Pre-School Overview: Infants to Threes

Learning by Experiencing
Children learn by experiencing the environment through their senses, by actively moving around and through social interaction. These experiences are provided in the Infants - 3s classroom interest centers including areas for large motor development such as crawling, standing and climbing; dramatic play areas for role play; books and manipulative materials for fine motor development; art exploration; and block building.

Building Trust
Riverfield teachers play a vital role in the social development of young children. Warm, positive, interactive relationships with adults help children develop a sense of trust in the world and a feeling of competence. Trust is the focus of our infant classes and continues as independence is fostered with toddlers, 2s and young 3s.

Age-Appropriate Skills
Independent self-help skills are developed including dressing, self-feeding, hand washing and toileting. Opportunities for children to use self-initiated repetition to practice their newly acquired skills help reinforce learning and establish routines. Imitation and naming games also encourage learning at an early age.

Daily Programming
The daily schedule allows each child time for self-selected play within a family group. The indoor classroom is extended through the use of a Commons designed for large motor play and other child-selected activities. In our newly created Sensory Room, children explore and discover with water, sand, overhead projector and shadow screen, paint and other sensory materials. Snack, lunch and naptime are important routine times that encourage independence, self-help skills and social development.

World of Exploration
Children have daily opportunities to explore the outdoor environment. Experiences with sand, riding and push toys, swings and climbing equipment are available on the playground. Infants go on buggy rides and toddlers go on wagon rides then walks as they are able, and 2s-3s children take frequent outdoor walks to visit our barnyard animals, the sports field, and our wooded campus.

Developing Individuals
Through observation, teachers evaluate established and emerging skills. They reinforce skills such as stacking, matching, sequencing and language development at all levels. The same open-ended toys or equipment may be used by many ages, but the individual child's development determines what to create or how to work with these materials.

A Loving, Secure Environment
The sense of well-being and emotional security conveyed by Riverfield's teachers creates a learning base in which children thrive and benefit.

Passionate Parent Praise
"We think the people and concept of Riverfield have helped our son with a wonderful early start to learning. We have always felt extremely comfortable with your teaching methods and the caring teachers he has had. It feels like we are leaving him with family."

Kudos to Quality
Riverfield was the first Tulsa school to be accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children and is licensed as a Child Care Facility by the Department of Human Services.