Note about current enrollment/availability: To inquire about available space, please call: 401-847-8879

At Little Friends we offer a play based curriculum that emphasizes social and emotional development as being essential to life long learning. We believe that unrestricted movement allows the child to develop sensory integration skills that are the foundation of conventional reading and writing. Through creative free play, circle games, gardening, running, etc., a child is prepared for this next step in learning. Learning to read is not as simple as recognizing words on a page. There is much physical work that needs to be done before this process can happen. In a play based program that emphasizes movement, hands-on experiences and open-ended play materials a child learns to create, to visualize and to feel competent. We offer children the TIME that they need to accomplish this critical work. We acknowledge that to ask children to read and write without first having these experiences does not allow them to develop the skills that these tasks require. We strive to offer each child an early education that honors the child’s natural way of being and learning without imposing on their healthy development.

In our mixed age pre-kindergarten our day includes practical and artistic work, storytelling, singing and circle games, creative free play inside and plenty of outside time for play, gardening and hiking. Celebrating the seasons and their festivals is the inspiration for our curriculum content – for example, planting a garden in the spring that we harvest in autumn.

We look at the child in all areas of growth – social, emotional, physical and cognitive – as unique individuals with different learning styles and needs. Within the context of the whole group we then grow a curriculum that supports those children in their learning. The curriculum grows out of the group rather than the group fitting into the curriculum.

We have chosen at Little Friends to make early childhood education truly developmentally appropriate by allowing for physical, social, emotion and cognitive growth to occur in a natural enfoldment. We work out of imitation with the children and allow direct instruction to wait until first grade. As children ask questions we offer answers thus being child centered in the truest way. Our mixed age pre-kindergarten meets each child where they are and supports them toward where they are growing.

Children must be three years old by September first to enter the multi-age pre-kindergarten. There are two multi-age classrooms, each comprised of children ages three to five years old. The group sizes vary from twelve to sixteen children. We strive to maintain a six or seven to one child to teacher ratio.

Research shows there is great wisdom in providing a mixed ages learning experience. Here are some reasons why we have chosen this type of program:

• Each age has its own challenges and milestones. In a mixed age class all of the children are not experiencing the same transitions at the same time.
  
• The younger children look to the older ones as role models, which brings a sense of pride and responsibility to the older children.
  
• The older children have the opportunity to see from the younger children where they have been and how much they have grown.
  
• The younger children can look forward to where they are going and what they will soon be able to accomplish.
  
• The mixed age grouping offers challenges to those who are ready for them, and also offers the opportunity for children to have more time to work on areas which need strengthening.
  
• Mixing the ages helps to create a more homelike, family environment.
  
• For children with no siblings of their own, it is a chance for them to experience having older and younger siblings.
  
• For children with siblings it is an opportunity for them to experience being the older or younger child.

The day’s rhythm may vary from room to room. The following is an example of how a typical day might be structured:

7:30-8:00am Arrival and play
8:00-9:30am Morning activity (examples: watercolor painting, bread baking, soup making, a seasonal craft)
10:00 am Circle time (songs and finger plays, perhaps a book)
Morning Snack (organic oats and raisins)
10:30-11:45 Outdoor play, gardening or a nature hike through Albro Woods
1:45-12:30 Story & Lunch
12:30-2:00 Rest Time
2:00-3:00 Children gradually awaken (some may sleep until 3:00pm)
2:30-3:45 Outside play
3:45pm Afternoon snack (fresh baked items or organic fruit)
4:00-5:30 Final departures

After you have downloaded the admission application, please fax it to
401-847-8884 or mail it to:

Little Friends Farm
33 Mitchell's Lane
Middletown, RI 02842