Exploring snowmen in the 4’s & 5’s class has brought winter to the classroom. We made banana snowmen for our snack, a class paper snowman using loose parts, and snowman […]

We are welcoming the New Year with our firework art. Outside on the playground, we are playing, raking, and jumping in the leaves. Nature has provided us with an opportunity to enjoy […]

Arriving at school in pajamas and enjoying hot chocolate and cookies—the children were so surprised to find snow falling on their playground. We also enjoyed the Hanukkah celebration by lighting […]

The classes have been busy baking, creating art, working in their gingerbread bakeries, and enjoying all the smells and tastes of the Holiday season. 

Ms. Julie’s classes have new pets—superworms! The children are observing their life cycle up close. The superworms are not only eating their oatmeal but also enjoying pieces of watermelon, providing […]

In honor of Thanksgiving, all our students made butter for their families’ Thanksgiving feasts. We began with room-temperature whipping cream. We used an old butter churn, a new butter churn, and we […]

We have been learning all about apples. The children peeled them, tasted different varieties, and made individual apple pies. Yum! As we celebrate Native American Heritage Month, we began by exploring maize, […]

Our oldest classes visited Central Market. Each pair of students brought their list of vegetables for making our soup. The employees gave the students a tour of the various food sections as […]

The sand was just perfect for building—a gift from the rain over the weekend. The children from the 3’s & 4’s class worked together planning, and with a bit of help […]

Today, the 4’s & 5’s class listened to the story of Pumpkin Jack by Will Hubbell. After the story, we gathered around our pumpkin to discuss its parts and decide if […]

“Be Nice to Spiders” morning at the Co-op. Our parent, Dr. Hands, brought his many live spiders for the students to see and learn about. The children had so many questions: How long […]

The Northaven Co-op enjoyed a visit from our mascot, Hedgy the hedgehog. We learned that hedgehogs are nocturnal, forage for insects, and hibernate in the winter. Hedgehogs have a soft belly, […]

The Co-op students are exploring life on the farm. The 4’s & 5’s and the Young 3’s are especially fond of the pigs. The Young 2’s and 2’s & 3’s enjoy […]

It was Humpty Dumpty day in Fab Friday! The engineers and scientists experimented with putting a raw brown and white egg in vinegar to see what would happen. Could they […]

The Northaven Hedgehogs went to meet the librarian at the Preston Royal Library. We prepared for our trip by reading the books pictured below. We have been learning about the parts […]

We wish our families who are celebrating Rosh Hashanah a new year of happiness. The 4’s & 5’s learned about the traditions for celebrating the new year by listening to stories, sounding […]

Our scientists kicked off the first Fab Friday class of the year by learning how materials absorb and repel. Each week, Ms. Suzanne and her assistant, Ms. Mel, prepare wonderful […]

The Co-op hallway is filled with the art created by our students. They are exploring and discovering the use of different mediums for self-expression. As classes, they shared their ideas […]

Our mascot, Hedgy, has been waiting to greet everyone! We are so happy to welcome students to our school — our returning families and our new families. We are proud that […]

At the end of the year, the 3’s & 4’s celebrate with a barefoot day. The children try to pick up objects with their toes. After listening to One Duck […]

Our last field trip of the year was to the Dallas Zoo. The children fed the giraffes, climbed the statues, and had a bird’s eye view of the lioness with the […]

We are learning about the weather. What do clouds do, and what are the different kinds? We made a cloud in our jar. If we blow into a straw to explore wind, […]

Today, we celebrated Earth Day in our classes. We took a walk to pick up litter and participated in an experiment to purify dirty water. We watercolored coffee filters in […]

This week was all about eggs. We read science books about eggs, and we looked at quail eggs and chicken eggs of different colors. When we cracked open our quail egg, […]

Spring is here, and we are busy planting in our children’s garden. After listening to the award-winning book Tops and Bottoms, we rolled up our sleeves and got to work. The children […]

The Young 2’s and 2’s & 3’s are busy exploring worms in their playground. This is truly “worm weather,” and we love it!

