The program at Rockville Nursery School and Kindergarten is designed to provide for the total growth of a child within an environment in which children are encouraged to explore, pretend, create, express feelings, display emotion and experience joy.  As we bridge the gap between home and school, we guide children toward a good self-image while helping them to develop their skills.

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Our teachers strive to provide experiences that are relevant to a child’s age and social- emotiona­l growth, and intellectual needs.  Children are provided with activities and learning tasks that support the learning process by “hands-on” experiences. Ongoing brain research supports our belief that learning by doing results in long-term benefits.

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The staff provides guidance, assistance and the necessary materials to promote opportunities for appropriate experiences, in a pressure free environment, so that the child can explore and learn.  Thought comes from action, not from words. 

Children, therefore, learn best from concrete experience, from “doing,” rather than from “hearing about.”  Play (learning) is planned which emphasizes the process more than the product, fostering a sense of accomplishment and pride in every child.

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Teachers listen to what children are saying and respond appropriately.  We emphasize a verbal-cognitive approach to learning, in which the teacher models and supports constant language interaction between adult and child and between child and child.   Experience and research show us that the use of language is instrumental in children’s development of critical thinking (how to think) and problem-solving skills.

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Language use must be practiced many times in order for a child to become skillful.  In RNS&K’s classroom setting, we provide ongoing opportunities for your child to practice.  We repeat their thoughts, modeling correct grammar and new vocabulary.  We ask questions to encourage the child to express his or her thoughts.  We give your child time to answer.  We encourage and guide children in resolving conflict and in thinking through a problem and offering solutions.  We do all this to develop each child’s ability to know how to think.

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RNS&K believes that children have the right to experience trust without which learning cannot take place.  Children have the right to be given opportunities to be in control, to have friends, to feel safe and secure, to be able to change things, to feel welcomed and loved and to have fun.