Preschool Program
Three- and Four-Year-Olds
Where three- and four-year-olds’ imagination expands, confidence grows, and young thinkers begin shaping their world.
Preschoolers ask big questions and stay with them. The Preschool Program at Rise Above gives children the time, materials, and adult partnership to follow an idea all the way through, which is how children this age build confidence, problem-solving skills, and real friendships.
Relationships at the Center of Learning
Preschoolers learn best when they feel known. Our educators build warm, trusting relationships so children feel secure enough to attempt something difficult in front of other people. Through collaborative play and shared projects, children practice empathy, negotiation, and the give-and-take that makes a classroom community work.
The Hundred Languages of Children
Our classroom draws on the Reggio Emilia approach and the Project Approach, and on Reggio’s principle of the Hundred Languages: children express what they know through art, movement, building, storytelling, dramatic play, and real-world investigation. A child who cannot yet write an explanation can build one, draw one, or act one out, so every child has a way to show what they understand.
Children Lead, Educators Partner
Children choose their materials, set the direction of their investigations, and decide when a piece of work is finished. Every child here is a capable thinker with their own voice, so educators work as co-learners: asking questions alongside children, documenting their thinking, and offering the next material or idea at the moment it becomes useful. This is how a project deepens over days and weeks.
Growing Independence and Confidence
Preschoolers take on genuine responsibility: caring for classroom materials, helping with daily routines, working through disagreements with support, and making choices about their own time. Each builds resilience and the belief that their decisions matter.
Outdoors Every Day
Daily outdoor experiences extend the classroom. Children observe how the same space changes across seasons, work with natural materials, and take on physical challenges that build coordination and judgment about what they can safely do.
Partnership With Your Family
Shared documentation shows you what your child is investigating and how their thinking is developing. Regular communication keeps you and your child’s educators working from the same picture of how they’re growing and how ready they are for Pre-K.
Visit the Preschool Room
Tours are by appointment. Come see a project in progress and ask how learning works here without worksheets.