Welcome

Welcome to the Early Childhood Center…where the adventure begins

As Principal of the Escuela Internacional Sampedrana Early Childhood Center, it is my pleasure to welcome you to our school. In the ECC, you will experience the energy and enthusiasm of our young students for learning. Entering preschool is one of the most exciting moments in your child’s life, and we are proud to be part of this journey.

Our teachers work hard to provide a rich educational environment for all our students as we believe each child is unique. We try hard to meet each of their needs; we strive to challenge each student to grow in their social, emotional, and academic abilities, building long-lasting and meaningful relationships that help support this growth.

Our EIS Pups learn through authentic projects or playscapes, representing opportunities for children to apply their learning in real-world contexts. Children constantly make sense of the world around them, forming ideas about how different pieces of their world fit together based on their experiences. Much of their “sense-making” is through sensory input, where each of their senses is engaged, giving them a unique perspective and personal understanding of their environment.

We encourage parents to come to join us in this adventure and be involved in many of the exciting things we will do every year. We genuinely believe that the more directly parents are involved in their child’s education, the more successful the child will be in school.

Sincerely.

Lilliam Nasser

ECC Principal

Our Philosophy

ECC Philosophy

Philosophy

At the E.I.S. Early Childhood Center, we prize each individual child. A positive experience during the early years of schooling has a profound effect on feelings of self-worth and future attitudes towards learning. Our center provides a safe, nurturing and intellectually engaging environment that promotes learning.

We guide our children to:

  • Develop dispositions for lifelong learning such as curiosity, creativity, perseverance and responsibility;
  • Show caring and empathy towards others;
  • Learn self-control;
  • Become responsible for their own learning, behavior, and safety;
  • Communicate effectively;
  • Find pleasure in the process of learning and also in the product;
  • Acquire information and the skills to find answers.
  • Learn basic skills and concepts through concrete experiences and be able to represent these ideas in multiple ways.

We teach children to become good communicators, readers and writers and we use active methods of inquiry and investigation to teach mathematical and scientific thinking. We use computer technology as a tool to enhance learning. Themes and projects are used for our curriculum planning. Assessment and evaluation processes are in place to ensure trustworthy results regarding children’s strengths and capabilities in development and learning.

Our Staff

ECC Staff

The ECC staff is proud to consider themselves a learning community of professional who seek to improve their practice constantly and to stay updated with the new development in educational technologies and research.

There are high expectations of performance; quality of education is the first priority.

Staff

Some teacher expectations in regards to:

Communication:  ECC/EIS teachers are expected to communicate with students and parents in a way that is clear, timely, appropriate and respectful

Professionalism:  ECC/EIS teachers are expected to demonstrate professional approaches to their teaching responsibilities.

Instructional Effectiveness:  ECC/EIS teachers shall exhibit the highest levels of competency in their classroom, and shall endeavor to address the learning needs of each individual stude.

ECC Facilities

Day care
Inside the Classroom
Learning Center
Playground
Kitchen
Other
Day care

Day CareThe Early Childhood Center provides a great option for teachers who have preschool age children to bring them to school. Day Care is a service for teachers’ children only. Day Care students come half or full day schedules and they engage learning and play activities during the day. Children two years and older have a special place where they are cared for by a Montessori certified teacher and her assistant.

Inside the Classroom

The ECC classroom is organized in small areas. Dramatic play area, writing and art, math, science and exploration, circle time or meeting area, sand and water, loft, blocks are some areas you will find in our classrooms.
Children move around the areas following a teacher designed structure and goal. Some activities children do in each area are:

 

  • Dramatic play:  Play house, restaurant, and doctor’s office.Writing and art:  painting, creating cards or posters, writing a letter to a friend, modeling with clay, creating special designs with different materials: popsicle sticks, pom-poms, glue, paper, clay etc.
  • Science and exploration:  Observe plants grow, play with a or shell rock collection, record what changes on a plat when we add food
    coloring to the water, etc.
  • Circle time or meeting area:  Children gather for morning meeting, read and write together the morning message, sing songs, read stories, play with rhymes and chants.
  • Sand and water:  different materials are added to make these areas exciting, soap sponges, cars and boats.
  • Loft:  the loft is and extension of the classroom, teachers may choose to use this area to set up their dramatic play area, or the block or reading area.

