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Our Classrooms: Building Relationships as Children Grow
At Botanic Gardens Children's Center, we value the attachments children
form with their peers and teachers. Children stay with their same group
throughout the year, moving together to the next classroom
the following September, thereby maintaining close friendships from year to year. Each
group has its own room in the Center as well as sharing active indoor and
outdoor play spaces.
All of our classrooms feature a range of interest areas for art, sensory
exploration, block construction, dramatic play, reading and listening to
stories, writing, music and movement. Teachers create big spaces for gatherings
and for movement, and cozy spaces for one or two children to read a book, hug
a stuffed animal, or converse with a friend.
Each of our classrooms is staffed by a team of four teachers, with a minimum
of two teachers in a classroom at all times. Our teachers are all qualified
in early childhood education and believe that teaching at BGCC is more
than just a job.
A parent-teacher partnership: Notebooks and daily communication
Teachers and parents have an opportunity to talk every day at drop-off
and pick-up times. In each classroom,
each child's development is recorded in a notebook by one of
his or her teachers. The journals are tangible records of a child's progress,
often including photos and drawings as well as written entries.
Daily records of classroom activities, special projects and excursions,
and snack menus are posted on the Parent Information Boards; in the infant
and toddler rooms, information about diapering, feeding, and sleeping is
also recorded for parents. In the preschool classrooms, daily activities are linked
to various curriculum areas such as science, language or visual arts.
Twice a year, comprehensive progress reports are written
and parent-teacher conferences scheduled.
Hands-on learning: Water tables, easels, and books
The five classrooms each have their own look and feel, but all are rich
in sensory experiences, art work, and the written word. Each room has a library
of books and special places for reading them—a child-sized couch, fluffy
pillows, a cushioned loft. Children can choose to look at books whenever
they want, and there are many opportunities for reading with adults.
*Our program is licensed by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Department of Early Education and Care to serve a maximum of 59 children at any
one time.
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