FHSU Tiger Tots Preschool Center
FHSU Tiger Tots Preschool Center provides a combination preschool/childcare facility for children. Our main goal is to provide a positive and safe environment to promote each child's social, physical, intellectual, and emotional growth. Our mission is to provide a nurturing atmosphere where children will be encouraged to be creative, independent, and responsible. The staff firmly believes in providing a diverse and developmentally-appropriate curriculum. Our values and beliefs about children focus on personal experiences and educational research regarding how young children develop through a combination of play and structured activities. The learning experiences in our program ensure the health and physical well-being and the development of cognitive, social-emotional skills, and communication necessary for school success.
Goals
- Provide a high-quality preschool and childcare service to FHSU, Hays Academy of Hair, Fort Hays Tech | North Central students, and FHSU faculty and staff with young children.
- Maintain a child development facility that adheres to the philosophy that all children deserve respect and empathy. All children are unique individuals with strengths and weaknesses that make them special. Social, emotional, and intellectual growth will occur when children see positive behaviors modeled by adults and have an opportunity to explore their world and interact with peers.
- Recognize and support the importance of cultural heritage and family in each child's life. We realize that home is the most critical factor in a child's development. We are committed to helping children reach their full potential by working cooperatively with parents.
- Create a safe environment where boundaries and guidelines for acceptable behavior are positive and consistent.
- Establish a daily routine that emphasizes the significance of play. Play is the child's "work" and provides an opportunity to develop problem-solving skills, self-concept, and creativity.
- Provide a learning opportunity for FHSU Teacher Education candidates to work in a full-day program where developmentally appropriate practices are modeled for their future careers. They gain valuable hands-on experience working with young children.
Program and Curriculum
At Tiger Tots, the children have a balance of interacting with peers in teacher-directed and child-directed experiences. The daily schedule includes playtime, group time, healthy meals, rest time, and learning centers. During playtime, children learn to:
- Share and take turns
- Listen to others
- Work independently and cooperatively
- Develop feelings of success and security
- Express thoughts and ideas
- Explore and expand cognitive, physical, social, and literacy skills
- Learn new vocabulary and communication skills
- Decrease stress through learning self-regulation and coping skills
Our program is child-centered and based on the belief that children thrive in a stimulating, safe, consistent, and nurturing environment. We aim to enhance each child's natural curiosity and love for learning. The following activities are a daily part of group and center time. Our emergent literacy curriculum includes reading quality children's literature, fingerplays, and nursery rhymes, practice with pre-reading and writing skills, and language development. Pre-math skills are also a vital part of our curriculum. Center and group time include art, music, fine and gross motor skills, games, science, cooking, and physical development. We have successfully used monthly themes that provide a focal point for activities and discussions. Our themes focus on the learning needs of the children registered in our program.
All activities are created with the Kansas Early Standards as our foundation to build each child's foundation for academic success for school readiness. Our daily activities:
- Build self-esteem
- Encourage socialization skills
- Increase time on task
- Develop vocabulary
- Develop auditory listening skills
- Improve coordination
- Increase awareness of patterns, categorize math concepts
- Introduce new concepts and ideas
Our curriculum includes the eight domains of child development and learning:
- Approaches to Learning
- Physical Development
- Social and Emotional Development
- Communication and Literacy
- Mathematics
- Science
- Social Studies
- Creative Arts
A portion of each day focuses on child-initiated play throughout the classroom. Materials for creative expression and experiences are always available to the children. Outdoor play and learning are a priority, and the children play outside daily (weather permitting).
Tiger Tots serves a CACFP-approved nutritious morning and afternoon snack and lunch. We follow the meal patterns established by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
- Lunch consists of milk, bread or grain product, meat or meat alternatives, a serving of fruits, and a serving of vegetables.
- Snacks include servings from two of the five food components: milk, fruits, vegetables, bread or grain product, or meat or meat alternate.
A relaxing atmosphere for rest time occurs each afternoon.