Our child development philosophy is grounded in the premise that parents, families, and communities are the principal influences on the development of children. It also holds that the family is the primary context in which children grow and develop physically, emotionally, socially, intellectually, morally, and spiritually. The child development program is thus aimed at encouraging, enhancing, and
sustaining such growth, assisting children and their parents to maintain their ability to cope with life’s challenges. We believe the best way to do this is to form partnerships with parents and the families of children. These partnerships are based on mutual trust, understanding, respect and common goals. The child development program is based on The Creative Curriculum, which supports the center’s partnerships with parents in providing quality care and education for children. We believe children learn best by doing. Learning isn’t just repeating what someone else says; it requires active thinking and experimenting to find out how things work and to learn firsthand about the world in which we live. In their early years, children explore the world around them by using all their senses (touching, tasting, listening, smelling and looking.) Play provides the foundation for academic or “school” learning. It is the preparation children need before they learn highly abstract symbols such as letters and numbers. Play enables us to achieve the key goals of our early childhood curriculum. Play is the work of young children. The most important goal of our early childhood curriculum is to help children become enthusiastic learners. Our goal is to help children become independent, self-confident, inquisitive learners. We’re teaching them how to learn, not just in preschool, but all through their lives.
