During learning center time, the children are asked to participate in a variety of age appropriate activities. The children are encouraged, but not required to participate in each center's activity, with an offering of four or five different activities each school day . Each center is parent-led, with a small group of 4-6 children, depending on the activity. The activities are planned to enhance and build the children’s developmental skills. As they "play", they are building social, emotional, language, motor and cognitive skills.
Art Center
Activities at the art table are open ended and process oriented. Emphasis is given to the creative process of making art rather than the finished product, as each child is encouraged to create in their own unique way and style. Parents leading this center assist the children in the set up of the art, encouraging them to explore using a variety of different media, such as such as paint, clay, glue, feathers, beads, leaves, pasta and stencils. During this time, children not only develop their fine motor skills, but also work on recognizing colors, shapes, textures and smells. Having an end product to take home gives the children a sense of accomplishment.
Science & Sensory Center
This center involves all of the children's senses and encourages observation, exploration and experimentation! In a typical day, the children may find themselves creating with play dough, melting crayons into freeform sculptures, finger painting, forming crystals, or getting up close and personal with a family of earthworms! All the while, the parent leading this center encourages verbalization of the child's discoveries, "How does it feel?", "What do you see?", "What does it smell like?" etc.
Cooking Center
In the kitchen, children are offered the opportunity to prepare their own snack for the day. Under the watchful eye and guidance of the working parent, the children create using food as their medium. If a child does not wish to participate, the working parent prepares a snack for them. Activities such as counting, sorting, blending, measuring, pouring, mixing and baking are wonderful experiences to build fine motor and cognitive skills. An appetizing array of foods are prepared by our junior chefs, ranging from soups, muffins, quesadillas, fruit kebobs, and pizzas to the more elaborate pies and decorated sugar cookies.
Quiet Room Center
The quiet room is home to the library and resident fish. Activities in the quiet room tend to be more parent or teacher directed than at the other learning centers. Children may work with manipulatives, such as puzzles, beading, marbles and lacing. Many activities at this center incorporate pre-writing and pre-reading skills. On a given day children may have stories read to them, put together and dictate their own stories using stickers or pictures, play a game with three or four other children or work together to build a marble run. The Pre-K children use the quiet room to draw and dictate stories into their journals, granting them a sense of accomplishment and pride when they share their finished story at the closing circle.
Play Room Center
The play room is the heart of dramatic and imaginative play. The children have the ability to play freely at an activity of their choice. In addition, the parent leading this center offers a directed activity, such as dancing, playing with instruments, puppet shows, putting together large floor puzzles, and bean bag toss. Available to the children are a variety of dress-up clothes and props, blocks, trains, cars, puzzles, logos, brios, dolls, trucks, musical instruments, and much more! In the Pre-K class, children spend their time with a parent-led imaginative play theme such as working in a flower shop, putting on a circus, throwing a birthday party, having a picnic and more. These activities are not only fun, but expand the children’s language skills, including vocabulary development and conversing with peers.