Preschool Haven
Nurturing the Growth of the Whole Child
Dr. Fantaousakis is a developmental psychologist and follows a holistic pedagogical approach that attends to the growing child’s needs in the physical, emotional, social, and intellectual domains.
Dr. Fantaousakis emphasizes pressure-free classroom zones of learning and growth that motivate children to interact spontaneously, creatively, and constructively with peers and adults.
Priorities of the Preschool Haven Curriculum
Emotional Literacy and Compassionate Communication:
Self-awareness, social-awareness, empathy, and emotional intelligence in daily action.
Academic Literacy as a Social Practice:
Make conceptual forms of communication easily accessible and socially relevant (letters, numbers, shapes, colors, reading, writing, etc.)
Learning Discovery Projects and Critical Thinking:
Group exploration of nature, talk about nature, gather knowledge from nature, and mindfully connecting with nature.
Group discovery of evidence-based shared knowledge, use it, integrate it, and expand on it to make sense of the world and themselves in it.
Exploration of Nature: Sea shells, snowflakes, seed-pods, plants, flowers, butterflies.
Discovery of Growth Sequence: Egg, caterpillar, larva, chrysalis, butterfly/Seed, sprout, grain flour, bread
Broad Age-Appropriate and Socially Relevant Goals
1. Organize fun child-centered and pressure-free environments that are nurturing and safe.
2. Provide health-awareness experiences and activities for fine and gross motor skills.
3. Encourage child-initiatives for self-discovery, creativity, and problem-solving skills.
4. Promote voluntary collaboration to make play, learning, and creative thinking enjoyable.
5. Cultivate awareness of self and others, kind actions, and compassionate communication.
6. Facilitate exploration of socially shared knowledge and its appropriate use.
7. Implement daily procedures and routines to foster active attention and concentration.