The 3’s & 4’s are exploring foods during restaurant week in their class. Puzzles, writing, counting fruits, and dramatic play provide the children with hands-on experience. The book Tony Baroni […]

The youngest classes are learning all about transportation. The Young 3’s made paper traffic lights and had fun using melon scoops to create fruit traffic lights. The Young 2’s and 2’s […]

The Young 2’s and 2’s & 3’s are fingerpainting, catching the wind with their windmills, popping bubble wrap, and experimenting with vinegar. Perfect opportunities to enjoy learning through play alongside […]

The Young 4’s had a very toothy week. It started by learning about dentists — who they are and what they do. In process art, the children crafted toothbrushes using […]

The Young 4’s, using tape, scissors, and crayons, worked with boxes and transformed them into an elephant, a dragon, a toy chest, and a cave. Box books were found throughout the […]

A new day, a new field trip! Today, we had the exciting opportunity to visit the Dallas Black Dance Theater. Before the performance, Trey Hoobler, the dad of one of […]

What a wonderful production at the Dallas Children’s Theater today. Our students were thrilled to see Pete the Cat. They sang all the way back to school after seeing this high-energy show.

Please enjoy a few impressions from our wonderful book fair and storytime event at Interabang Books. A heartfelt Thank You to the entire team at Interabang Books for your generosity […]

The students enjoy celebrating the Lunar New Year — the Year of the Snake. We made fried rice and shared our fortune cookies. Every student went home with a beautiful red envelope […]

The oldest classes spent this week learning about penguins. The students are keenly interested in the Arctic world. We painted with watercolors on frozen ice, we took our penguins skating on […]

This week, the entire school enjoyed the indoor skating rink built by two of our amazing teachers, Ms. Suzanne and Ms. Julie. The rink even features a hot cocoa stand for […]

The 4’s & 5’s class enjoyed Lois Ehlert’s book Snowballs. Together as a class, they gathered loose parts to create a snowman stimulated by the reading of the book. The students […]

Welcome January! We are exploring the season of winter at the Co-op. Our children are very excited to have a real snow day today. We love the picture of a snowman built […]

At the Co-op, we love celebrating various traditions during the holiday season. We built gingerbread houses, lit the menorah and tasted latkes, made luminaries for Las Posadas, and had a pajama […]

Making gingerbread houses is a favorite for young and old at Christmas time. Ms. Lee prepared the houses and supplied the various candies to decorate them. The children listened to the story […]

A rainy day provides a day of fun. The children helped towel dry the surfaces of our tables so we could have a rainy day picnic. We looked at water droplets on […]

Each November, the students of Northaven Co-operative Preschool make butter for their families using an antique churn, a modern churn and just shaking whipping cream in a jar—all while reciting […]

This week, our classes learned about the gift of maize from the Native Americans. We conducted a popcorn experiment with native-colored corn and made popcorn and cornbread. We shucked corn on […]

What a wonderful visit by the Creature Teacher. Meeting a live hedgehog – our school’s mascot – was a real treat enjoyed by all our classes. Hedgehog Sonic allowed us to […]

The Northaven Co-op Preschool asked parents to paint pumpkins for the annual Great Pumpkin Carnival. One of many of our talented painters, Carli Scroggins, painted a glow-in-the-dark green pumpkin covered […]

The Young 4’s and 4’s & 5’s went on their first field trip. Our local Tom Thumb at Preston Royal gave the students a tour of the store and helped […]

Playing outside with Ms. Julie. The children ran up the hill together and then back down again. A simple game in the fresh air, bringing the shared joy of moving our bodies.

