Smiley Face Daycare

Our Teachers

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Hello! My name is Dawn Dreher and I am the Owner/Operator of Smiley Face Daycare. I opened my program in 2014, after working at one of hospitals for 18 years. I wanted a change and I have always loved working with children so I opened a family childcare. January 16 ,2021 I officially received my CDA (Child Development Associate). I am pursuing a degree in early childhood education. I have 3 son’s ages 17,15,10. I enjoy being a wife, mother and professional child care provider.

Philosophy

The Philosophy of Smiley Face Daycare encourages children to learn and grow. Providing developmentally appropriate principles and practices where children can succeed in a safe and nurturing environment.

Smiley Face Daycare believes each child is a unique individual and all children can learn. Infants through school age will learn Social, Emotional, Cognitive, and Physical Development, play based models on learning.

Smiley Face Daycare we focus on the abilities of each child with the emphasizes Communicating with others, “Three C’s”

• Caring for self
• Coping with his/her world
• Communicating with others

The Three C’s build a foundation for the child’s school years. The program pursued is geared toward helping children develop habits of observation, questioning, and listening. We work to ease the transition from home to school: learn how to get along with other children and adults, develop skills through active games and many kinds of intelligence-linguistics, musical, and physical activities.

The long-term program goals include:

• Becoming creative, independent thinkers
• Feeling competent, productive and self-reliant, with a focus on self-esteem and a sense of self worth
• Develop a sense of their mental and physical health
• Understanding that they are part of a diverse, multicultural global community
• Encourage the development of higher moral reasoning

Smiley Face Daycare incorporates Marie Montessori in our principles

Dr Montessori believed that each individual human being has a innate unique talent which, when fulfilled, is the individual’s essential contribution to life and the human community on this planet. It is their purpose in life. To discover his or her unique talent, each child needs to be exposed to experiences pertaining to all facets of life. To this end, Dr Montessori designed manipulative materials for all subject areas, activities which children experience sensorially and interactively in a multi-age and multi-ethic classroom setting. Freedom within limits leads to responsible choices, self-discipline , and self-respect. Self-respect leads to respect for others.