PEMDAS Preschool

Our Teachers

Dear Families,

Thank you so much for taking the time to invest in your child’s future by exploring different preschools and especially for stopping in at PEMDAS Preschool and seeing what we have to offer, explore our environment, and see for yourself what makes us different or the same as other quality preschools in the area. I know you have many options when choosing a preschool for your child so thank for your time and consideration.

I thought it may be fun to add a little about myself, my education and my experiences that have shaped me and led me to the person I am today.

Born and raised in southern California, I grew up with my cousin, Kyle, who was born with Cerebral Palsy. With the help of my crafty, patient and loving aunt, I learned how to make something from nothing, how to be silly, fun and educational all at the same time, and how to cleverly adapt activities I loved to do with my cousin. As early as elementary school, I helped my younger brother with his homework and neighborhood kids to explore the limits of their imaginations. In middle school, I babysat and “played school” with art activities and math games. In high school I acquired hundreds of hours volunteering with elementary after-school programs and foster respite programs.

I was accepted to my top choice college, Mills College in Oakland, California, and spent summers in various cities across the USA in Girl Scout Camps leading large groups of children (and staff). I also worked in the laboratory school on campus in the School Aged Care (SAC) program guiding children through weekly activities including a Recycled Play project, Exploring Matter, and the Fun of Fungi. I graduated with honors with a Bachelor of Arts in Child Development and minor in Mathematics.

After graduating I traveled to Switzerland working as a nanny for a year. After saying goodbye to the two boys I cared for there, I moved to Los Angeles to nanny for my beautiful newly born niece, Valentine. This was a new experience for me in many ways. Feeding every 2-3 hours, spit-up stained clothing, pots of “gold” diapers, tummy time, teething, the infectious giggles of a 4 month old, first roll, first scoots, first steps, first words, and finally first day of preschool! I loved this age by far!

I moved back to San Diego County and began work as a lead preschool teacher for a promising child care in Vista Ca. Their teaching methods and standards of care were not the same as what I was used to in college, but the owner was on her own path towards a college degree in ECE and with the help of the Quality Preschool Initiative, the quality of care changed in our preschool and drastically improve the education we provided to our children and their families. I had the pleasure of working with them for 8 years, graduating over 100 pre-k students, and following this preschool through various stages of the early childhood education (ECE) movement that had started in southern California around 2010.

When I eventually followed my husband to Reno, Southern California had already been 3 years into the ECE movement, Las Vegas had just barely started theirs, and Reno was not there… yet! I was excited to be a part of the beginning movement once again and on September 19, 2016 I became fully licensed and opened PEMDAS Preschool. I am now a part of Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS) and striving to provide the best possible care and education for the children and families of Washoe County.

Thank you so much again for coming in and I hope your family will be joining us soon!

Sincerely,

Ms. Becky

Rebecca Sueppel

Philosophy

Put briefly, I have studied and follow the methods of such theorists as Piaget and Vygotsky. The above Mission Statement includes language from these theorist. Here is just a bit about them and some of the terminology.

Constructivist theorists, such as Piaget, believe play is an important concept necessary for cognitive growth. In this practice children acquire concepts through active involvement with the environment, and construct their own knowledge as they explore their surroundings. Piaget talks about children ages 2-7 being in a preoperational stage of development. In this stage representational thoughts becomes important, but reasoning is still dominated by perceptual processes. They can use items to mentally represent events and other objects, such as a block becoming a phone. This is the stage where pretend play and role-playing become a big part of their lives. It is through this play that they continue to learn and grow.

Socio-cultural theorists, such as Vygotsky, emphasizes the role of the active involvement of teachers. In his Zone of Proximal Development, Vygotsky argues that children, with the support of more experienced adults or other children, can master concepts and ideas they cannot understand on their own. By providing just enough help to allow the children to complete their task and succeed, children become capable of completing their tasks independently. Vygotsky referred to this process as “scaffolding”.

Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP) refers to teaching that is attuned to children’s age, experience, abilities, and interests, and that helps them attain challenging and achievable goals. It involves teachers meeting young children where they are, both as individuals and as part of a group; and helping them to push further.

With all of this in mind, I believe that children learn best through play that is sparked from their own interests. By providing a program that is mostly child-centered and play-based, having the environment set up for them specifically with a variety of developmentally appropriate toys and learning materials, and actively monitoring children with observational methods and assessments, I believe children will successfully develop socially, emotionally, intellectually, physically and morally.

Location

PEMDAS is located in a single-family home in the neighborhood of Mira Loma.

We are close to Dodson Elementary School and the Reno-Tahoe Airpot.

Our school has been thoughtful designed to provide a safe and fun learning environment for your children. We have plenty of space for children to engage in learning and exploring, arts and crafts, as well as rest time, and provide supervised outdoor play time in our beautiful backyard.

We would love for you to come see our beautiful space for yourself! Please reach out and schedule a tour. We look forward to welcoming you and your child!

About our program

It is the mission of PEMDAS Preschool to provide a quality preschool education to the children of Washoe County. As the name says, this program is here to allow a safe space to PREDICT, EXPLORE, MOVE, DISCOVER, ACCOMPLISH, and SUCCEED. We believe in a child-centered and play-based curriculum that allows for flexibility to accommodate all children through their own learning process. This flexibility allows the time for social emotional education in order to promote nurturing relationships with adults and peers. In addition, it helps to establish an atmosphere of care, acceptance, and support so parents and the program can work together on the child’s education. We provide a positive and supportive learning environment for children in order to promote confidence in their abilities and challenge themselves while keeping activities engaging and developmentally appropriate in order to create passionate, successful, lifelong learners.