Philosophy
Canby Community Preschool's philosophy is that each child will be taught in a manner that is developmentally appropriate to his/her age and stage of growth.
Developmentally appropriate means understanding that growth is orderly, structured, and predictable.
Children walk before they run.
They think concretely before abstractly.
Developmentally appropriate means accepting the fact that every child has his own rate of growth unique to him. In this way he is different from every other child.
Developmentally appropriate means accepting the child as a total system with his/her physical, social, emotional, and intellectual components depending upon and supporting each other. These components are not separate, and one cannot be accelerated ahead of the others without upsetting an intrinsic and intricate balance.
A child tends to seek balance necessary for his time and space at any given moment.
Developmentally appropriate means promoting educational programs for children in terms of development as it is now, not in terms of what one thinks it ought to be.
Research has affirmed that young children learn most effectively through a concrete play-oriented approach to early childhood education. "Play is the foundation of all later cognitive functioning."
I hear and I forget
I see and I remember
I do and I understand
The preschool classroom exists to provide the child with:
- Time to grow and develop as nature intended him to. There is no pushing, but a respect for nature's timing.
- Experiences through which he can make discoveries about things, about life, about him-or herself- and experiences which will challenge the whole child as he or she is ready. Involvement of the whole child is reality, not a cliché.
- Acceptance without conditions; respect for the unique human being the child is; and "trusts" in his or her goodness and capabilities.