Our gardening expert, Ms. Melinda, prepared our children’s garden box with nutrient-rich dirt and plants. The Young 3’s class has begun the hard work of caring for a garden by […]

Our parents are always welcome in the classroom. Today, Dr. Mary McKeown visited the 4’s & 5’s class to share her instrument, the flute. The children asked very good questions. We learned how […]

This week was all about pets. We learned about cats, dogs, rabbits, and turtles. Our pet shop was busy as we helped customers pick out pets. Our pet hospital was open for […]

Our youngest students are enjoying outside art play with two simple tools: a cardboard box and crayons. This is an example of process art at its best.

In Ms. Lee‘s Young 4’s class, the children listened to The Color Monster by Anna Llenas. This is a story about emotions. The sensory table was filled with pom poms and bottles […]

We began the new school year on September 3, 2024. Our preschool is non-sectarian, valuing variety and differences in background among its families, with a deep commitment to the growth and […]

It has become a tradition for our students to meet in the neighborhood hosted by a co-op family for breakfast, and then ride their bikes or scooters to school on […]

Field trips are a wonderful addition to the preschool learning experience. Our classes have been studying butterflies, and what a wonder it was to enter the Butterfly Garden and enjoy the […]

Among the many areas of our play-based learning model, we learn through art. We explore different mediums for self-expression and the sharing of ideas. Our focus is on the process, not the product, […]

Our students were able to learn about the celebration of Passover this week. Each child helped to cut up apples for the charoset. We added cinnamon, brown sugar, and grape juice to […]

Earth Day celebrations at the Co-op included making cookies, watercoloring the colors of the earth on coffee filters, and listening to the books I Am Earth, One Earth, and 10 Things […]

In preparation for our trip to the Dallas Zoo next week, our students are thinking about and learning about the animals we will see. We spent time reading our science books […]

The 2’s & 3’s class spent part of the morning exploring worms. The book Worm Weather by Jean Taft led their teacher, Ms. Julie, to build the wormery. Our young wormologists […]

The Co-op has spent the week in space! We have learned about the sun, the moon, the planets, and the constellations. It was such fun to discover the phases of the moon […]

We spent last week preparing for Easter and our class egg hunt. We worked together in groups of four to decorate a large paper egg for our bulletin board. In science, […]

Sparky, the fire dog, visited the Co-op to teach our children about fire safety. We learned to call 911 in an emergency and how to keep ourselves safe by never playing […]

Our oldest classes began their day listening to the book Ramadan by Hannah Eliot. We learned all about the celebration of Ramadan! In the ninth month of the year, when the […]

Dinosaurs are a favorite subject for young students. Our imaginations were engaged by listening to Bernard Most’s books Whatever Happened to the Dinosaurs? and If the Dinosaurs Came Back. Music and movement […]

Look who visited the Young 2’s and 2’s & 3’s classroom – Ms. Mel’s mice. Each week, Ms. Mel reconfigures their home to allow for more viewing by the children.

The Cat in the Hat is a beloved Dr. Seuss book. In honor of Dr. Seuss’s birthday on March 2, we enjoyed listening to the children’s favorites and making our own […]

We talked about measurement this week. We began our study by reading Mo Willems’ latest book, Are You Big? We were busy with our rulers measuring the width of a starfish, a […]

Our class has been studying different kinds of birds. We were fascinated by the various types of owls and their silent wings. Building a large floor puzzle is an opportunity to work […]

In honor of President’s Day, our older classes made American flags and joined in a kazoo parade. We learned many facts about our flag, and we were so surprised that […]

Celebrating Valentine’s Day is a special time at the Co-op. Our classes find different ways for using the heart shape as a foundation for self-expression. Easel painting allows the children […]

Each year, our school celebrates the Lunar New Year. We read books, create watercolor lanterns, and cook traditional foods. Each child has the chance to wear the lion dancer costume […]

Field trips give our students an opportunity to enjoy our city outside the classroom. Today, we were treated to a Mo Willems play performed at the Dallas Children’s Theater. The beloved characters […]

Ms. Lee’s Young 4’s class explored the world of boxes. What can you make from a box? Listening to Not a Box by Antoinette Portis, What To Do With a Box […]

