FAQs
What are the days and times that classes are available?
Preschool is Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from either 9:00 to 11:30 AM or 1:00 to 3:30 PM.
How many students will be in my child's classroom?
Up to 15 students.
Do you divide students by ages?
No, we do mixed-age grouping in all of our classrooms. We do try our best to have an equal number of children at each.
What does “blended classroom environments” mean?
Our tuition-based students are in a classroom with students who also received special education services from the school district. Everyone is learning together.
Does my child have to be toilet-trained to attend preschool?
We encourage students to be toilet trained, but accidents do happen. We will accept students who are not fully toilet trained.
What curriculum is used?
We follow a play- based, research based, developmentally appropriate curriculum called the Creative Curriculum. We also are aligned with Illinois Early Learning Standards in Literacy, Math, Social Emotional, Cognitive, and Motor Skills. We also expose students to district curriculum such as Jolly Phonics, Second Step, Zaner- Bloser Handwriting, and Eureka Math which are used in upper grades.
What type of progress monitoring is there?
We use the Teaching Strategies Gold Assessment which we give students three times a year, and we share those results with parents/guardians. The Teaching Strategies Gold serves as our report card that families get three times a year at the same time as K-5.
How many staff are in each room?
Each classroom is staffed with a Special Education Teacher/Early Childhood Teacher and 1-2 paraprofessionals depending on the number of students.
How much does it cost?
Little Spartans tuition is $195 per month from September to May (10 payments). There is also a $50 dollar yearly registration fee that is part of registration (which is refundable if you don’t attend the program).
Can my student take the bus?
In previous years, we have been able to have tuition-based students pay to ride the bus. This decision will be made in early August for the 2023-24 school year. Tuition-based students can pay a $500 fee to be bussed to and from school. The address needs to be a Sycamore School District address and students have to be dropped off and picked up from the same address. We have a limited amount of pay-to-ride slots.
What if I have concerns about my child's development in areas such as speech, cognitive, and motor?
Any Sycamore family, living in the school district boundaries that have concerns about their child's development can schedule one community screener. We have set appointments five times a year. Please contact Mrs. Niamh Welp who can set you up with an appointment on a scheduled date.
Do we have any before and/or after-school care?
The district is proud to offer Oscar Jr. which provides care from 7:30 AM - 5:00 PM. Please contact Mrs. Courtney Walz, Director of Out of School Care. Oscar Jr. is the childcare portion of the program, and those classrooms are located next to the preschool.
Do I need to provide school supplies?
Yes, you can find our Little Spartans School Supply List here.
What daily supplies does my child need?
We ask that a change of clothes is kept at school. Each day students need to bring their own snack and water bottle. Do you have a sliding scale or take any childcare assistance programs? We do not have a sliding scale but are in the process of working on being able to work with 4-C (Community Coordinated Child Care) with their assistance program. Do you have holiday programs for families? We do not have any holiday programs or sings for families. We do have three class parties a year, a Halloween Party, a Winter Holiday Party, and a Valentine's Day Party.
How do I communicate with my student's teacher?
Teachers post pictures and videos of what happens at preschool weekly through an app called SeeSaw. This is also a way for parents/guardians and teachers to message back and forth to each other.
Do I have to live in Sycamore to attend Little Spartans?
You need to live within the Sycamore School District 427 boundaries to attend Little Spartans. So you could live in the towns that surround Sycamore as long as your address is within the school boundaries. To verify that your address is within the boundaries, please view our District Boundary Map.
Do you have scholarship opportunities?
We are excited to be working with the Sycamore Education Foundation (SEF) on the creation of scholarship opportunities for our students. Questions about scholarships can be directed to Rachel Sauber, SEF Executive Director.
If I have additional questions, who do I reach out to?
Please contact Mrs. Niamh Welp, Early Childhood Administrator at (815) 899-8129 or nwelp@syc427.org.