Cathy Kahn is the owner of Harmony Preschool and I am grateful that she took the time to answer our questions! I hope this is helpful in your search for a preschool.
Harmony Preschool – Class Details
Question: Please give us an overview of the classes that you offer including ages, days of the week, and time of day.
Answer: Harmony Preschool was founded in 1981 and has been serving Medina County for 40 years!! Harmony Preschool has classes for students that are ages three, four, and five years of age. Students must be that age by September 30th of the year they are enrolling. We are a family-owned part-time private preschool that has classes Monday- Friday, September to May.
We have a morning session from 9:00 am-11:30 am and an afternoon session from 12:30pm-3:00pm. We offer 2 and 3 days a week for our three year old friends, 2, 3 or 4 days a week for our four year old friends and 5 days a week for our five year old friends.
Specific details can be found on our website: https://www.harmonypreschoolltd.org/
Question: How many teachers and students are in one class?
Answer: Harmony preschool has classes that are below the State of Ohio allowed class ratio size. Our class sizes are as follows:
- Three-year-old ratio: 1 teacher to 8 students
- Four-year-old ratio: 1 teacher to 12 students
- Five-year-old ratio 1 teacher to 12 students
Question: Do children need to be fully potty trained?
Answer: Yes all our students need to be potty trained
Harmony Preschool – Education, Learning Styles, & Daily Schedules
Question: How much time are the children sitting at desks versus moving and learning through activities?
Answer: We follow a themed based curriculum that covers cognitive thinking skills, gross and fine motor skills, social interaction, self-control, arts-crafts, movement education, drama, classification, language development, alphabet, numbers, colors, shapes, math concepts, science, music and literature. Our students spend most of their time actively learning through play by participating in theme based centers and activities. No matter what age group your student is in they will receive individual one on one time with their teacher every day. This allows the teacher to address the specific needs of each student in their class.
Question: Please give us an example of a daily class schedule and/or link to a resource on your website that details this.
Answer:
Arrival/Attendance
Hand Washing/Bathroom
Circle Time/Lesson of the Day/ Calendar/Weather
Review of Letters/Numbers/Shapes Colors
Creative Learning Centers/One on One Instruction
Art Socialization, Speech and Language Development, Role Playing
Cleanup
Large Muscle Activities/ Body Movement/ Music session
Dramatic Play/Choice Activities
Hand washing Dismissal
Question: Do the teachers have degrees/licenses/certifications in Early Childhood Education?
Answer: All of our teachers have four year degrees and some have their Masters Degree. In addition our teachers participate in yearly early childhood training provided by the State of Ohio. All our staff is trained in CPR, First Aid, Communicable Disease and Child Abuse Recognition. Our staff has been professionally trained to ensure opportunities for the development of Ohio’s Early Learning Content Standards and S.T.E.A.M: Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math.
Harmony – Safety, Discipline, & Health
Question: How do you monitor/control who is coming into the building while students are there?
Answer: The doors of Harmony Preschool are locked at all times. Visitors must ring the doorbell to be let into the building. The safety of every student is our top priority. We have a Dismissal Policy that parents and teachers must follow. Students will never be released to anyone who does not meet the protocol of our unique procedure.
Question: What is your school’s approach to discipline should it be needed?
Answer: The goal of Harmony’s discipline policy is to encourage your child to use self-control and develop a sense of responsibility for their own behavior. We also strive to teach your child to respect other people and maintain a positive self-image. We use positive reinforcement and redirection to avoid discipline problems. Students are taught classroom rules and schedules in order to set clear behavior expectations. All of our expectations will be kept within developmentally appropriate guidelines. If redirection and verbal reminders are not solving a behavior issue, a child may be asked to sit for a short period of time (one minute per age group) to give the child a chance to regain control if they are having a difficult time. If a child is hurting another child or damaging property, the teacher will document the behavior and the parent will be notified. If a child has frequent problems, a positive behavior management plan may need to be developed.
Question: What happens if there is a COVID-19 outbreak?
Answer: We have been extremely fortunate that Harmony has not had a positive test among our staff or students to date. We developed school specific Pandemic Procedures and Policies which follow all the State of Ohio best practices and the ODJFS transitional rules for this pandemic. We received a grant from the Medina County Commissioners which we have used to hire a COVID Coordinator who cleans constantly and oversees our pandemic policies and procedures. Should we have a positive test occur we would follow the recommendation given by the Medina County Health Department.
Question: Are students required to wear masks?
Answer: By law in the State of Ohio students age 2-5 (5 year olds not registered in kindergarten) are not required to wear masks. Staff must wear a mask at all times around students and we do have several parents that choose to send their students with a mask.
Harmony – Registration Information
Question: When is the deadline for registration? How do parents register their children?
Answer: Registration for the community begins Monday. February 1. Classes stay open until they fill up. To keep our staff and students safe we are offering after-hours in-person tours. You may call the office at 330-273-3535 to schedule. We also have a Virtual Tour and Open House on our website: https://www.harmonypreschoolltd.org/
We would love to have you join the Harmony Family!!
