Philosophy
At Kids Adventures Academy for Early Learning, we believe each child is capable of learning. Preschoolers learn though play and meaningful hands-on experiences in a safe, nurturing, and positive environment. Our well-trained and experienced teachers provide such an environment by encouraging and modeling kindness, open-minds, and embracing diversity. In addition, teachers differentiate instruction so that the individual needs of each child are met. KA Academy focuses on the whole child and emphasizes self-worth and respect. We teach our students to treat all living things with equal value and to respect each other unconditionally.
It is our aim to develop a strong partnership with our parents, families, teachers, and directors. We are always open to suggestions and ideas from our parents, and encourage parents to become involved in our program in many ways. We also believe it is important to develop a partnership between staff development and kindergarten teachers to better prepare our pre-kindergartners for the following year.
A well-rounded preschool program includes literacy & language arts, mathematics, science, social studies, and physical movement through deliberate and engaging activities. Children who are given the opportunity to play develop creative imaginations. They learn to share, problem-solve, negotiate and work together. Over time, they develop a concept for the rules of society and eventually become in charge of their own world. Each child will develop a strong sense of self, acquire positive self-esteem, and independence. A preschooler’s development is critical. They are forming beliefs and perspectives about their world, the environment, the people around them and most importantly, themselves. Kids Adventures Academy strives to help each child develop emotionally, physically, cognitively, creatively, socially, and intellectually to their very fullest potential.
Price
Kids Adventures accepts POC (Purchase of Child Care) and WPA (Working Parents Association) vouchers through the State of Maryland Child Care Subsidy Branch. Click here to begin the process.
Kids Adventures offers a 10% discount to siblings and all MCPS Teachers.
Kids Adventures Academy for Early Learning at
Takoma Park Elementary School
7511 Holly Ave
Takoma Park, MD 20912
Opened
November 2012
A Maryland EXCELS Program, Level 2
Hours of Operation
7:00am – 6:00pm
Monday – Friday
Plus: early release days, snow days, and holidays
Age of Children Served: 2-5 year olds
Licensed Capacity: 44
Our mission
Kids Adventures Academy for Early Learning is a leader in early childhood education, inspiring limitless potential in every child. It is an environment centered on developing kindness, self-worth, diversity, respect for others, and a dynamic learning experience. Our focus is to provide a stimulating and engaging atmosphere with caring, competent, and well-trained educators. Our program serves children and families from diverse backgrounds and abilities, and provides them with a safe, nurturing, and developmentally appropriate preschool experience.
Parent Philosophy
At Kids Adventures Academy, we extend a special, yearlong invitation to our parents to join us at school activities and events whenever possible. We want, need and value the involvement and support of our parents in their child’s education. We believe a warm, collaborative relationship with families leads to fostering development in all settings.
We believe parent-teacher communication is a vital priority to success of every child. We encourage parents to stay involved by volunteering to read to your child’s class, chaperone a field trip, checking their email and KA Academy’s photo site, attending parent-teacher conferences, reading our monthly newsletters and attending our monthly Family Fun Days. Parents can reach us at the center phone and by email.
Kindergarten Readiness and Our Pre-K Program
The Kids Adventures Pre-Kindergarten Program is dedicated to providing each child with a safe, active, and comfortable environment where he or she can excel as an individual. We consider that each child has different needs and we strive to create an environment where your child can acquire a variety of skills and interests. Our program is a balance of child exploration and teacher instruction, covering social-emotional, physical, self-care, mathematics, science, fine arts, and literacy, language, & writing development. Learning is enhanced through exploration of centers focused on the different content areas: home living, math/science, writing, manipulatives, reading nook, art, music, and listening. Physical development is cultivated through outdoor playtime which is included in the daily schedule.
Our pre-kindergarten program also focuses on kindergarten readiness through direct communication with MCPS kindergarten teachers and integration of literacy and math objectives based on the state curriculum. There are two themes per month (running every two weeks) and all activities and books tie into these themes.
Each week a different letter is introduced lessons include letter recognition, differentiation between upper and lower case, phonemic awareness, and identifying words in various texts and environmental print which begin with the letter. Later in the year, sight words will be introduced. Math lessons include graphing, sorting, counting, and number recognition.
Our three-year-old program
Our three-year-olds will learn to make personal choices to find success every day. They will strengthen the foundation for success in learning everyday life skills. Continuing to master social-emotional development, self-care, literacy, language/vocabulary development, and cultivation of mathematical and scientific reasoning will be our goal. We strive to ensure each child develops a love of learning that will carry them through their pre-k experience and the rest of their school days.
Our two-year-old program
At two years old your child is observing, imitating, absorbing, and gaining knowledge with each experience. Their drive to make personal decisions and become self-sufficient is very strong. To a two year old everything in life is a challenge. Kids Adventures provides a strong foundation for success in learning everyday life skills. We offer a variety of enriching themes and activities that are developmentally appropriate with a curriculum that focuses on social-emotional development, self-care, literacy, language/vocabulary development, and cultivation of mathematical and scientific reasoning.
Food services
We offer a light breakfast and two healthy snacks each day. Our light breakfast varies. We offer cereal, bagels with cream cheese, hot oatmeal, oatmeal bars, pancakes, boiled eggs, and yogurt. For morning and after noon snack we offer a fresh fruit or vegetable along with cheese or a dry snack. Snacks change daily.
Kids Adventures Academy offers a light breakfast from 7:15am to 8:30am for our early arrivers each morning. We also provide wholesome menu choices for daily morning snack (around 10:00am) and an afternoon snack (around 3:15pm). During meals and snacks, children have the choice of drinking water, milk and occasionally juice.
KA Academy food is prepared, served, and stored in accordance with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) guidelines.
Lunch
Parents and families of KA Academy have the option of providing a wholesome packed lunch or providing money for Takoma Park cafeteria lunch menu options. Families in need of assistance may qualify for free or reduce priced meals through the National School Lunch Program
Curriculum
Kids Adventures uses a nationally recognized, research-based curriculum in all of its classrooms:
Our Pre-K program uses The Houghton Mifflin Pre-Kindergarten Curriculum. It is an engaging, research-based curriculum that reflects what has been learned from early childhood studies and from informed practice.
The program incorporates the following ten principles:
Integrated Curriculum
Standards-Based Instruction
Age Appropriateness
Cultural and Linguistic Diversity
Balance of Exploration and Instruction
Oral Language Development
Focus on Literacy
Focus on Math
Social & Emotional Development
Family Involvement
Our early preschool program uses The Creative Curriculum. It is a forward-thinking, comprehensive, research-based and research-proven curriculum. It allows our preschool teachers to be the most effective, while still honoring their creativity and respecting their critical role in making learning exciting and relevant for every child.
daily schedule
“Our preschool program is designed to meet the needs of each and every child. No question goes unanswered and no teachable moment is missed. We work hand-in-hand with MCPS teachers to ensure Kindergarten readiness; while continuing to enrich the playful and imaginative minds of the children in our care.”