Information

 Your child’s health and the health of his/her classmates is a matter of great importance to us.  Please use common sense when deciding if your child is well enough to attend school.  Keep in mind that sending a sick child exposes the entire class.  Please keep your child at home if he/she has a temperature, diarrhea, vomiting, rash, constant cough, or other symptoms of a communicable disease such as a sore throat, reddened eyes, and stomach ache.  Most important, if a child has been exposed to a contagious disease, they should be kept at home.  Strep throat, pin worms, viral infection, infected ears, glands, the measles, mumps, and head lice are considered “highly” contagious. Your child may be sent home if he/she appears to have symptoms of illness during class time. In such cases, we will make every effort to contact you first.  We will then proceed to other emergency contacts you have listed. In the case of accidental injury, we will make an immediate attempt to contact a parent. If we cannot reach you, we will contact the child’s emergency contact number before seeking medical attention.

 School will be closed on national holidays and vacations observed by the Dieringer school Districts calendar. Written notice of such closing will be made via the newsletter and snack calendar. A Child’s First Steps Preschool follows the Dieringer School District schedule and consequently preschool will close any time the Dieringer School District closes.  Listen to any radio station, or TV station for school closure information. When there is a closure or an interruption of our schedule, we will try to contact each of you by phone. If there is a 1 hr. delay we will still have a.m. classes. If there is a 2 hr. delay we will not have a.m. classes. There will be p.m. classes if Dieringer School District does not close for the day.  If you have any questions,
please feel free to contact us. 

 The discipline policy of our preschool is designed to aid the child in developing inner control.  Discipline is viewed as a process of the child’s learning appropriate behaviors.  Positive reinforcement for “good behavior” in a warm supportive environment promotes the child’s self-confidence and leads to increased desirable behavior.  The child is also challenged with learning and doing new things, thus preventing the discipline problems which may occur from boredom.When corrective discipline is necessary, it will be administered by the teacher in a POSITIVE consistent manner, appropriate to the situation.   When the child’s behavior is unacceptable, the teacher will remove the child from the group; talk with him/her; discuss the problem; discuss alternate ways to handle the problem.  If the disruptive behavior continues, the staff will then determine if a conference with the parent(s) is necessary.  Brief    “Time Outs” will be used if necessary to aid the child in quieting his/her body and mind and allowing an opportunity to begin “anew” with more acceptable behavior. 

 Preschool children are active eager learners who want to know all about the world around them.  This age is the perfect time to introduce them to different cultures.

A Child’s First Steps preschool will be looking for your ideas, in hopes your family can share their heritage. We would like to include your family experiences, cultural foods, music, language, clothing etc. Our young Preschool children need to learn about and understand the world around them first.  We would like to teach them about our families with whom they are classmates within these early years. Your help is needed. A special “blessing” is sung at the beginning of each snack time. Our day at A Child’s First Steps Preschool is begun with and ended with prayers.  If you have a prayer we can teach the children, we certainly welcome it.