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What Makes us Special
The Power of Play: What Makes Us Special
The SPELC MISSION
To provide children within the congregation and surrounding community the opportunity to develop and practice his or her gifts as a child of God, focusing on the welfare of the whole child, assisting each to realize his or her maximum potential in the areas of language, intellectual, physical, emotional, social, and spiritual development.
OUR PURPOSE
An outreach ministry of St. Philip Lutheran Church since 1984, dedicated to providing high quality, developmentally appropriate education in a safe, healthy, nurturing Christian environment, for young children 1 year of age and independently walking, up to 6 years.
OUR PHILOSOPHY
Early childhood is a special time when children are unique, curious beings eager to learn. Children love to manipulate items, explore new ideas, have the opportunity to see how things work and test out their own theories.
Following the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) guidelines, we know learning takes place through a balance of teacher directed and child initiated free choice activities called “experiential” learning. Our program curriculum and environment are the result of careful weekly planning by the staff, with progressively higher expectations as the children mature.
We provide experiential learning through a creative curriculum, rich in discovery and exploration. We allow opportunities to acquire first hand knowledge through hands-on discovery to investigate what interests them, to solve problems, discover relationships, and make comparisons and predictions. We encourage personal self-care, the development of self-esteem and respect for others, as well as learning about God’s world.
Our curriculum is designed to help each child develop:
Socially: by providing experiences where each child learns to share and show respect for others.
Emotionally: by helping each child recognize and express feelings in acceptable ways.
Physically: by encouraging them to develop large and small muscle coordination.
Intellectually: by providing creative learning opportunities to develop skills.
Spiritually: by learning about God’s love.
We assist the children in: art/creativity, communication, math and science concepts, physical and emotional development, social skills and spiritual growth.
ONGOING CENTER GOALS
- To meet and/or exceed NAEYC accreditation standards.
- To provide a witness to children and their families, the love of God through Christ.
- To give children the opportunity to develop a healthy self-concept and positive feeling of trust about God and others.
- To provide a safe, loving, nurturing learning environment.
- To cultivate positive child, staff and family relationships.
- To provide parents the opportunity to grow in the understanding of child development by volunteering as a parent participant in the classroom, enabling them to be more effective in their parenting role.
- To encourage parent-teacher partnerships by communicating on a regular basis and building a mutual understanding to ensure that each child’s learning and developmental needs are being met.
- To provide ongoing communication to parents on a daily, weekly, and/or monthly basis via web site, email, newsletters, bulletin boards, dry erase boards and special notes.
NON-DISCRIMINATION POLICY
SPELC admits students of any race, color, and national or ethnic origin and does not discriminate on the basis of income or ability to pay (depending on scholarship resources available).