About Cook’s School Day Care Inc.
Cook’s School Day Care Inc has been providing quality early learning and child care since 1985.
Friendship • Sharing • Learning • Nurturing • Curiosity • Creativity • Independence • Respect • Nutrition • Physical Activity • Play!
At Cook’s School Day Care Inc, we understand the importance of each of these to your child’s growth and development. Our dedicated Early Childhood Educators are second to none. Our centre-based early learning and child care location is your best choice for you and your child throughout your child’s early years!
Cook’s School is a not-for-profit, charitable organization.
Our Mission
Our Vision
Our Philosophy
Goals for the Child
- To provide opportunities for being with other children in a setting conducive to the development of wholesome social relationships.
- To provide appropriate play experiences that contribute to the development of the child.
- To provide opportunities for meaningful play that is based on the child’s individual needs, interests, limitations, and abilities.
Goals for the Parents
- To provide opportunities to meet with and work with other parents and educators who have, as their common concern, the interests and needs of the preschool and school age child.
- To provide care for the child while the parents work, attend school, or pursue other interests.
- To provide opportunities to grow in the understanding of child development through planned parent workshops.
Goals for the Community
- To help meet the needs of the community by providing an early childhood education facility.
- To contribute to the wholesome growth and development of the future citizens of the community.
Learning through play
The educators provide materials and supplies based on the interests, curiosities and developmental levels of the children in the group.
Play and learning opportunities may be available on a tray, a table, in a corner of a room, or any other place where a child can spend some time pursuing an activity. Activities can range from sitting alone quietly observing to being involved in self-chosen activities to joining with others in building a large block structure or exploring manipulative objects or creating art projects.
Children may choose to explore an interest alone or with others; for one day or a number of days.
Educators provide materials that enhance learning experiences with the understanding that sometimes children use materials in ways other than the way the educator anticipated. The child’s learning experience may be something other than what the educator expected.
If the educator feels that the child still needs the learning experience that was originally intended, another opportunity will be provided at another time – perhaps using a different approach to motivate the child.
Play-based learning
Within our programs you will see:
- Games to play.
- Materials with which to create.
- Ideas and things to talk about, relate to, compare with, match, fit into, try out, reinforce, invent, discover, and enjoy.
The children are being continuously challenged by specific learning goals.
- In order to begin to read and perform other academic tasks, the children must first gather meaning from the world and develop an awareness of concepts. In order to gather meaning from the world, children must have many satisfying sensory motor experiences. We encourage the children to explore their abilities to touch, feel, see, smell, and hear.
- Perceptual development is how children interpret their sensory experiences, which is a prerequisite for developing their minds. The program is geared toward helping children develop habits of observation, questioning, and listening. It gives them an awareness of their own feelings by sometimes channelling them into other means of expression. They learn that they are free to make safe choices that respect and give consideration for people and things.
An open-ended program like ours prepares children to utilize their intellectual and creative abilities in future learning tasks.
The daily program
Each child’s current level of achievement, interest, ability and needs are kept in mind when developing program plans.
When children enter our program in the morning, they are greeted and given the freedom, not permission, to explore the various learning activities and interest centres that have been prepared before their arrival. The opportunities can change from week to week, day to day, and sometimes from hour to hour.
Paint, playdough, collage, musical instruments, blocks, dolls, books, or special things for special days, all make each day enjoyable, motivating and unique. Enough things remain the same to provide the security and comfort of familiarity. Educators may incorporate something new or a new way of doing something to add excitement and maximum challenge to the body and mind.
When a child loses control of materials, equipment, or even emotions, an educator is always nearby to answer a question, offer a challenging statement, follow through on a suggestion, or to give comfort.
Moments of the day can sometimes be brief periods of…
- Whispers, quiet times, and relaxation.
- A savouring within of good feelings.
- Involvement time when there is a very special closeness between friends.
- A love time or a magic time.
The children may choose to enjoy a story, quiet music, a gradual approach to a rhythmic activity and dancing, crawling, jumping, growing like flowers, or blowing like the wind activities. There will be time and room to:
- Go outdoors to walk, run, climb, and jump.
- Explore, to experiment, to discover through play.
- Be a child (most important).
To our parents
- We want you to know, to understand, and to discuss our goals with us.
- We want you to look often into busy, happy, noisy, creative play and learning spaces to see your child at play.
- We want you to realize the validity and importance of play and what is being learned.
- Parents and educators together can help your child develop to his/her full potential.
Teaching Techniques
What we teach is not always apparent to the casual observer. We set the stage in order to guide the children without interfering.
Routine restrictions are few because we try to avoid regimentation. Through adult guidance and association with peers, children are being prepared for self-regulation at a pace they can absorb.
They become aware of their own worth both as individuals and members of their peer group, while learning to respect the rights of others and safety.
We attempt to maintain an atmosphere of freedom, friendliness, and creativity. Mostly, adults stay in the background, but are ready to help if they are needed.