Basics
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Our Teachers
The professional staff of the Early Learning Center promotes the physical, intellectual, communicative, cultural, and social-emotional well being of each child. Our educators are carefully selected for their educational backgrounds, their experience in early childhood education, their cultural competence, and their passion for working with young children. Every teacher is thoroughly screened, fingerprinted, and has completed a background check. All are qualified by education and experience.
Philosophy
Our philosophy of early childhood education begins with a child-centered approach. We believe that each child is a unique individual and we recognize that the early years are the most important years for learning, loving, gaining trust, and building school relationships. We believe that by providing a warm, welcoming, and caring atmosphere, with a committed staff that is passionate about providing a positive learning environment, we will be encouraging each child’s development of initiative, independence, responsibility, and self-regulation.
In addition, we believe that play has a central place in the child development curriculum. Play is the occupation of childhood. Through a variety of developmentally appropriate learning experiences, activities, and multicultural materials, children will develop cognitively, creatively, physically, and social-emotionally. It is through child-initiated, child-directed, and teacher-supported play that children interact with, build connections within, and learn about their world.
We believe that a rich and stimulating learning environment is essential to an early childhood program. In our classrooms, you will find a learning environment organized into various interest areas that will encourage growth in all areas of child development including intellectual, social-emotional, physical, and creative. Materials and objects for any one group of children are selected to provide for the developmental range of interest and abilities of the children within the group. As the children grow and develop, teachers change the materials and experiences in the classroom to meet children’s needs for increasing complexity and challenge.
Families are an integral part of a child’s development and we recognize that they are their child’s most important teacher and advocate. It is our belief that partnering with parents is vital to the personal and educational success of each child in our program. We value the relationships we build with the families as well as with the children, and we believe in providing resources to the parents/guardians that will support the whole family.
Location
Our preschool is located in the Roosevelt Park area and our mission is to serve families in this and surrounding areas. Our staff reflect the community around us, so there are Spanish speakers in every classroom, as well as in the Office.
About our program
At Early Learning Center in Grand Rapids, children thrive through interactive learning experiences. Our program encourages school readiness, fosters parental engagement, and nurtures social-emotional growth. With a hands-on approach, we specialize in guiding early childhood education and development.