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New York, NY
Mandell School

Parents at this school would recommend this school to other parents.

Review this preschool

neighborhood: 90's ·  Telephone: (212) 222-1606  · Website: www.mandellschool.org

• Summary
• General Info
• School Philosophy
  & Day-in-the-Life
• Curriculum &
  Teaching Approach
• Quality of
  Teaching
• Home/School
  Connection
• Discipline,
  Health & Safety
• Ages, Schedule
  & Tuition
• Application &
  Admissions

General Approach to Learning

	Play-based
	Play-based with some structure
	Predominantly teacher-led instruction
	Montessori
	Waldorf
	Co-op
	Reggio-Emilia

source:

Social Skills & Work Habits

OVERALL RATING (3.0)
This school has increased my child's:
Ability to listen and follow directions
Ability to sit still for longer periods of time
Ability to be a part of a group of children
Self-sufficiency and independence
Awareness of others’ feelings
Cooperation with other children

source:

Curriculum and Teaching Approach

Savvy Source's Comments

"Math skill development in our Nursery and Pre-K programs is largely connected to the primary 'business' of play. Our objectives in the teaching of math to young children are centered on their development of competencies in the following areas: observing, inferring, sorting, ordering, classifying, one-to-one correspondence and recognition of cardinal numbers. The play environment is structured to include toys and games, which have been designed to reinforce these areas. The children freely choose and participate in these activities during free play as well as more structured periods throughout the day. Some examples of our math-related learning materials are: picture puzzles with a wide range of difficulty levels, and UNIFIX Cubes. These materials are very popular, as are other enriching projects such as carpentry (hammering, sawing, drilling, measuring and building), clay, play dough and arts/crafts projects. Another popular math skill development activity is computer play. The children in all classes have access to classroom computers, for which we have many fine instructional and recreational programs. In the nursery we begin using the computer after spring break, and it becomes an integral part of the day in the Pre-K I and Pre-K II classes. The program objectives may be as basic as requiring the child to count images on the monitor and punch in the appropriate number, or as complex as requiring the child to perform simple addition and subtraction algorithms (with the help of the abacus) to complete a series of frames. All programs are self-correcting and visually stimulating, and the children may choose the program (with some teacher input in the nursery class) which is desirable at his or her appropriate level. The computer operators receive much help and encouragement from interested peers who are waiting for turns, and a teacher is always available to guide learning. Math skills development is also reflected and refined in everyday features of the child's life and our students are encouraged to benefit from this. The children learn their telephone numbers and addresses, construct neighborhood maps of their homes, count the city blocks between home and school, and construct paper clocks during the year for time-telling activities. Participation in dramatic play about real life provides opportunities to use math skills often overlooked by adult observers. As the children set a dinner table with appropriate sets of eating utensils, sell tickets to an invented movie or arrange seats on a pretend bus, they are actively honing their math skills. We have found that language, including reading and writing is learned most easily when it is whole, functional and meaningful. Informally, children learn language through verbal exchanges with family, friends, classmates, teachers and classroom visitors. In school we provide an environment rich with the information and subsequent discussion that enables the expansion of a child's ability to 'express' his/her ideas, feelings or impressions through the use of language. By providing an enriched experience of language in the academic, social and creative lives of young children, we hope to support the use of language and literacy as a function of the child's earliest attempts to make sense of the world. From the moment they enter our school, the children at Mandell are encouraged to describe, to explain, to question, to converse and to use new vocabulary throughout the day. In the Pre-K I and Pre-K II classes Show and Tell is conducted on a daily basis, during which time the children are encouraged to contribute materials from their life experiences and interests outside of school. This is a consistently exciting and instructive activity for the class, rich in opportunities for every child to impart personal knowledge and to share ides in a secure and supportive environment of peers. In the Nursery class we use photo cards of various real life settings to encourage the use of expressive language. In a small group of 3 or 4 a teacher will ask each child to describe one of the cards to the other children. For the Pre-K I and Pre-K II children, group sessions, three times per week, are devoted to the introduction of letters and letter-sound relationships. As each letter of the alphabet is discussed and reviewed, visual and auditory recognition skills are refined. Over the course of the school year, some of the children will produce a picture dictionary. The pages contain the child's printed upper and lower case letter, his or her own illustrations of words that begin with the sound of each letter and the descriptive word printed by the teacher next to the drawing. After the books are completed, the children are encouraged to use their dictionaries as resource material for other 'homemade' booklets. Other children will read a chapter book together such as 'Little House in the Big Woods' and will be asked to discuss and then use the rich vocabulary of such a text. This group will also write a play at year-end depicting their interpretation of the story they have read. During morning independent play sessions, the children are encouraged to use the classroom computer word-processing program to write books on topics of their own choice. Children participating in this activity receive teacher guidance in constructing words phonetically (invented spelling) and in developing sentences. After each sentence is printed, the child is asked to illustrate his or her ideas, page by page, until the booklet is completed. All of these elements, progressing from Toddler through Pre-K I and Pre-K II, come together to form a program rich in the development of language and the technical tools necessary to carry Mandell children forward in their academic careers." (SOURCE: www.mandellschool.org)