Our Difference

12 Reasons to Choose Hidden Valley

"Play gives children the chance to practice what they are learning."

- Mr. Rogers

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While we gather for songs and stories many times a day, most of our time is dedicated to free play. Our day is bursting with opportunities to explore, build, create, tinker, and experiment.

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Play

Preschoolers need to move! Twice a day, every day, our students explore and play outside. As Duluthians, we know there’s no bad weather, only inappropriate clothing, right? Only thunderstorms and below-zero windchills keep us inside. (On those days we still have obstacle courses, dance parties, plasma bikes, parachute games, and trampolines to keep us busy inside).

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Fresh Air

healthy food

& Allergies

We provide balanced, nutritious snacks twice a day. We are happy to accommodate food allergies and sensitivities. As members of the Bayfield Foods CSA, we enjoy guiding children’s exploration of food, healthy eating, and snack preparation through the seasons.

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Frequent and open communication with parents is vital for our program. We offer prompt responses to parent's questions and concerns.We provide daily picture updates and monthly email newsletters with ideas for games and songs at home. We hold conferences twice per year to discuss progress and goals with parents.

2

Communication

We model kindness, compassion, and respect for our students. We identify and celebrate their kind choices throughout the day. We help them solve conflicts calmly as they become increasingly empathetic, respectful, and helpful classmates.

3

Kindness

We support our students' social- emotional development with songs, games, and stories. We model kind actions, words, and strategies. We have a calm down area where students can go “reset” by themselves. The ability to regulate their own emotions, recognize emotions in others, and calmly problem solve is absolutely essential for Kindergarten and on into adulthood.

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emotional intelligence

weekly themes

We rotate learning tools and toys EVERY WEEK based on a different topic of study. The kids cannot wait to come each Monday morning and see what is set up in the school. This keeps things new and exciting while encouraging exploration and creativity.

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kindergarten readiness

When planning our program, we consulted with local Kindergarten teachers. So we focus on lowercase letters, which are the majority of what students will be writing and reading. We explore concepts and skills through stories, songs, games, writing/drawing, and play. We provide the supplies and inspiration for students for their own exploration and discovery. This builds a love of learning and curiosity that is vital for Kindergarten.

6

small setting

Our school doesn’t look like an ordinary school. It’s actually a 1935 Lakeside home that has been completely tailored to its preschool-sized inhabitants. With just 12 students per day, it’s the perfect size for us and creates a learning environment that’s simply warm and cozy.

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We love welcoming specialists to our school including our music teacher, Miss Rachel, yoga teachers, the zoomobile and our local fire fighters.

(Visits are currently postponed until COVID guidelines allow safe visits).

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specialists

We consult Eco-Healthy Child Care to ensure that our program is as healthy, safe, and green as possible by reducing children’s exposure to toxins. Our school uses only Earth friendly, perfume-free cleaning products and hand soaps.

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Eco-Healthy Child Care

We set our hours with busy, working families in mind. We are open Monday-Friday 7:00am-5:30pm.

We are conveniently located at 4409 London Road. (Yet our entrance is on 44th Avenue East which has much less traffic for safe pick-ups and drop-offs!)

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Hours and location