent/ Caregiver Education Curriculum
The SSC Parent Education Program is an integral part of Co-op membership. All of our instructors are skilled in the Adlerian Positive Discipline guidance philosophy that encourages parents to be both kind and firm, to take into account what each child brings to the world, to use tools that are effective for the long term, to raise children who are capable contributors to home, school and the larger community.
Parents in our program learn skills to use with their own children at home and with children in the classroom. They develop a network of friends that often stay with them over the years past preschool.
At Co-op Caregivers:
Assist the teacher in the classroom one day per week
Attend monthly evening meeting to discuss relevant parenting topics and school business
Choose a preschool job that fits their interest, skill, and time
Provide a healthy snack on a rotating basis
Experience how their child learns, get to know their friends and develop friendships with
families that last beyond preschool years
For more information visit www.WestSeattlePreschools.org Email: [email protected]