Moving Over

When do students move from the toddler house to the preschool houses?

The majority of our students enter Mockingbird by way of the Yellow House, our current space designated to students 18 months to about 3 years of age. A common question we receive from parents prior to their student’s third birthday is when they will be moving to the older classrooms. While some schools move students strictly based on age, we are lucky enough to have the time, space, and capacity to ensure each child gets what they need from each classroom before they move over. 

How are students evaluated for Moving-Over?

There are many aspects to consider when move-over season comes. While there is an overall sense of “readiness” that teachers observe in their students, we have been able to boil it down to a few factors. This is not a checklist that must be completed, but some markers that we like to observe before making a move-over plan.

  • Age and Mentorship Experience

    • Students Moving-Over are at least 35 months old (licensing requirements for students are different for students under this age)and have had ample experience being a mentor to the younger students in the current toddler class. 

    • We’d like all students to gain leadership experience through being mentors. We are teaching students that it’s important to be able to lead when it’s your turn and also to support when it’s your turn. Keeping some of the median age students in the toddler class for a while longer allows them to build and flex this mentor muscle. 

  • Development 

    • Independence in self-help tasks

    • Ready to be responsible for tasks such as dressing, setting up nap items, putting on own shoes, etc.

    • Ability and desire to maintain interest in activities involving longer learning sessions

    • Naps without a pacifier

  • Type of Play

  • Ready to dive deeper into their work and enjoy longer, uninterrupted windows of play where they can fully express their ideas

  • Have mostly moved past the crashing, banging, transporting, etc. that dominates toddler play

    • Student has made the shift from “What is this?” to “What can I do with this?”

  • Have mostly “filled up” their sensory tanks with the current classroom materials

    • Current options for mediums in the toddler class are restricted by regulations (choking hazards, etc.) so the students will have exhibited a need for deeper learning that cannot happen in the toddler classroom

  • Participation in Discussion & Meetings

  • Our meetings, small groups and work time in the preschool houses are complex with much more discussion, inquiry, and back and forth conversation

  • Student should be showing signs of interest in being part of these discussions and seem ready to stretch their “focus stamina” in a new context

What does the preparation look like for transitioning classrooms?

In the week leading up to the Moveover, we will announce to the students in Morning Meeting that we will have friends moving over soon. We draw up a simple calendar countdown that we will revisit each morning, where we mark off each day until Moving Day. That week, we invite the Moveover students to begin visiting the Purple House either individually or in groups during our Morning Meeting and AM work time (~10am-11:30am). This will give the new students a chance to get used to some of the culture and routines and let the current Purple House students reacquaint themselves with these children and the idea that change is imminent! It also allows us to reestablish our relationship with each child in the context of the new classroom and help our current students lock back into mentorship mode and think about how to show hospitality to our new friends.

When the big day comes, we will have a Moving Day ceremony (students only) in the afternoon to celebrate our transitioning friends! They will be able to carry their belongings from the Teal House to a "moving truck" that will take their things to their new cubby in the Purple House. The students all love to gather around and help to carry belongings from one house to the next, and support their new classmates in setting up their new cubby. From this moment forward, they are members of their new classroom!

Things to know

Shared Language: Moving-Over vs Moving “Up”

Moving Up to a new class communicates a “greater or better than” subtext to the children, rather than the lateral move that we are carefully planning. When you talk to your kids about the move, please help us reinforce this concept by using “Move-Over” instead of “Move-Up"

Toilet Learning

Notice that being potty trained is not on the list? Many students who move to the preschool classrooms are using the toilet independently, however this is a milestone that children meet at their own pace. Children who join the preschool classrooms are usually motivated to learn to use the toilet quickly as they tend to want to do what their peers are doing in this regard, and we will happily support them on this journey. Rest time pull ups are fine to use during nap times for as long as the student needs.