1) create a safe, nurturing learning environment which encourages
social, emotional, intellectual and physical growth of each child;
2) accept, celebrate and support each child's unique personality,
culture, learning style and developmental rate;
3) work together with parents to achieve the best for each child and
encourage parents to become partners in their child's development by
participating in the classroom and by increasing their knowledge and
awareness of child development through reading, observation and
sharing ideas to meet parenting challenges;
4) provide a stimulating play environment, using developmentally
appropriate practice and an emergent curriculum with a focus on
verbal/cognitive development to teach children to think independently
and creatively;
5) create a supportive emotional climate to help children develop a
positive self-image, to respect themselves and others and to behave in
a socially acceptable manner;
6) act continually as an advocate for each child in the program and
for children in general; and
7) provide a program which embodies the highest industry standards
through careful use of resources, by recruiting, developing and
retaining high quality teachers and by encouraging open communication
and a free exchange of ideas.
Accomplishing Our Mission
Our program is designed to provide for the total growth of a child in
an environment in which children are encouraged to explore, pretend,
create, express feelings and thoughts, develop life skills and
experience joy. As we bridge the gap between home and school, we guide
children toward a good self-image while helping them to develop their
skills.
Our teachers strive to provide experiences that are relevant to each
child's age and their emotional, social and intellectual needs.
Children are provided with activities and learning tasks that support
the learning process by "hands-on" experiences. Ongoing brain research
validates our belief that learning by doing results in short-term AND
long-term benefits.
Thought comes from action, not from words. So, our teachers provide
necessary guidance, assistance and materials to promote opportunities
for each child to learn through meaningful exploration, active
involvement and reinforcement through repetition.
Children learn best from concrete experience, from "doing", rather
than from "hearing about". Play (learning) is planned which emphasizes
the process more than the product, fostering a sense of accomplishment
and pride in children.
Teachers listen to what children are saying and respond
appropriately. We emphasize a verbal-cognitive approach to learning,
in which teachers model and support constant language interaction
between adult and child and between child and child. Experience and
research confirm that the use of language is instrumental in
children's development of critical thinking (how to think) and
problem-solving skills.
Language use must be practiced many times in order for a child to
become skillful. CLC's learning setting provides ongoing opportunities
for your child to practice, practice, practice. We repeat their
thoughts, correcting the grammar and adding vocabulary. We ask
questions to encourage the child to express his/her thoughts. We
give your child time to answer.
We encourage and guide children in resolving conflict and in thinking
through a problem and offering solutions. Problem-solving involves the
development of concentration, systematic trial-and-error, planning a
sequence of events toward a solution and noticing, evaluating and
correcting errors in the plan. This is challenging work for your
child!
We do all this to develop each child's ability to know how to
think through a problem. Not only is this a critical life skill for
social purposes, it is also a necessary skill for math work in later
school years. And with our world's growing reliance on
technology, the ability to develop creative solutions is becoming even
more valuable.
Problem-solving builds self-esteem and self-confidence in children as
they realize they can figure out a problem independently. Also, it
helps children control their emotions, as we validate their ideas and
needs in arriving at a solution.
We believe children have the right to experience trust, without which
learning is difficult. Children have the right to experience being in
control, to have friends, to feel safe and secure, to be able to
change things, to feel welcomed and loved and to have fun.
Recognizing that children grow in predictable stages but that each
child's rate differs slightly, we treat each child as an individual,
working from the level that child has attained and challenging them to
move forward one step at a time. Relating in this way to children
can be time-consuming or inconvenient but we believe it to be a
necessity for them.
The foundation of our behavior management plan is the Conscious Discipline® program.
