Our Philosophy
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.