Our Programs

Albany Preschool is a parent cooperative. A Board of Directors composed of current parents, along with the Executive Director and teachers, administers the school. The Board hires the professional staff to develop and supervise the preschool programs, to be in charge of the daily operation of the school, and to supervise the ongoing training of parents in early childhood development.

We admit children from age three through kindergarten age. We are licensed to have 24 children in the classroom at one time, and generally enroll that number each day. We offer a Morning Program with mandatory parent classroom participation, an Afternoon Program with voluntary parent classroom participation, and a Summer Program, without parent participation.

The school is open Monday through Friday, from 9 AM to 4:30 PM, with an optional extended care program from 4:30-5:30pm to be introduced in 2017-2018 school year. This section details the options of programs and schedules within that timeframe. Most children attend either AM or PM, although each year a few children do stay all day for a few days of the week. The only difference in the all-day schedule is that the all-day children eat a lunch from home at school and rest or play inside from 12:30 to 1 PM.

Our school year typically begins in early September and ends in mid-June. Our calendar closely follows the Albany Unified School District calendar for holidays and staff development days.

Morning Parent Participation Program (AM)
The Morning Program runs from 9:00 am to 12:30 pm, five days a week. The program is run by the AM Director, 1 teacher, and 4 participating parents.

Parents whose children attend the morning program five days a week must participate once a week. Parents whose children attend school three days a week participate every other week.

In the morning program, children play and participate in various activities — including music, plays, games, dress ups, cooking, art projects, sand play, bikes, and stories.

AM Program Schedule

9am–12:30pm

8:45–9:00 Parent Participation Meeting

9:00 Children arrive

9:05-9:20 Circle Time

9:20-11:00 Choice of areas and planned activities

9:40-11:00 Snack table is open

11:30-11:40 Children and participators clean up

11:40-11:55 Story and small group time

11:55 – 12:15 Lunch

12:15-12:30 Circle Time and dismissal of children.

12:30 – 12:40 Post-participation meeting

12:30-1:00 North Yard is open to families (both programs) for parent-supervised play

12:30-1:00 Rest time for all-day children

Afternoon Program (PM)

The Afternoon Program is run by the PM Director and 2 teachers. The Afternoon Program is also a full preschool program offering a variety of activities including music, plays, games, dress up, cooking, art projects, sand play, bikes, and stories.

PM Program Schedule
1:00 – 4:30pm

1:00 Children arrive

1:05-1:20 Circle time

1:20-3:45 Choice of areas and planned activities

2:30-3:15 Snack table open

3:45–4:00 Clean up time

4:00-4:15 Small group time, when possible

4:10–4:30 Circle time and dismissal of children

4:30-5:00 North Yard is open to families (both programs) for parent-supervised play

Optional Extended Care Program
4:30-5:30pm