The mission of Meadville Cooperative Preschool is to provide a quality, nurturing environment in which to foster a child’s natural ability to learn and to grow; physically, socially and emotionally. We do this by encouraging each child to think and explore their environment through the use of language, social integration and intellectual stimulation.

Originally developed as an outgrowth of the Allegheny College Preschool Center, Meadville Cooperative Preschool has been administered by the parents of preschool students since 1961. It is licensed by the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services and is accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) with a STAR 4 rating from Keystone STARS.

We are an independent, non-profit, non-discriminatory, non-sectarian organization. Our preschool depends on tuition and the proceeds from fund-raising activities for our income.

We’ve also won the Reader’s Choice Award for 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021!

 

PHILOSOPHY

The teaching staff at Meadville Cooperative Preschool believes that play is a child’s work. Children play to grow, to learn, to experience and to make sense of the world about them. Children learn through play by using all of their senses to interact with materials and persons in their environment.

Children learn by doing, but all children do not learn in exactly the same way or at the same age. Preschool offers children a choice of whom to work and play with: children of the same ages, children of different ages and developmental stages, and children of different abilities. These developmental variations provide a foundation of diverse learning encounters.

Preschool offers a joyful learning experience before starting on the road to “formal” schooling. Meadville Cooperative Preschool’s early childhood curriculum is a developmentally appropriate program that recognizes both age and individual appropriateness. The Preschool’s goals are to help the children enrolled in the program:

• to develop a good self-image,
• to develop independence and responsibility,
• to develop resourcefulness and self-reliance,
• to develop decision making and problem solving skills,
• to discover a sense of pleasure in learning and discovery,
• to develop language skills,
• to develop cooperative, positive relationships with others,
• to function successfully within a structured setting,
• to become aware of other children and their feelings and
• to develop trust and respect.

These key early childhood curriculum goals are accomplished through children’s play.