What Sets Us Apart
At Creative Kids Education Centre we recognize that reading skill, and therefore development of phonological awareness skill, is the single most important factor that contributes to future academic success, high self-esteem and personal independence. We believe that success in reading and writing begins with the development of a child’s phonological awareness skills. Dr. Wayne Macdonald, former Director, Dept. of Psychology, IWK Hospital for Children writes that studies conducted in the mid to late 1980’s “on early reading success (which) suggest that phonological awareness is the primary mechanism that contribute to early reading proficiency” and that “research in the 1980’s clearly demonstrates that difficulty identifying sounds (phonemes) within oral speech is the single most important variable affecting (reading) skill development”. Our students will develop their phonological awareness skills with an approach that utilizes their auditory, visual and kinesthetic learning channels.
Approach
Creative Kids Education Centre provides an environment that encourages active learning through developmentally appropriate materials, activities and methods that challenge and stimulate the child AND direct and initiate learning. An overall structured daily routine allows for individual differences in ability and interest, and opportunities for creativity and self-directed discoveries.
Activities and experiences are presented in such a manner that all students will experience the success that is essential to building self-esteem, a positive attitude to learning, and for developing independent learners.
Activities and experiences are presented, whenever possible, to engage the visual, auditory and kinesthetic channels of our students to realize optimal learning opportunities.
Teachers at Creative Kids Education Centre use an integrated approach to curriculum delivery to ensure learning is meaningful to the child.
To address the needs of the whole child, the fine arts (movement, visual, music) will be integrated into the week.
A plan-do-review approach to active learning helps the child to focus on their experiences. The plan-do-review method is similar to the scientific process, expanded to all areas of learning. Creative Kids Education Centre provides a learning environment with a low student/teacher ratio. A fourteen year study reports that students in classes of 13 – 17 children throughout their K – 3 years outperformed students in classes of 22 – 25.
The program philosophy at Creative Kids Education Centre is based on the fundamental principle that children learn by doing. We believe the early elementary child will develop in all four growth areas – emotional, social, physical and intellectual – through active participation in many differing kinds of experiences.
