Heartland Early Childhood Center

We at Heartland Early Childhood Center desire to inspire children to seek out knowledge, encourage innovation, stimulate creativity, celebrate success, learn from failure, build and value relationships, and promote community participation. We respect and cherish each child, valuing their short precious time in early childhood. We have an open mind and are eager to learn as much from them as they do from us. It is our responsibility to first and foremost provide a safe and nurturing environment that is organized, clean, flexible and stimulating. We believe our role as early childhood educators is to prepare the environment for each child to explore in his or her own way. We follow the theorist Jean Piaget and his belief that children are active participants in their own learning and that they learn by doing. Children learn through play. We provide materials that interest the children and motivate them to explore.

Child-led activities are prominent. As they play they are learning to solve problems, develop social interactions skills, and develop ideas about the world. We provide predictability through scheduling, expectations, age appropriate resources, and a commitment to the school family that promotes independence and responsibility in each child. We are available to encourage and scaffold each child's discoveries. We are knowledgeable and conscious of how children develop and use that information to provide authentic developmentally appropriate activities. Our lessons meet the needs of each individual student, challenge them and give them opportunities to share their thoughts and ideas. By using a variety of teaching techniques such as hands-on experiences, cooperative learning, real-life applications, teacher-led and student led activities we can reach students of all abilities and intelligences.

We believe that building a classroom community that children can be involved in and take pride in will encourage them to work together. We use everyday events as opportunities to teach life skills. We believe that the world of education is constantly evolving, and it is our duty to be knowledgeable with current research in the field of early childhood education We further our abilities daily and improve teaching to ensure that each student is able to grasp the concepts taught. We observe and record each child's progress to identify their developmental level, areas of growth as well as areas to improve. We at Heartland Early Childhood Center believe that parents are a child's first teacher and are a vital piece to each child's education. We believe that respectful, caring, bonds with each family are imperative for a child to be successful in the classroom and society.

We work with each child's family, to welcome them into the classroom, and to encourage them to be involved in classroom and school activities. We wish to keep open lines of communication that parents can utilize to converse about their questions, concerns, or celebrations regarding their child. We believe that each child is special and unique, and every classroom brings a unique community of learners. We are excited to learn from them as they learn from us. We desire to give them the tools that they need to be successful in life, to believe in themselves, to love themselves, and to love learning.

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