Programs

Program Description

EES offers an environment in which a child, regardless of individual needs and background, can enter the classroom and through hands-on play, master skills appropriate to his/her age level. The programs are planned to nurture the whole child through an integrated curriculum. Children are guided through learning experiences that are developmentally appropriate in achieving individual capabilities and school readiness.

Children learn best in an environment with consistent limits where they are allowed to make choices leading toward self-direction, independence, creativity and divergent thinking. Program activities are active and quiet, child-directed, teacher-directed, group and individual.

The collaboration of home, school, and community increase the quality of the total program. Our program offers an environment in which all persons can gain a better understanding of young children.

Curriculum

One of EES’s strongest points is our intense dedication to each individual child and that child’s development throughout their enrollment with EES. Each EES child has their own developmental profile where both developmental assessments and a child’s individual samplings of art and pre-literacy are kept. As children leave the EES program, these folders are available for distribution to the child’s elementary school.

EES staff is required to make detailed notes of a child’s progress, both randomly through observation, and on a more regular basis through Desired Results Developmental Profile. These profiles allow parents, teachers, and future educational staff to understand the child’s developmental process, through both personal and interpersonal competency areas.

EES curriculum also allows the children to express their creativity through artwork and play. EES staff collects artwork, along with photographs of the children themselves, to further document the child’s progress. Children are also given a journal in which they can write or draw in when they choose to do so. Parents are also encouraged to write journal entries about their child’s progress in the home environment.

EES also keeps a full library, in English and Spanish, of numerous resources designed to foment the parent/child relationship in the home environment. These resources are packaged in a small backpack, filled with reading materials on topics ranging from proper nutrition to plants. Each of these incorporates a 2-week lesson plan per subject. Parents are asked to check out these different materials, and teach their child on the topic presented. This not only gives vital information to the child, but also allows the parent to gain confidence in their skill as a teacher and mentor to the child.

EES activities throughout a classroom day include the following: Interest Centers – art, dramatic play, blocks, table activities, games, puzzles; Circle Time – stories, languages, music, movements, science; Outside Time – wheel toys, climbing equipment, tricycles, sand play, playhouses; Activity Time – independent play which encourages exploration and interaction with others; Short stories and songs, Naps; Toilet Learning (where appropriate); Meals – breakfast, lunch, snacks.

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