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Our Curriculum
We believe in developing the whole child while respecting their right to just be a kid!
Our preschool focuses on what young children really need:
a little more dirt, a growth mindset,
appropriate risks, free play, and
emphasis on social-emotional skills
while still providing a
balanced curriculum.
A Little More Dirt!
Large Natural Playscapes
More Outdoor Time
Play in the Rain
Mother Nature Beats Technology
It is proven that children who spend more time outside have enhanced mental capacities, greater motor control, enhanced imaginations, and superior creativity. Magnolia Preparatory Academy has over 3,000 square feet of natural playscapes and outdoor learning spaces that focus on creating settings to enable the type of play most important to children: social play and constructive play. Our natural playscapes encourage our students to experience the smells, textures, and wonders of the natural world. Children enrolled in our program will get dirty, stay active, and be inspired by nature every day!
A little more dirt means a little more MUD! We strongly believe that there is no such thing as bad weather, but rather bad clothes! Our students will experience all aspects of mother nature, including the various weather conditions. Our students do not shy from rain and the rare snow flurry! In fact, our facility provides all of our children with the proper gear to enjoy all elements of weather and create the ever-popular Mud Pies!
More dirt also means LESS TECHNOLOGY! Magnolia Preparatory Academy classrooms are technology-free. We want our students to realize that the REAL world is much more exciting than the virtual world. Our students will focus on building relationships and learn through hands-on exploration as opposed to watching videos on smart devices.
Growth Mindset
Our program moves from the typical educational focus of performance praise to process praise. We want all children, no matter what age or stage of development, to feel successful and to make progress when presented with challenges. Our students gain the confidence needed to believe that they are capable of achieving what they want if they put in the time and effort to get there. We give children the time and space to try, fail, and fix challenges. Our classrooms and playscapes provide open-ended play and encourage healthy risk-taking to enhance each child’s independence and confidence in their abilities.
Appropriate Risks
Children of all ages need to become aware of their own capabilities and limits. By providing our students with a safe environment to take risks, we are strengthening their confidence and teaching valuable life skills. Activities like using real woodworking tools, jumping off boulders, and balancing on tree stumps help children understand natural consequences to action while increasing self-regulation.
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Even our tiniest of learners are given a chance to take risks. Mealtime practices are completed using real appliances and glassware. Children are empowered by the trust given to them by teachers to use “real” items as opposed to dull, non-breakable items. We want children to know they are capable of assessing risk situations and making judgments to keep themselves safe.
Free Play
Our preschool offers unstructured, child-initiated play in both the indoor and outdoor learning environments. Our natural outdoor playscapes are full of loose parts to encourage children of all ages to use their imaginations to create their own adventures. Our program promotes curiosity while providing the opportunity for unguided exploration with minimal intrusion from our teachers.
Free play and exploration are the means by which young children learn to solve their own problems, control their own lives, develop their own interests, and become competent in pursuit of their own interests.
Emphasis on
Social-Emotional Skills
Perhaps one of the greatest predictors of academic success is a child’s social-emotional health. As caretakers and educators, we strive to help children understand and manage their emotions, feel and show empathy for others, establish healthy relationships, set positive goals, and make responsible decisions. Our entire staff, from the Infant Room to the Elementary Age classroom, practice the evidence-based method of Conscious Discipline.
Conscious Discipline starts with LOVE. From the moment your child enters our school, they will feel like part of our family. The first goal of each of our teachers is to establish a strong trusting relationship with each child.
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With our guidance, children learn how to name their emotions, regulate them, and then solve problems independently and with the help of others. Being able to regulate one’s emotions and behaviors gives children the ability to concentrate on more academic, teacher-led instruction.
Our social-emotional program is not detached from other components of our program but rather built into all aspects of our day.
Balanced Curriculum
Magnolia Preparatory Academy is aware of the competitiveness of our local independent school districts. While we focus on social-emotional development and open-ended experiences, we do recognize the importance of teacher-led instruction in Language Arts, Mathematics, and Science as well. Frog Street curriculum is used in our Infant through Pre-Kindergarten classrooms. This comprehensive, research-based curriculum integrates instruction across developmental domains and aligns with the Texas Essential and Knowledge Skills (TEKS) that define the state’s standards for education. Frog Street was adopted as the curriculum of choice for Katy ISD preschool programs and thus drives our learning instruction so that our graduates will be more than ready for their transition into Elementary School!
