About Children's Station CDC
Children Station is a School and Educational facility with a learning environment where children learn, grow and experience the world around them from loving adult role models. Our daily lives are filled with experiences which constantly teach children how to treat each other with respect, love and trust.
Birth to five years is the most important period for children and so it is vital to ensure a firm learning foundation. During this critical period a child’s brain develops at a fast rate. Our learning experiences for children are diverse, creative, and carefully planned on sound principles of child development. Studies indicate quality early care affects children’s language, and social development improves reading and math achievement, and sets a strong foundation for later learning.
Children Station promotes a quality developmental program that encourages the cognitive, social, emotional and physical development of children from the time they enter our centers until they depart.
Our program philosophy follows a developmental learning model which provides for all areas of a child’s development including emotional, social, linguistic, artistic, physical, and cognitive. This model of learning allows for all aspects of our program to be focused on the appropriateness of classroom learning experiences. It is based on the child’s developmental age, interests, their individual needs and learning styles, and on experiences that reflect the child’s cultural background. The daily schedule and activities are planned yet flexible to allow time for each child to interact and learn at his/her own pace encouraging the development and healthy self-concept.
Finally, families are important partners in a child’s learning process. Mutual sharing of information and insight about the individual child’s needs and development helps provide consistency and support in promoting the child’s total growth and development.
Children’s Station provides opportunities for growth through a thematic integrated approach. This involves learning centers focusing around weekly or monthly themes. There are many opportunities for active exploration and interaction with adults, other children, and materials. Staff strives to provide activities that are appropriate to the age of the child as well as meet individual developmental needs. Discovery play enables learning and as a result we utilize the High Scope Curriculum. Integrated with this curriculum is providing children the opportunity to learn phonics, reading and writing.
Children are given the opportunity to learn through self-initiated play activities for questioning, exploring, and observing, communicating, problem solving, creating, manipulating, and sharing. This learning takes place in dramatic play, block play, art activities, water/sand play, tabletop learning games, etc.
Our Key Approaches
There are plenty of opportunities for language development and communication throughout the daily program, both through planned activities and interaction with the staff and other children.
Listening, reading and expressing ideas are developed through a wide selection of books, educational videos, filmstrips, records and tapes and other media. Language also develops out of field trips or special activities related to the unit of study.
Matching, copying, sorting, classifying, sequencing, and working with blocks is necessary for later competence in math. Some of these same skills are essential for success in reading. Through manipulating and building with blocks and other building toys, children learn about size, sorting by likenesses and differences, and counting. .
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At the sand and water table, children pour, measure, fill and empty containers. By completing learning games, they learn about likenesses and differences, sorting, classifying and counting. Staff encourages counting and one-to-one relationships. .
Ordering and logical thinking is emphasized through songs, games and teacher directed activities. Through play and structured classroom experiences, children are constantly learning math concepts.
A child is curious and eager to explore the world around him/her. Recognizing this curiosity as a tool of learning, the staff assists each child by providing objects, pictures, materials, and activities dealing with plants, seasons, community helpers, holidays, other cultures, ponds, oceans, transportation and more.
Field trips, guest speakers, art activities, stories and dramatic play and exploration assist in learning more about the world they live in.
The children are given opportunities to develop the scientific process skills of hypothesizing, questioning, following procedures and drawing conclusions. Cooking activities provide opportunities to see changes in materials as well as develop sequencing skills.
The rooms and daily schedule are equipped to encourage active play and large muscle development. A part of every day, weather permitting, is spent outdoors with free choice activities as well as teacher initiated large motor development activities.
These activities develop coordination, muscle control, and opportunities for practice in getting along with others. Skills in small muscle development are acquired through the manipulation of materials such as games, educational toys, puzzles, art supplies and other hands-on projects.
Experimentation, discovery, and creativity are encouraged through art media, woodworking, storytelling, puppetry, music, creative movement and dramatic play. This is encouraged through individual, small group and large group activities. Opportunities of self-expression assist children in learning more about themselves and their individuality.
Self-expression provides many opportunities to feel proud of their personal accomplishments.
The philosophy is based on the idea that children learn all the time. Their play is their work. Their reward for work is that they learn.