School Age

Hi, my name is Alissa and I am the lead School Age teacher, working in the afternoons. I began working here at Eatonville Early Learning Center in middle of September 2009. I am a mom of 3 wonderful girls. Alexa, age 17, Julia, who is 13 and Bella who is 18 months old. They keep me busy! I enjoy reading, listening to music and playing board games with my kids. My husband Chad and I , along with our 3 girls, have lived in Eatonville for 4 years and love it!

When you drop your child off in the mornings, please make sure you walk your child all the way into the school age building. You may sign them in at the office before or after you walk them to their classroom. We will make sure your child has breakfast and completes his or her homework before school. The teachers will also get your child safely on the van to school. Please be aware that it is better for you child's homework to be completed before bringing them in the morning, as when they get here they are really just wanting to play and visit with friends, and when staff tries to get them to do homework it is met with a bad attitude (which starts the whole day out badly).

The children will arrive back here around 3:00pm. Our afternoon teachers will be here to greet your children when they arrive after school. The children will eat snack immediately upon arrival, then they will be expected to sit down and finish homework. Please inform one of the school age teachers if you do or don't want to have you child finish all their school work before playing,

Please see our parent bulletin board for class plans and daily events that your child will be experiencing during the afternoons while they are in our care.

The School Age Program has been broken up into a schedule that looks something like this...

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Game Day: Board games, outdoor games, group play	Math & Science: Experimenting with cause and affect	Arts, Crafts & Creativity	Cooking Day: Always the kids' favorites	Free Choice & Cleaning our room and toys

We have different areas of interest in our school age classroom.

Each area is designed to foster a different aspect of the child's growth and development (either physically, mentally or socially).

Block Area: This is where the children can work together with others or work alone making amazing creations using large or small blocks, Lego's, Lincoln Logs etc.

Montessori Area: This area is designed to help children learn practical life skills such as pouring without spilling, braiding, spooning etc. The goal is to help children to slow down and think when they are working on.

Art Area: In this space children are free to be creative as they choose to be, whatever they design is meant to be a self esteem builder and is praised as such.

Dramatic Play Area: This area helps children interact with each other, which develops their social skills. This area is very helpful in developing communication skills as well as fostering their imaginations.

Reading/Quiet/Video Area: This area is where children can quiet down and have time to themselves and rest. There are many different levels of reading materials available. We also have a variety of videos for watching during free day activities (all videos are approved through lead staff or office personnel).

Sensory Table: In this area we have a large tray filled with materials such as corn meal, flax seed, water, etc. This area is soothing and will calm down even the most wound up child. Children can measure, pour, sift, or just run these materials through their fingers.

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