Our Learning Environment

Our Learning Environment is attractive and developmentally appropriate:

  • encourages children to make choices and develop responsibility
  • is culturally relevant to the children being served
  • has a strong, carefully arranged learning centers which address all areas of development

Description of our Learning Environment:

Block Center:

Blocks play an important role for the child because it helps the child to...

  • express creativity using various media
  • discover concepts of quantity, length and inequality
  • plan and work with another to solve common problems
  • use building as a means of non-verbal expression
  • develop large and small muscle coordination
  • improve eye- hand coordination

Dramatic Play Center:

Dramatic play allows the child to...

  • construct the world as he/she sees it
  • act out feelings and emotions in a safe and comfortable environment
  • role-play real life situations
  • practice language and social skills
  • interact with other children in an informal setting

Toys and Games Center:

Children strengthen all areas of development as they interact with toys and games

Art Center:

Art activities provide a medium of expression and enable the child to...

  • work with a wide variety of materials
  • experience sensory pleasure by working with different materials
  • experiment with color, shape and texture
  • create an expression of self
  • use visual expression as a means of communication

Library:

The book center is a relaxing place that allows the child to:

  • "read" pictures
  • browse through books for pleasure
  • extend understanding of various means (photographs, illustration, words) for expressing thoughts and feelings
  • develop personal reading interest
  • use picture clues to predict fantasy or reality in a story

Discovery Center:

Discovery/science stimulates the child to...

  • explore and experiment
  • use a variety of materials for weighing and measuring
  • develop skills in using the scientific method of problem solving,
  • observe and identify problems, predict and test predictions, and generalize 
  • use source materials in problem solving
  • manipulate various objects and materials in order to move from concrete to abstract
  • find out about nature
  • classify relationships between objects

Sand and Water Center:

The sand/water center allows the child to...

  • improve fine muscle control
  • practice language and social skills
  • experiment with the physical properties of wet or dry sand
  • develop problem solving skills

Music and Movement:

Music and Movement provides the child an outlet for creativity...

  • math and language concepts are enhanced through singing
  • auditory perception
  • develop their spatial sense
  • learn to operate cassette, tape, CD player
  • appreciation for different music and dance styles
  • awareness of personal space
  • improve group cohesiveness

Computers:

Children investigate questions using the computer to...

  • solve problems
  • explore and manipulate objects on a screen
  • computers support development in all areas

Outdoors:

Improve gross motor and problem-solving skills

  • observe living things
  • learn about the weather and climate change
  • provide sensory experiences (touch, feel, hear, see, ...)