Full-Day Preschool & Pre-Kindergarten at Westside School

The Foundations for Lifelong Learning

Westside School invites children to embark on their educational journey with our full-day preschool and pre-kindergarten programs.

Please Note: Pre-Kindergarten is for children who turn four by September 1.

For early learners, play is learning. Our emergent, play-based curriculum focuses on experiential learning, fostering the social-emotional foundations essential for academic growth. What looks like play is actually students building social, cognitive, and problem-solving skills that will support them from early learning through 8th grade and beyond.

Responsive & Engaging

Teachers observe children’s spontaneous interests and guide them toward projects and activities that spark curiosity. Classroom learning stations, combined with whole and small group activities, promote each child’s social and academic development.

Specialists & Enrichment

In addition to daily classroom experiences, students participate in physical education, the arts, and world languages (Spanish and Mandarin), connecting with cultures, discovering their unique interests, and developing a love of learning.

A Day in Early Learning

Early learners begin their day with open-ended exploration using rich materials in centers such as Dramatic Play, Loose Parts, Blocks, Process Art, and the Makers Space. They come together for whole group learning and connection during Morning Meeting and specialist classes. Multiple opportunities for outdoor play are woven throughout the day. Students share a family-style snack and engage in inquiry time through structured activities inspired by emerging themes and interests.

Learning, Community, and Inclusion

Our youngest learners explore the outdoors, play on the playground, visit local neighborhoods, and connect with older buddies through fun school activities. These experiences build confidence and help children develop social skills, cooperation, and a sense of belonging. From the start, children also learn empathy, respect for others, and age-appropriate lessons about identity and fairness, helping them grow into confident and caring community members.

Academic & Social-Emotional Support

Children receive personalized academic support through small groups and guided activities, while social-emotional learning helps them understand themselves, build friendships, and practice kindness and responsibility. With one counselor and one learning specialist, Westside combines play, academic learning, and social-emotional growth to help each child thrive in a welcoming, inclusive community.

DRAMATIC PLAY

Preschool girl with sparkly sunglasses and a bird mask.

In dramatic play, it isn’t uncommon to see students dressing up, cooking a meal for their friends in our kitchen area, and creating all sorts of scenarios that allow children to make connections to the world around them!

Through Dramatic Play, Children Learn:

Social Emotional Development: Children practice managing their emotions and actions, work through compromise and conflict with others, and use play to process their own feelings and experiences.
Cognitive Development: Children collaborate to make a plan, take on and negotiate different roles, and stretch their abstract thinking as they imagine and problem-solve together.
Language and Literacy Development: Children grow their expressive and receptive language, strengthen vocabulary, and explore the power of oral storytelling and conversation.

BLOCK PLAY

In the block area, students work together or on their own to create large structures, complete with ramps, windows, and doors. As they work, they share ideas about their plan, what the structure will end up being, and the blocks that they need to build it.

Through Block Play, Children Learn:

Cognitive Development: Children come to block play with ideas in mind. They think through how to build their structure, which shapes to use, and how to make it strong and stable.
Mathematical and Scientific Thinking: Measurement, comparison, counting, estimation, symmetry, patterning, and shape recognition all come to life naturally as children plan and build. Children test their ideas and experiment with cause and effect. They make predictions, explore balance and stability, notice gravity and forces of motion at work, and discover how different materials behave.
Social Emotional Development: Block play encourages turn-taking, sharing ideas, compromising, and resolving conflict. It supports cooperation, builds attention span, and helps to develop confidence and self-esteem.

PROCESS ART

Process Art is less about the final product and more about the experiences and observations the children have while engaging with the materials.

At the art table and maker space, children are encouraged to explore materials freely, allowing their ideas to come to life.

Through Process Art Children Learn:

Social Emotional Development: Children relax into the creative process, focus their attention, feel successful, and express their feelings through their art.
Language and Literacy Development: Children talk about their creations and listen to others explain their work. They may choose to add descriptive words, either on their own or by dictating to a teacher.
Cognitive Development: Children engage in self-directed, creative decision-making, compare and connect to the art of others, plan, and problem-solve as they explore a variety of materials.
Motor Development: Children strengthen the fine motor muscles in their hands and fingers as they hold crayons, paintbrushes, scissors, and other tools. Larger movements, such as painting on an easel or working with big strokes, support gross motor development. These art experiences build hand-eye coordination, wrist stability, and control of hand pressure, all of which prepare children for handwriting and everyday tasks.

SENSORY PLAY

During sensory play, children immerse themselves in rich materials that engage their senses and invite creative exploration. They may find joy in scooping, filling, and pouring bubbly, colorful water, squishing and molding kinetic sand, or piling, crunching, and ripping dried leaves and pinecones. Teachers change out the sensory materials frequently, allowing children to explore different materials often.

Through Sensory Play, Children Learn:

Social Emotional Development: Children quickly learn what feelings and textures they enjoy and which they don't. They engage with others at the sensory table, sharing space and materials.
Language and Literacy Development: Children use descriptive language to share their sensory experiences with others. Teachers expose students to new vocabulary words that can be better understood through these playful sensory exposures.
Cognitive Development: Children use divergent thinking as they engage with familiar materials in new and interesting ways. As they scoop, pour, pinch, and mold materials, they strengthen fine motor control and deepen their understanding of how things feel, move, and change.