Get ready, parents and caretakers who thought your babies would be little forever it’s time to start thinking about preschool.
The Canyons District Early Childhood Program will accept applications for tuition-paying preschool students from Tuesday Jan. 7 until Friday, Feb. 28. The program, which integrates tuition-paying students to serve as peer models in the classroom with students with special needs, is for 3-and 4-year-old children.
Canyons offers three ways to participate in preschool: special education, Title I, and tuition. Parents can contact the Early Childhood Department to discuss their child’s special education needs.
Students who turn 4 years old before Sept. 1, 2014, and live within the boundaries of a Title 1 school can apply to participate in the Title 1 preschool program beginning March 3, 2014. The program is available at Copperview, East Midvale, Midvale and Sandy elementary schools for 4-year-olds only. Each of these schools will also have available applications to the program.
Altara, Butler, Jordan Valley, Quail Hollow and Willow Springs elementary schools offer children ages 3-5 preschool classes that combine students who have disabilities with those who don’t have disabilities. Each class has between 12-15 students and is taught by a teacher certified in Early Childhood Special Education and three assistants.
Canyons uses an evidence-based preschool curriculum called HighScope in its classrooms that focuses on 58 developmental indicators, such as social and emotional development, physical development, language, literacy and mathematics. Early involvement in preschool programs has been shown to improve student performance in the classroom and have positive long-term results outside of test scores. Adults who participated in a high-quality preschool program had higher earnings, were more likely to have a job and committed fewer crimes, according to the HighScope Perry Preschool Study in 2005.
Tuition to participate in the program is $70 a month for classes that take place two days a week, either in the morning or afternoon, for about two hours. Acceptance into the program is determined on a first-come first-served basis.