To celebrate Groundhog Day, our Young 3’s class with Ms. Melinda explored the properties of light and shadow. Using their small flashlights, the students made shadows on the ceiling. In art, they […]

What a wondrous penguin world. The Emperor penguins share parenting duties. The male keeps the egg on his feet, covered with fur from his stomach, to keep the egg from the cold. The […]

Our youngest students from the Young 2’s and 2’s & 3’s classes are learning science by doing… Dissolving our snowmen made from packing peanuts: Ice cubes are so cold and moving […]

Living in Texas, we hope we will have enough snow to build a snowman. Alas, it hasn’t arrived, so today our oldest classes listened to I’m Going to Build a […]

The students from our Young 4’s and 4’s & 5’s classes listened to the true story of Blizzard by John Rocco. We made a snowstorm in a jar, painted icicles, scooped […]

What did we learn about the polar bears? We learned that they live in the Arctic, can swim for seven days, and that the skin underneath their fur is black. How […]

Ms. Lee and Ms. Julie transformed the muscle room to include a snowball wall, an indoor basketball game, and a bouncy ball. How lucky we are to have such creative […]

Our classes listened to Shanté Keys and the New Year’s Peas, written by Gail Piernas-Davenport. This book explored the different types of foods eaten to celebrate New Year’s cross-culturally. We were excited […]

Our families filled twenty-five overflowing gingerbread bags with wonderful toys for the underserved children of Vickery Meadow Food Pantry and Clothes Closet. Our hope during this season is that with […]

What a celebration today at Northaven Co-operative Preschool. The older students learned about St. Lucia’s Day. In Sweden, a young girl, usually the oldest daughter, dresses in a long white […]

Making tamales on special holidays is a tradition in many Mexican homes. Our 4’s & 5’s class listened to the book Too Many Tamales by Gary Soto. Young Maria is helping her […]

Gingerbread houses are built before Christmas and Easter. The tradition is believed to be of German origin and related to the fairy tale of Hansel and Gretel. Ms. Lee prepared the houses, […]

The Fab Friday engineers, under the guidance of their teacher Ms. Suzanne, explored the concept of trajectory. What more engaging way to understand how projectiles move through space than by […]

During this holiday season, our students are introduced to different holiday traditions, celebrating the diversity of our school. All of our classes cook the special foods of the season. Making latkes during […]

Our study of the Native Americans concluded with looking at the different kinds of homes the Native Americans built throughout the United States. We made paper teepees using bright oil paint […]

The Fab Friday scientists began the process of making crystals. Each student made their own pipe cleaner candy cane. They learned about suspension as they hung their candy canes on popsicle sticks […]

It’s time for the first harvest from our tower garden. Our classes are picking their greens, washing them, and tasting them with their own handmade ranch dressing. Greens never tasted […]

Our outdoor space allows for large motor play as well as outdoor art. The acrylic hanging frames are just perfect for our young artists to express themselves with shaving cream painting.

The outdoor mud kitchen is a favorite activity. This little girl is making a special mud soup, carefully adding her ingredients. Yum!

Each year, the students of Northaven Co-operative Preschool host their grandparents and grandfriends on Grand Day. This special morning gives the children a wonderful opportunity to share their classroom and […]

All the students from Northaven Co-operative Preschool made butter for their families’ Thanksgiving feast. Going back in time, each child used their muscles to turn the butter churn and watch […]

We learned about the role of the scarecrow in the fields, and we decided we needed to make our own scarecrow to keep watch over our pumpkin patch. We wore gloves to […]

Our students, from the youngest to the oldest, have participated in the canned food drive for the small food pantry Vickery Meadow. Please join us during this season of gratitude […]

In October of last year, we placed a Jack-o’-Lantern in our garden to watch the process of a rotting pumpkin. Late this summer, our pumpkin patch began to sprout, and our […]

We enjoyed a magical morning of games, crafts, prizes, and fall fun! Thank you to all who made our Carnival so special.