Inland Preschool Jubilee in Calimesa: 'Fun, Food, Festivities to Celebrate Fall'

Fall festivities are planned Friday at the Inland Preschool in Calimesa, and school officials are seeking toddlers, prekindergartners, and enthusiastic parents.

The community is invited to attend the preschool's annual jubilee, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at 940 Second St., said board of trustees member Karen Richardson.

Inland Preschool is a parent participation, non-profit preschool, better known as a co-op preschool, and it's mission is to "instill a love for God and learning in each child and their parent using a safe, caring and creative environment," according to the school's web site.

"Bring family and friends and take part in the festivities," Richardson said.

There will be a food both, old-fashioned games like "cake walk" and "lily pond toss," and a bounce-house.

"Along with tasty hot dogs, beans, chips, nachos, cotton candy and snow cones at the food booth, Jamba Juice will be selling smoothies," Richardson said.

All proceeds will benefit the school, Richardson said.

Inland Preschool was established in 2008 as a non-profit 501c3 organization.

"A carefully chosen thematic-based curriculum is taught and enhanced with creative teaching techniques, and varied learning opportunities, all through guided play," Richardson said.

The school’s philosophy is that a child’s family is his or her primary teacher, and the ideal school experience is one in which the child, the family and the teacher work together to assure a quality experience, Richardson said.

"Your child is a preschooler only once," said Erika Birky, Inland Preschool's board of directors president. "Three- and four-year-olds have work to do, and it's called play. This is how they learn to share, or wait for a turn, use their imagination and explore their world."

Inland Preschool focuses on educating each child as a developing human being and life-long learner in an approach called "developmentally appropriate practice," Richardson said.

Teachers are active facilitators helping children make meaning of the various activities and interactions encountered throughout the day, Richardson said.

The Inland Preschool was recently awarded a grant from First 5 Riverside, which was used to build "a new modular school building and state of the art playground, including a fenced creative play area with bike trails and a garden area," Richardson said.

The new building has allowed the school to expand services to children in Riverside and San Bernardino counties by increasing its previous capacity from 68 to 134 students, Richardson said.

"The school offers classes for three- and four-year-olds, as well as toddler and prekindergarten classes," Richardson said.

Monthly tuition ranges from $118 to $150 for up to three hours a day, in two-days-a-week and three-days-a-week programs, according to the preschool's web site.

For more information about the jubilee, or to learn more about enrolling a child at the Inland Preschool, call (909) 446-1888 or visit www.inlandpreschool.com.