Philosophy & Goals

1. THE CHILD– BUILDING SELF-ESTEEM AND CONFIDENCE!

At S.E.E.D.S, we believe that each child is a special individual; that every aspect of their development is equally important; and that each child has the right to an early education programme that promotes their unique growth and developmental potential. Our goal is to provide a safe, healthy and supportive environment that understands, respects, responds to and nurtures each child’s uniqueness – an environment that focuses on building a child’s sense of self-esteem, confidence and self-worth.

Children are active learners – capable, curious and interested in life and the world around them. Our programmes are developed through careful observation, conversation and reflection; and our curriculum is developed in collaboration with the children – it emerges from their interests. The teachers provide guidance and meaningful learning opportunities that emerge from the interests, curiosities and developing skill levels of the children.

2. THE FAMILY - CHILD CARE IS NOT A SUBSTITUTE, BUT A SUPPLEMENT TO FAMILY LIFE

We believe that parent partnership is a key ingredient to the quality and success of our programmes and we are committed to respecting the values, differences, needs and interests of individual families. We encourage and welcome parents’ knowledge, experience, ideas and input into our programmes.

An integral strength of S.E.E.D.S is our willingness and ability to meet the needs of the children, parents and staff in a mutually beneficial partnership.

3. THE COMMUNITY – LEADERS IN QUALITY CARE SINCE 1974

S.E.E.D.S Childcare (Raggedy Ann) has always been a leader in child care in providing innovative, quality programmes of the highest standard. The growth and expansion our organization has experienced throughout the years is evidence of our commitment, desire and ability to respond to the ever-changing and expanding needs of families and the community-at-large. As a multi-service agency, we are in a position to maximize resources towards effectively delivering flexible programmes.

We are part of the Barrie community. The co-operative is actively involved in community planning and collaboration with other childcare organizations and agencies – including the Simcoe Childcare Network, Raising The Bar on Quality, Simcoe Enhancement Committee and the Emergency Preparedness Committee. Furthermore, S.E.E.D.S Childcare serves as an important training facility for Early Childhood Education students; Job Connects’ participants; Ontario Works participants; and as a Co-op placement for high school students. As well, we regularly have volunteers from our community directly involved with our children in the classrooms and greatly appreciate their time and effort.

PROGRAMME GOALS

At S.E.E.D.S Childcare, we believe that:

• Children come to us with all kinds of knowledge and abilities - they are capable, unique, and curious about the world.


• Children are active learners and "construct" their knowledge through opportunities to manipulate, explore (interact with the world), experiment/investigate (i.e. by active engagement - "DOING")


• All children learn/process information in different ways based on their most prominent intelligence/learning style(s) (Multiple Intelligences)


• Play is the most important medium for children's learning: it is the natural way for them to experience, manipulate, and gain an understanding of the world around them. When Educators play with children they are providing them with valuable opportunities to develop social, problem-solving and language skills as well as build knowledge and new competencies - children will be able to draw on these fundamental skills throughout their life.

The role of the Educator is to provide children with play-based, well-rounded curriculum experiences that are developmentally appropriate and based on children's individual strengths, interests and developing skills as well as different learning styles. The learning opportunities must be thoughtfully planned so that they are meaningful (important) to the children and provoke the children's thinking or further investigation and/or spark new interests.

Therefore, our interest centres and learning opportunities are developed by:

• Listening to and observing children to gather information on their interests, curiosities and emerging skills
• Reading children's cues and focusing in on the child's interests (by building on children's strengths and building on their positive experiences, children will develop a love for learning and then opportunities for new skills development can be introduced)
• Documenting/tracking children's experiences that can be revisited and used as fresh stimulation to continue working on the topic or even to take off in another direction. Documentation helps to sustain children's interests and provides parents/teachers/children with a common discussion tool. Observations and documentation are gathered through:
  • Observation sheets
  • Pictures
  • Process of how something came to be (e.g. creative board)
  • Newsletter
  • Chart paper discussions/graphs etc
  • Collaborating with colleagues, children and parents in order to extend children's interests/curiosity/knowledge/abilities
  • Building an environment that is responsive to and extends the children's interests (etc.) and invites them to explore and experiment. The environment should be interactive and nonjudgmental (shouldn't make assumptions about children's abilities or what they're going to do/interact in any given situation). We need to build an environment that is appropriate for the individual child and where the child can be successful

In other words, the curriculum EMERGES from common interests and Educators SET THE STAGE for learning (child-centred approach)

From one our educators:

THE FISH (AND JUNGLE) PROJECT

A young girl came into the classroom one Monday morning in March. That weekend, she had received a couple of goldfish as well as a new book called “Rainbow Fish”. She was so excited to share her news with everyone! With the excitement, the story was read and the Fish Project began. Everyone wanted to make a fish – not just a fish but a “special” fish – a fish from the story. They wanted to make a puffer fish, blowfish and many other kinds. The idea came from the children to use papier-mâché. The children showed lots of interest and the Fish Project continued for some time. We decided to add a fish tank with some guppies, plants and vines.

The older children also wanted to start making the fish but they didn’t want to use papier-mâché. We tried plaster-of-paris and the ideas started to flow again – not of fish, but ideas for snakes. Each one turned out wonderfully and the project changed. At one end of the room in the science centre, we had our fish of wonderful colours, shapes and sizes. We decided to move on to the dramatic area and start to create a Jungle. Using our plaster-of-paris, sticks and other materials we created our snakes, some background trees, vines and plants.. The children wanted to continue creating an Amazon jungle so we then started once again with plaster and this time added cardboard. We found pictures from the Internet that provoked our interest in tribal masks. Some children were interested in books on making animal masks. They all turned out great.

What fun we had learning! And how proud everyone was when they walked into the room and saw all the work they had put into researching, exploring and creating!