Early Learning Children's Academy

We believe that young children learn and grow best when they are provided with a safe and nurturing environment. In order for children to develop a positive self-image, it is our goal to help children develop routines of observation, questioning, and listening. We encourage children to be active thinkers, and to learn through experimentation and expression. Using real materials through play helps children develop intellectual skills and creative abilities that will last a lifetime.

We want children to value the importance of play as it encourages children to become enthusiastic learners and provides the foundation for academic learning. Through these important stages children will develop social skills and establish friendships that can assist them socially and emotionally.

Early Learning Children's Academy utilizes The Creative Curriculum Foundations as its curriculum. "The Creative Curriculum helps teachers interact with children in ways that promote development and learning, foster children's social competence, support children's learning through play, create rich environments for learning, and forge strong home-school connections." It is our philosophy that children learn best through play and exploration. Using an environment based on the design of learning centers our teachers are able to provide individualized learning in small groups. Children are also encouraged to interact with their peers through the availability of specifically chosen materials.

We have chosen The Creative Curriculum Foundation as our guide as it also aligns with the PA Early Learning Standards. These standards are designed to meet the developing needs of the whole child. Our weekly lesson plans reflect the learning center based program, and ensure that each standard is met through intentional teaching. Our goal is for teachers to offer plenty of child initiated activities while providing meaningful child-teacher interaction. It is also our strong belief that any early childhood environment must be rich with language and literacy. In order to assure our curriculum plans are meeting the needs of each child we use an assessment system that also aligns with The Creative Curriculum Foundation. By documenting ongoing observations and completing assessments three times a year we can continually evaluate and re-evaluate the effectiveness of our lesson plans. From these assessments our teachers are also able to develop individualized learning plans for each child.