Program

Hey Diddle Diddle Day School and Little Diddle Preschool offer a consistent educational component to our full day program. Our experienced teachers follow an organized curriculum which offers age appropriate activities and topics starting in our Infant rooms. We build upon these experiences at every age bracket culminating in the Pre-Kindergarten class. Our educational philosophy is that children learn through play and experiences and we strive to provide the educational and nurturing environment conducive to healthy development. We celebrate graduation from our schools with a cap and gown ceremony when your child reaches the age to transition to Kindergarten and their first steps into formal education.

Our classroom environment is structured around a different learning theme each month in every classroom.  Art projects, play activities, and learning centers are structured around these monthly themes. Additionally, each month our teachers rotate the manipulatives available to our students to sustain curiosity and further represent the current topic of interest.

In each of our classrooms you will see the following areas represented in an age appropriate expression:

Creative Play: We use a variety of pretend play items including multicultural baby dolls, dress-up pieces, puppets, and home living items such as children’s keys, cell phones, tools. We incorporate items that will spark the imagination at play.

Music and Movement: Instruments, music streamed from the internet or the radio, and toys or equipment that initiate movement.

Literacy: Books and a soft area to explore them are present in addition to toys, and games that reinforce alphabet recognition, patterns and tracing.

Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM): Current educational trends suggest further exposure to these areas starting at the early childhood level is warranted. There is an absence of significant female representation in the sciences as a chosen career, and overall high school test scores as an indicator show a lack of general proficiency in the areas of the math and sciences. The recommendation from the Department of Education is early and repetitive exposure to STEM. Our school offers a learning centers in each classroom stocked with age appropriate materials promoting these fields. Our students are playing with magnet building, Legos, sorting fun items, stacking various objects, self-directed one to one correspondence activities such as peg boards and much more. We also incorporate electronic items from V-Tech, and tablets with learning applications.

Our staff members complete three informational progress reports for each child annually to help give you a clear picture of your child’s developmental growth. Additionally, each classroom communicates with you daily verbally, and electronically via our Bloomz communication app.

We are proud to celebrate our 25thyear of providing excellent care and educational foundations for the children in our area. Our goal is to make learning fun, and our methods have been proven effective by our graduates’ success in elementary school.

HEY DIDDLE DIDDLE/LITTLE DIDDLE SCHOOL BIRTHDAY PARTY POLICY

We love celebrating birthdays with your child! In an effort to keep all of our students as safe as possible, Hey Diddle Diddle/Little Diddle is making every effort to avoid contact with known anaphylactic allergens. We limit the snacks we provide to our students to only those allergen-free and free of cross contamination. We ask that you do the same by sending to school ONLY the snacks listed below to share with the whole group. If this policy is not followed, we will have to send the special treats back home with your child. Any of these snacks are special when served at school because it is out of our norm. The birthday experience is about sharing and the celebration of the child’s special day. Thank you for your consideration and support in keeping the children with food allergies safe from having a life-threatening allergic reaction at school. Further information about anaphylaxis can be found on the reverse side.

Food Items:

Philly Pretzel Factory soft pretzels (can be ordered in a letter or number shape!)

Water Ice

Fresh fruit

Vegetables

Yogurt sticks (the kids love to freeze these into frozen yogurt pops)

Original Oreo cookies

Vanilla Wafers

School Safe Brownie Bars or Cakes made by Treasure Mills (it’s a specific brand)

Cheese sticks

Non-Food Items:

Treat bags to send home

Face painter

Magician

Special plates or napkins

We thank you in advance for your continued effort in eliminating items containing nuts from home packed lunches. Because they are served to individuals and not on a group basis, the snacks in your child’s lunch do not need to be restricted to this list.

Please note: Food labels/ingredients may change over time, so it is always recommended that you read the label before purchasing snacks. Please read labels carefully to make sure that products are nut free. This included labels that read “May contain traces of peanuts/nuts”.