Preschool and Infant Center Program

Jane Uy, BS – Site Director
Adriana Uribe – Office Assistant
The Carousel Preschool and Infant Center have been in operation since 1984 and provide early childhood education and care for the Los Angeles airport local community. Carousel School serves children birth through 5 years old in a nurturing, stimulating, and family-centered environment where the cultures and special needs of children and families are embraced and supported. Our school recognizes children’s needs to learn basic academic skills, explore the world around them, achieve independent living and thinking skills, enjoy the learning experience, and become responsible citizens in an ever-changing world.

Our School program provides:

• a nurturing environment that stimulates children’s natural interest and curiosity,
• daily opportunities for success that help to strengthen children’s skills and self-esteem, and
• an atmosphere of freedom and flexibility where children can independently choose, initiate, and experiment with a wide array of activities.

Staff

The staff at Carousel School has many decades of early childhood care experience between them, and they are selected for their education and experience, and for their skills in working with children and families. Great care is taken in selecting staff members who relate well to children and families and who are sensitive to their needs.

Admission

Enrollment is open to all children six weeks through five years old, and applications for admission are processed on a rolling basis throughout the year. Since our enrollment is limited, early registration is encouraged. When the Preschool and Infant Center reach full enrollment, children are placed on a waiting list.

Immunizations

Included in the admission application packet, parents must provide a written immunization record from a clinic or doctor showing that all required immunizations have been received. State Law also requires the Mantoux test for tuberculosis (TB) for all children entering California schools for the first time.
We believe that parents should be familiar with the school and classroom teacher prior to the child starting classes at Carousel School. We encourage parents to visit our school at anytime. We are very proud to be such an important part of your family’s life.

Location

8333 Airport Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90045
Phone: (310) 216-6641
Fax: (310) 216-7465
Hours:
6:45 am – 5:30 pm, Monday through Friday

Reading Readiness

Children

Development of skills in auditory discrimination, understanding instructional language, oral language development, following verbal directions, general vocabulary, categorizing. Carousel also uses a variety of phonics programs.

Math Readiness
Manipulatives multi-sensory approach to understanding number concept and facts.

Language Arts
Development of positive experiences with language and literature; also development of correct speech patterns and communication skills.

Science
Introduction to child’s world of life and animals.

Social Science

Discovering a child’s expanding world; learning to appreciate friends who are different.

Music
Emphasis on hearing, moving, and singing to music; development of music appreciation.

Creative Arts
Development of creativity, pleasure and satisfaction at all levels; using all mediums and art forms.

Programs Pre-School and Infant Center Foreign Language

Carousel Preschool promotes the stimulation of the young minds to be more creative and to improve overall academic performance of a child. To take advantage of young children’s natural capacity, the curriculum of the school now includes foreign languages specifically Mandarin and Spanish to the 3 and 4 year old classes. A course designed for the children, whose young minds are still open to learning a language as a native speaker. We stimulate language immersion to enable students to pick up the new language in much the same way they picked up their primary language. It includes age appropriate context, games and actually relevant activities to help students enjoy their studies and remain highly motivated.

Child Development

Ages, Stages and the Rythms of Growth: A quick reference guide to patterns of behavior

Early Childhood

During the first 18 months of life, the infant has no real notion of reality. Parents can develop a strong bond with their infants by comforting and caring for them by answering their cries and attending to their needs.

One Month: Breathes and sleeps more regularly; opens eyes wide; has a preference for position; reacts positively to comforts and satisfactions and negatively to pain and denial.

Three Months: Marked by a lack of balance; when placed on stomach will kick and struggle fruitlessly and awkwardly. There may be a very great deal of crying especially in the evening. Responsive to caretakers

Four Months: Very responsive, smiles socially, behavior is smoothed out; goes to sleep more easily; eyes follow a moving object, hands reach out for a desired object – but cannot grasp it; coos, laughs aloud, and can smile back when smiled to.

Five Months to Six Months: Cries when mother leaves room – beginning to feel “stranger anxiety”; reaches for objects but may be unsuccessful in grasping them; cannot do things he wants to, but tries.

Seven Months: Prefers sitting position; wants to touch, and to be held standing and to bounce; must have something in hands, can reach out and grasp and bring to mouth; shifts from one hand to other, generally copes well.

Eight Months: New awareness makes for new sensitivity – can withdraw and even cry at sight of strangers (e.g., can tell the difference between the familiar and unfamiliar.). Tries to crawl and creep

Nine to Ten Months: Fine equilibrium. Socially well adjusted and extremely responsive, some respond to “bye-bye” and/or pat-a-cake. Can sit alone and even manipulate objects. Gets up on hands and knees; responds to gestures, facial expressions and sounds; vocalizes spontaneously and can initiate such simple syllables as “da da”.

