Our Programs

Our daily programs offered at The Canaan Ridge School for Nursery, Pre-K and K-1-2 include Science, Music, Art and Crafts, Physical Education and Academics.

Science

Canaan Ridge's science program consists of hands-on, inquiry-based programs: Workshops, Explore the Excitement of Science Ourselves, Our Earth and Our Universe. Each is a 10-week session. Units of Animal life, plant life, sea life, discovering the world through the microscope and age-appropriate science experiments are included. In the Spring, the children enjoy growing their own plants from seed in our special greenhouse. The Private Eye is another exciting program for the children. It is the wonder of looking closely at the world through the Loupe magnifying lens. A natural curiosity evolves from exploring their environment in this manner. Thinking skills and creativity are accelerated.

Physical Education

Our program consists of daily exercise routines for all ages: balance beams, tumbling mat, stretching and dance routines, parachute play, Chinese ribbon sticks, rhythm hoops and playing team games. We incorporate the use of the Skillastics Sports and Fitness Program. Our sports field is used by the Pre-K and K-1-2 children for team sports, including soccer, T-ball, kickball, relay races and calisthenics. The entire school has yoga on Friday afternoons before dismissal.

Music

Music is an integral part of our school. All classes play background music continually during their sessions. We find that music has a calming influence on the children and creates a love of music forever. Our daily music program consists of music appreciation, instruments of the orchestra, and learning about musical terminology, rhythm, tone and timing. There is daily group singing with the guitar and digital piano, dancing, tone matching with Montessori bells, a glockenspiel band (for our multi-age class), and recorder (for 1st-2nd grades) and our little "Schroeder" piano group and introduction to the beautiful sounds of the harp. Nursery rhymes and poetry are put to musical expressions. Children are shown how to make their own musical instruments. Music CDs of the children singing are produced at the school during Holiday time and at the end of the school year. Our annual Music Revue is a well anticipated event which takes place in May with all children performing. We feel that our gift of music to our children will be enjoyed throughout their lifetime.

Arts and Crafts

Our daily Arts and Crafts program includes painting, pasting, clay work pottery with our kiln, puppetry, woodworking, experimenting with a variety of art media and bringing story time characters to life through creative art projects. Children go on nature walks creating designs in nature with stones, rocks and sand. Our older children learn all about famous artists through the “Meet the Masters” program, comprised of matching cards and small-scaled art reproductions as well as short movies on the artist's lives. Trips to New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art and local galleries help to expand the children’s enthusiasm for art by showing them paintings on a grand scale.

Weekly Programs

We offer several weekly programs for our multi-age class (K-1-2) including Chess, French, Mandarin, and Drama.

Chess classes given by Alex Eydelman.

Alex was the 1995 New England Chess Champion and has been conducting chess classes for the past 15 years in both public and private schools in Fairfield and Westchester.

Yoga Classes given by Michele Smallidge - M.A., Ed.M., R.D.

Michele is a registered dietitian with a Masters in Nutrition Education and a Masters in Exercise Physiology. Her knowledge of the cardiovascular system and exercise helps her to focus the children on breathing, stretching, strengthening, coordination and balance for the health of their body. In addition to the physical aspect, the children's yoga class emphasizes body awareness and relaxation.

French classes given by Kimberly Fox.

Franc-0-Fun French for Children, founded by Kimberly in 1997, is a gentle and creative program which uses fairytale musical theatre, sign language, fingerplay, original songs and games to teach French. Going way beyond just teaching colors and numbers, children embrace stories rich in vocabulary, music and expressions with high frequency that children can use immediately. Target vocabulary is very carefully crafted so that children are exposed repeatedly to build retention and comprehension. Madame Fox teaches three different groups of children each week at Canaan Ridge between the ages of 3 and 6. Bravo les enfants!

Mandarin classes given by The Chinese Language School of Connecticut.

The Chinese Language School of Connecticut is a non-profit organization dedicated to teaching Mandarin Chinese as a second language to children.

Drama classes given by The Canaan Ridge Teachers.

After School Programs

Several after-school programs (3:00pm-4:00pm) are offered each year in 6 to 10 week sessions.

Ballet with Magic Dance from Greenwich, CT:

Science Club with our teachers:

Baking with our teachers:

Seasonal Sports with our teachers:

and Etiquette with our teachers:

Yearly Schedule

In the beginning of each school year, a theme is chosen (Native American, Africa, the rainforests, sea life, space…). This theme is carried out into all academic areas including math lessons, writing and into our music and art programs. All teachers integrate the theme into their programs and lesson plans. Canvases are spread throughout the hallway depicting each theme with the children's photos as part of the mural.

The Canaan Ridge School has been an official member of Jane Goodall’s "Roots & Shoots" program since 2005. This year, each class in our school is taking on a monthly project involving:

• Diversity of cultures
• Protection of the environment
• Care of animals

As the year continues we will begin our "culture" theme, which includes learning about the traditions of cultures around the world. This type of learning environment lends to our continued interest in the preservation, love and health of the world around us.

From the month of January on through April, all children enjoy our International Program. Each week brings another country and its culture, customs, crafts, music, language and foods. International lunches go along with each country studied.

April ends our International Program with a Mexican Fiesta and Hawaiian Luau and in May all the children enjoy putting on the Annual Canaan Ridge Revue, filled with the music and dance. Our annual Music Revue is a well anticipated event with all the children performing.