At Sable, we firmly believe in the National Association of Young Children’s stance about playful learning:
Playful learning describes a learning context in which children learn content while playing freely (free play or self-directed play), with teacher guidance (guided play), or in a structured game. By harnessing children’s natural curiosity and their proclivities to experiment, explore, problem solve, and stay engaged in meaningful activities—especially when doing so with others—teachers maximize learning while individualizing learning goals.
-The Power of Playful Learning in Early Childhood
by Jennifer M. Zosh, Caroline Gaudreau, Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, Kathy Hirsh-Pasek
Each day at Sable students engage in activities that spark wonder, joy and curiosity. Whether through a circle time story or song, a thoughtfully planned intentional center or math counting collections, all students access the curriculum, develop lifelong thinking and reasoning skills and build their social and emotional skill sets. Worksheets are not a part of our program.
We believe that the classroom is the third teacher. This means we are thoughtful and intentional about how we arrange the room and the materials we select. We believe it is important to have open-ended materials, meaning materials that can be used in many ways. We also support and encourage teachers to use recycled materials and items from nature, instead of purchased plastic materials, although we do use those too.
Another central tenet of our philosophy is that children’s art should be focused on the process of making art, not the actual product. In the educational world it is called process art. In other words, the experience and skills students use and explore are far more important than the way the art looks. We want a child’s individual skills and expression to be visible. To learn more about a child’s art, instead of guessing what they made, ask them about their art by saying “tell me about your painting (or drawing or art or creation)” in order to understand what the child was thinking. We believe that art created by children should look like art created by children.
We recognize and value our students, families and staff as a diverse and vibrant community. We seek to engage families through newsletters, family days and evening activities. We are grateful for the partnerships we have with our families and community. We look forward to continuing ways to strengthen the home to school connection. We want everyone to know that they belong and are welcome at Sable Child Development Center.