At GCS our Early Education Programs are molded around the concept that young children thrive in classroom communities designed and structured with the importance of play in mind. Play that is self-directed, enhanced by the presence of elegant materials, and supported by teachers who understand how to interact during play promotes invaluable growth and development. GCS teachers see themselves as partners in making discoveries and supporting children's motivation to understand and to know more about their world.
Our educational philosophy and corresponding curricula are constructed from our understanding of the role teachers have in scaffolding each child's learning. It is through this combination of honoring the importance of play, knowing where the child is developmentally, and recognizing readiness for new challenges that our teachers are able to effectively teach academic skills related to literacy and numeracy. Through games, songs, journaling, and various hands-on experiences, the teachers in the Nido and Monarch Rooms engage children in phonemic awareness and phonological work. This includes rhyming, hearing initial sounds, breaking words into syllables and more. The teachers do the same with work with numbers and engage children in counting, one to one correspondence, number recognition and other math concepts. Through STEM and STEAM projects, our faculty engages children in work that calls on high order thinking skills of problem solving and critical thinking.
William Butler Yeats said, “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.” At GCS we are able to meet children where they are developmentally while constantly looking for the logical next step to promote growth and learning. In this way we are able to light fires in the hearts of children and begin to build a love of learning.