Eleven Months: Can be “strange” with strangers, but serene and friendly with those he is familiar with. Efficiently creeps and gets around.

One Year: Rate of growth slows down. Can creep; cruise along some object of furniture; serene and self-confident; recognizes social approval; loves to have an audience; likes to play peek-a-boo and to be chased; may prefer to stand up while being fed; begins to separate from parent.

Fifteen Months: Can walk; strains at the leash with new-found abilities. Gets into everything and loves to throw; can ask for what he wants by vocalizing and pointing and can respond to a few key words and phrases. May be able to hold cup. Mood shifts; diversion is easy; easily entertained.

Eighteen Months: The 18 month old is extremely immature; understands more than is able to speak, but understanding is still very limited. Don’t expect a child this age to listen to your directions. If you want your toddler to move from wherever he/she is, the best way is to pick him up and carry him to where you want. Favorite word is “NO”, and favorite behavior is “NOW!” No concept of sharing or waiting.

Kindergarten Aims and Objectives

Your children want to learn. They need to be successful at what they do so they will feel confident enough to try new challenges and activities. Our kindergarten program will offer many learning experiences to further the social, emotional, mental, and physical development of your child. The pace of learning is determined by the child’s developmental level. A diagnostic/prescriptive approach is utilized for instruction.

Kindergarten will help your child:

• Learn to work, play, and share with other children, and to appreciate and respect other classmates by participating in group activities as a leader, observer, and contributor.
• Understand responsibility through learning how to follow directions and how to care for school materials and equipment.
• Progress through reading readiness skills in a sequential manner.
• Increase language skills by sharing experiences, retelling stories, participating in dramatic plays, and learning to listen and observe for details. Children develop concepts of language through concrete experiences in which they use all their senses – touching, smelling, hearing, listening, and seeing.
• Develop math concepts and skills through meaningful experiences with concrete objects, pictures, and the use of math symbols.
• Develop freedom of personal expression while experimenting with such materials as clay, paper, paint, scissors, paste, crayons, and tools.

For information about tuition, click here

For information about your child’s physical and social development, click here

Carousel Preschool and Infant Center Tuition Rates

Upon admissions all families are charged a $100 registration fee for processing the child’s application. Parents who want the Carousel School staff to assist their child in potty training, will be charged a $55 toileting fee monthly. The following shows the schedule of monthly tuition rates for 2009:

2009 Monthly Tuition Rates

Specially Designed Physical Education

John Bibb, B.A.- Coach

Carousel’s Specially Designed Physical Education program incorporates age appropriate games, activities, and sports for our students, daily. Our on-site coach provides individual and group activities throughout the day for the students. These games, activities, and sports are designed to improve the students’ hand/eye coordination, large and small muscle groups, motor skills, and socializations. To strengthen the students skills in interacting appropriately with peers, our P.E. class provides the students with an opportunity to learn social skills, such as playing together, taking turns, and participating in new games. Our specially designed class works with the students’ individual capabilities and allows them to feel successful outside of the classroom. Our students strengthen their self-confidence as they continue to participate in new activities. Carousel staff has helped to introduce special events to our program such as our school-wide Carousel Olympics, Carousel Car Wash, and even participating in outside community events, such as local high school football games.

Transportation Program

Transportation

Carousel’s door-to-door transportation services provide round-trip transportation for students enrolled at our school. We transport students within a 25-mile radius of Carousel School, which includes the greater Los Angeles areas stretching from Malibu to the South Bay Area. All of our drivers have a B-Class driver’s license, are certified in CPR and First Aid, and travel with an assistant who provides direct student monitoring. All drivers have monthly in-service trainings about driving and passenger safety conducted by a certified School Bus Safety instructor from Great American Insurance Company. Each van is equipped with mobile phones with hands-free headsets, and emergency supplies. For any questions regarding transportation, please contact Will Rivas, Director of Transportation, at (310) 645-9222 x 110.

Fine Arts Program

All Carousel School classes participate in their own individualized weekly Fine Arts and Dance classes. These programs offer our students a variety of opportunities to express themselves through movement and design. Using art and dance, this program transforms the classroom environment into a positive and reinforcing sensory experience. Our students are exposed to different rhythms, textures, tools, and imagery to help them expand their vision. As a part of the creative process, our children have the opportunity to express themselves without feeling self-conscious.