All activities at the Notre Dame Learning Center Preschool follow developmentally appropriate practices and fulfill expectations of the California Department of Education. They are designed to help children acquire qualities and skills that will carry them through life, including:
· sense of self
· responsibility for self and others
· prosocial behavior
· gross motor skills
· fine motor skills
· learning and problem-solving (executive functions)
· logical thinking, representation and symbolic thinking (cognitive development)
· pre-literacy skills
Here at Notre Dame Learning Center Preschool we recognize the importance of play-based learning; the importance of fostering children’s foundational learning through researched and theoretical approaches that are unique to early childhood. It is evident that through children’s natural ability to play that they acquire academic skills but more important is that they are acquiring specific foundational skills, such as executive functions. It takes time to develop control of multiple cognitive skills and to be able to orchestrate them, “these skills are what you need when you have to concentrate, to use what you already know, and to problem solve” (Penn State Extension, 2012).
We also recognize a child’s right to play, “The child shall have full opportunity for play and recreation, which should be directed to the same purposes as education; society and the public authorities shall endeavor to promote the enjoyment of this right” (United Nations, 1959).
In a 2009 study, psychologist David Elkind (as cited in Miller & Almon, 2009, p. 51) says, “play has to be reframed and seen not as an opposite to work but rather as a compliment” and “curiosity, imagination, and creativity are like muscles, if you don’t use them you lose them. ” This is echoed by the authors of “Tools of the Mind” curriculum, “Play does not compete with foundational skills: through mature play, children learn the very foundational skills that will prepare them for the academic challenges that lie ahead” (Bodrova & Leons, 2003, p.7).
Both structured and unstructured activities facilitate each child’s capacity for fun-filled, life-long learning. Many activities fulfill the guidelines of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles for Early Childhood Catechesis; developing each child’s Faith Formation Readiness and encouraging him or her to:
· develop a sense of wonder at the world
· become sensitive to the spiritual
· come to know that God is loving and caring
· have awareness of God’s presence
· appreciate themselves as gifts of God
· develop a sense of belonging to Christian community
· experience joy and ease in spontaneous prayer
Notre Dame Learning Center Preschool
A play-based preschool sponsored by the Sisters of Notre Dame
