Jardin d'Enfants Rainbow Inc.

Our Philosophy
A child's journey of self-discovery begins with parents, expanding through extended family and friends to preschool. It is the primary goal of RAINBOW to provide a secure, caring environment for your child's introduction to group play and learning, and to make his or her preschool years as interesting, broadening and enjoyable as possible. Each child is treated as an individual, and a great deal of care is taken to meet individual needs, and individual needs within a group setting.

Through such programs as arts and crafts, French, drama, music, gymnastics, free play, and others, the full range of your child's early developmental needs is met. While, to a certain extent, structuring is essential to any effective program, RAINBOW places an essential importance on encouraging your child's initiative. To promote this, during free play, the children are encouraged to develop and carry out their own methods of play, with the supervising staff stepping into the situation only when arbitration or safety considerations are required.

Play is given a very important place at RAINBOW. It is the child's best tool in developing thinking and language, in communicating feelings, learning social skills, enhancing motor abilities and discovering and experimenting with his or her environment. Play leads to discovery, reasoning and thought. Play is a bridge to social relations, and leads to emotional equilibrium. Body awareness and spatial awareness develop primarily through movement, mime, drama, music, dance, and gymnastics. Our broadly based program adresses all facets of this development.

One of the characteristics of young children, which is a great aid to creativity, is their lack of pre-conceived ideas. Arts and crafts play a major role at RAINBOW toward advancing creative expression and fine motor skills (scissor work, pasting, etc...) on both individual and group projects. The unstructured "raw materials" (paint, clay, fabrics, etc...) offer a challenge to children who, through combining the materials with their ideas, can produce something uniquely their own - a true creation. Our music program uses the "Rhythm & Life" methods of Delcroze, as well as those of Kodaly. Working with percussion and voice, children advance their body language and rhythm; develop the foundations of sequencing, leading into math skills; and an appreciation of the joy and pleasure in the sounds of music and language.

Children attending RAINBOW range in ages from two to five years. Children participate in mixed-age groups for the gym and free play period, for outdoor play, the lunch program and special events, but for much of their morning, they work within their own age group. In this way, we strive to maximize the variety and nature of social interaction within the school, while maintaining the intimate and personal needs of the individual child.

Complementing RAINBOW's primary activities program, we have a broad range of "frills". We have a beautiful park linked to our facilities: we go to the ice rink, library, trips (with the help of our parents) to the post office, for example, and various parks and play areas, theatrical events and art galleries. RAINBOW celebrates a broad spectrum of multi-cultural holidays and festivals, such as Christmas, Hannukah, Chinese New Year, etc... We celebrate these days, not from a religious point of view, but rather as opportunities to enhance your child's understanding and awareness of the many different cultures and customs which fill our world.

We strongly believe that it is in the best interests of nourishing your child's healthy development, confidence, security and learning, that RAINBOW staff and parents can communicate easily and share observations and information. Throughout the year, there are newsletters and parent-teacher meetings. We welcome you to talk to us whenever you have a concern or a joy to share. You can request a meeting with Jacqueline and/or your child's group teacher whenever you feel the need.

Preparation for kindergarten is of great importance at RAINBOW. Through our well-established bilingual program: French and English language development, arts and crafts, movement, music, early writing skills, pre-math and reading readiness, the children who pass through our doors are prepared, with tender, loving care, to meet future challenges with confidence and assurance.