My two children have been attending Building Blocks for about a month now, and we all really love it. Even though it's a new preschool in town, the director Mandy is not new to teaching or running preschools, as she has another location in the city. Her experience is evident from how she has set up the school to how she interacts with the children.
My 2 and 4 year old boys have had no issues transitioning to this school. They are always excited to go and happy when they talk about what they did at school. I love that Mandy does a lot with nature. In just the past few weeks, they have studied ants and spiders. She took them out on a rainy day to look for worms, and they are currently observing caterpillars. My boys are there for half day only, and they get about an hour of outdoor time each day. (I believe the full day children get another hour of outdoor time in the afternoons as well.)
Mandy has set up her space well to accommodate the needs of the varying ages, 2 - 5. She has 2 different rooms for exploration/play time, a separate area for projects and snack, and a third indoor playroom for when the weather is too rough to get outside. She also has a large playground area and a big field for the children to run around in.
One thing I appreciate is that Mandy makes things so much easier on the parents. They may all be little things, but they really make a difference. She provides the morning snack (and sometimes the children help cook it!), she allows you to keep your children's backup clothes, water bottle, boots, etc. at the school so that there isn't much you need to think about when packing up a bag for the day. She is also flexible. She has allowed me to drop off my boys an hour early for me to get to an appointment, and she has allowed them to come on their off-days during a week that I needed more drop-off time.
At the end of each day, Mandy sends a detailed report that includes what the boys ate and how much, potty information, special activities they were involved in, items they played with, stories that were read to them, and any other general comments that were pertinent for the day. She also has the confidence to offer a live nanny cam so you can "pop in" and check and see how things are going while you are away.
We are very happy at Building Blocks and would encourage anyone looking for a preschool in New Paltz to give Mandy a call/email and set up a tour. read more
