About Us - Mission Statement & Philosophy
Mission Statement
Learning Center is a faith based childcare center that offers innovative, year round, full day educational preschool as well as infant care. It is at the heart of our vision to offer a program that addresses the whole child. The mission of our childcare center is to provide a safe, loving, and encouraging environment that not only meets children’s developmental and academic needs, but also their spiritual needs. As a provider of a creative learning environment, it is our mission to instill confidence, self-worth, and Christian morals in every child. The center will provide a faith based curriculum taught by certified teachers with an emphasis on creative learning and development through various activities such as: games for problem solving, reading, listening, speaking and writing to strengthen vocabulary, creative and discovery learning, literacy development, structured learning in problem solving and logical thinking. We strive to offer every child a “bright beginning for a successful future.”
A Little Bit About Us
Place of Grace Early Learning Center is a privately owned and operated early education center in Morgantown, WV. We opened in January 2008 in order to supply a much needed opportunity for children and families in this community. Shannon DePue and Chanda Weaver share equal ownership and administration of the facility and premises. As parents ourselves, we wanted a place where we would be comfortable taking the most amazing gifts in our life- our children. We wanted to have reassurance that highly qualified teachers were working one on one with our children to meet all developmental, social, and emotional milestones. We wanted to have a place where our children mattered and had a name and personality, and not just a number. Most importantly, we wanted a place where our children would be safe, loved, and encouraged through a wide variety of experiences. We are so much more than just a daycare- our goal is to provide quality care and early education to each and every child that enters our building. We desire for the children here to develop a lifelong love of learning through our qualified staff and experiences. We also believe that we are the bridge to assist and help parents to balance the challenges and joys of parenthood. We would like to take the opportunity to welcome you as the newest member of our family at Place of Grace!
Philosophy of Education
Children between the ages of birth and age 6 years old experience their world through touch, taste, seeing, feeling, smelling, and sense of security. Children need to be allowed the ability to experience the same object or concept in a variety of different ways in order to assimilate the information appropriately. Our goals are as follows: activities with children aim to be child directed, teachers assist in the facilitation of learning, constructing classrooms as a means for learning. Teachers of young children set up the classroom environment to allow children to explore, to question, to work independently, within a group or with an adult. Children are guided by consistency, redirection, and positive reinforcement.
Play is an important tool for learning. Learning through play helps formulate healthy experiences for children. Play is work to children. They discover rules of sharing, getting along with others, how to resolve conflicts, how to recognize emotions, how to handle those emotions, how to help others, and how to interact appropriately with others - to name just a few. They also learn to foster imagination and creativity through play. A large portion of the day is spent in free choice play and teacher guided play.
Another objective is to create critical thinking in young children. This is done by forming healthy attachment to adults, developing a positive self image, development of the “whole child” and supporting the idea of continuous growth. To further support these concepts, we attempt to build a partnership between parents, teachers, administration and community at large. Our vision is to prepare respectful, responsible, caring, and skilled life long learners through a curriculum that nurtures individual strengths and talents.
Children over the age of 6 years old take the lessons they have learned in the early years and add to them through experimentation, exploration, creativity, and trial and error. Place of Grace will provide experiences that will foster exploring a topic to its fullest to instill a sense of curiosity in a child who never stops learning.
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