Wintonbury Early Childhood Magnet School opened in the fall of 2009. We have eighteen preschool classrooms. The preschool day is from 8:40—2:20. Before and after school care is available for a fee.
The Classrooms
Wintonbury is designed specifically for young children and their families. The school building is divided into three pods with six classrooms in each, creating smaller communities within the larger school. Pods 1, 2 & 3 have six pre-k classrooms each. Classrooms are designed with science areas in each.
The playground is expansive and has three outdoor learning areas: a gardening area, an area for dramatic play (emphasizing language and literacy), and a playscape/ adventure space for climbing, swinging and riding tricycles.
A Science and Inquiry Focus
Wintonbury has a science and inquiry theme. As such, the school collaborates closely with the 4-H Education Center at Auer Farm, an educational resource located in Bloomfield. Each class makes 12 visits to the farm. There are ongoing links with agriculture throughout children’s learning. Families are connected to the theme through ongoing communication and through seasonal weekend family activities at the farm.
Curriculum
Wintonbury has goals for student learning based on Connecticut’s Preschool and Kindergarten Curriculum Frameworks. We use The Creative Curriculum® for Preschool and its companion assessment tool Teaching Strategies GOLD . Children’s progress toward goals is documented and shared with families. The facility enables the program to take advantage of recent advances in technology. This fosters the school’s culture of ongoing assessment, documentation and communication with families to optimize children’s learning. Based on the most current educational research and proven instructional strategies, the school focuses on enhancing young children’s vocabulary, self-regulation skills, early literacy and numeracy - all taught in the context of genuine relationships with students. The inquiry theme naturally supports skill development in children asking and answering their own questions through teacher guided discovery.