Preschool of the Arts

Fall Trees and Leaves

On these beautiful fall days, the Art Studio likes to take advantage of the weather by drawing and painting outside. “En plein air” is a French expression which refers to the act of painting outdoors in natural light and capturing what the eye actually sees. The subject for our outdoor painting was a beautiful maple … Continue reading →

PSA Monarch Madness

Hundreds of caterpillars have crossed the hands of the children at PSA. In many classrooms, adult butterflies hang in full view to dry their wings, gaining strength to fly to Mexico. The Snowflake Room is the central hub for our monarch madness, they welcome adult butterflies that will live EIGHT times longer than all others … Continue reading →

Alumni Summer Program and the Natural Environment

Each summer, PSA welcomes back a classroom of school-aged alumni for our summer program. For the school aged children, the summer means a return to the grounds they spent time on in their younger years. We believe that the environment plays a huge role in all children’s curiosity, play and learning. Being back at Preschool … Continue reading →

PSA Welcomes New Director, Ann Gadzikowski

It is with great excitement to inform you that Preschool of the Arts has found a new Executive Director. Ann Gadzikowski brings a wealth of diverse educational administrative experience most recently at Northwestern University. A published author and talented musician, Ann will begin her new role October 2. Below is what Ann shared about her new … Continue reading →

Summer Intentions – Teacher as Researcher through Building

During the summer, each classroom is asked to use one of five Reggio Emilia principles as an intention for summer school. The Orange Room felt most drawn to exploring the Role of Teacher as Guide and Researcher. We are focusing on facilitating children’s ability to represent what they know and imagine. To review and help … Continue reading →

Summer Intentions – Environment as Third Teacher through Gardening

For our summer intention, the White Room also chose “The Environment as the Third Teacher”. In the White Room, this means the outdoor environment, and more specifically the PSA garden. In the garden, Kristin, our environmental specialist, gave us lessons in how we can help her care for the plants at PSA. We committed to … Continue reading →

Summer Intentions – Free Flow Outdoor Art

This summer, the Art Specialists decided to work more collaboratively, and to let the children work more collaboratively as well. Our intention is to delve into creating an environment that is free flowing and looks to support artistic, collaborative work between children from different classrooms for extended periods of time, and at will. Like the classrooms, the art studio … Continue reading →

Summer Intentions – Environment as Third Teacher through Photography

This summer at Preschool of the Arts, each classroom has chosen one of five Reggio Emilia principles as their summer intention. The Rainbow Room is going to explore the environment as the third teacher. How do different environments affect the children’s level of calmness, ability to focus, and how may it help them address their … Continue reading →

Gold Room Chinese Dragon Explorations

The children’s interest began with a book by Marcia Vaughan called ”The Dancing Dragon.” They seemed especially interested in the long, colorful, accordion-style dragon picture in the book. They read this book in the music studio with Ms. Ann and they got a chance to use ribbons to explore the wave-like movements of the dragon as … Continue reading →

Collaboration in the Music Studio

One priority for music specialists in a Reggio Emilia inspired school is the importance of building the essentials of a solid early childhood music education while remaining open to collaborate with classroom teaching teams, parents, children and the environment. As the children listen to music they typically respond to what they are hearing through moving … Continue reading →