By Julie Slama|[email protected]

Registration now is open for Bingham High’s preschool.

The preschoolers, who must be potty-trained and 4 years old by Sept. 1, usually come two mornings per week. The preschool class, typically with about 16 students, usually fills by summer.

An online $40 deposit is required to hold a spot for the Mini-Miner preschool. After opening the Bingham Website at binghamminers.org, look under the resource tab for Preschool Mini-Miners. Additional information is there, including the monthly tuition of $85 per month for two days per week. 

Tours of the facility are available by emailing the instructor, Janae Dunn, who has her email listed on the webpage.

Every day, preschoolers learn a letter and number along with a poem or story that helps them remember the sound. For example, preschoolers may have a space theme and learn the number 7, so high school students, who are teaching the preschoolers under the supervision of Dunn, will share a story about the moon and space that ties in with the number. Preschoolers may make their own moon rocks or create their own astronaut masks to tie to the theme.

All the hands-on activities are developmentally appropriate, Dunn said.

Themes have ranged from water and ice to jungle animals or dinosaurs, and the activities extends to art, science or sensory, literacy and math. High school students, who each usually oversee two preschoolers, adapt the lessons to fit each individual’s ability.

The room has multiple stations, including a large carpet area where high school students, many who want to enter a career in education, lead beginning activities and story time and hands-on stations for science or sensory, math and language arts. 

On Fridays, without preschoolers, high school students, who already have taken child development or early childhood education I courses, focus on lesson planning and going through curriculum with Dunn.

The preschool also traditionally offers guest speakers from a firefighter and a dentist to a magician or a clown. They celebrate holidays as well, including the recently scheduled leprechaun hunt around Bingham High with each preschooler wearing leprechaun glasses.