Learning Center

The Early Childhood Center provides a great option for teachers who have preschool age children to bring them to school. Day Care is a service for teachers’ children only. Day Care students come half or full day schedules and they engage learning and play activities during the day. Children two years and older have a special place where they are cared for by a Montessori certified teacher and her assistant.

Playground

Our playground offers a great place for large muscle coordination that all of our students enjoy.
Children get from 20 to 45 minutes of active movement developing many skills like running, riding the tricycles, climbing, swinging, and running.
Every year our playground is enhanced to provide the most exciting experience for our students.

Kitchen

The kitchen is an extension of any classroom with multi purposes. Students and teachers enjoy making recipes that help children learn about measuring, sharing, developing the second language, etc. The best part comes at the end when everyone gets to eat the yummy food!!!!

Other

Our hallways are also used for many purposes, some classes use them to eat snack, that way there is no food inside the classrooms; other teachers may take a messy art project outside where there is more space.

At our building entrance there is a waiting area for parents, we display magazines that have many parenting articles and entertainment.

Learning Standards

Nursery Learning Standard
Kindergarten Learning Standards
Nursery Learning Standard

Nursery (3 and 4 year olds)
Unit 1 All About Me
Social Studies

 

  • Recognizes individual preferences and differences

Language Arts

 

  • Responds to spoken words
  • Follows directions and requests
  • Communicates nonverbally, using motions and gestures
  • Demonstrates oral language skills, using words
  • Uses oral language in social situations
  • Uses oral language for creative expression
  • Asks questions
  • Acquires story sense
  • Shows book awareness
  • Builds print awareness
  • Begins to distinguish the different sounds of language (phonological awareness)
  • Scribbles
  • Draws pictures
  • Dictates messages
  • Expresses creativity using skills for writing

Social Emotional  

  • Builds relationships with adults
  • Shows feelings of security and trust
  • Uses adults as a resource
  • Demonstrates social skills with other children
  • Shows sensitivity to the feelings of other children
  • Develops friendships with other children
  • Shows behaviors that reflect child’s self-concept
  • Demonstrates confidence in own abilities
  • Regulate own emotions and behaviors most of the time
  • Follows routines and social rules in a group setting most of the time
  • Demonstrates imagination through dramatic play

Mathematics

  • Identifies basic shapes
  • Sorts and matches objects
  • Builds number concepts
  • Builds measurement concepts
  • Solves simple problems using mathematical thinking and logical reasoning
  • Arranges objects in simple patterns
  • Thinks creatively using logical reasoning and mathematical thinking
  • Identifies basic colors
Kindergarten Learning Standards

Kindergarten: (5 and 6 year olds)
Unit 1 My Country
Social Studies

 

  • Understand holidays are celebrations of special events
  • Understand how historical figures and ordinary people shape community, state, nation
  • Understand Chronology
  • Understand importance of jobs
  • Understand purpose of rules
  • Understand role of authority figures
  • Understand ways technology is use in the home and school
  • Apply critical-thinking skills

 

Language Arts  

  • Engages in   oral language experiences
  • Speaks appropriately to different audiences for   different purposes and occasions
  • communicates clearly by putting thoughts and feelings into spoken words
  • Demonstrates knowledge of concepts of print
  • Know that print moves left-to-right across the page and top-to-bottom
  • Understand that written words are separated by spaces
  • Know the difference between letters and words
  • Know the difference between capital and lowercase letters
  • Recognize how readers use capitalization and punctuation to comprehend
  • Understand that spoken words are represented in written language by specific sequences of letters
  • Orally demonstrates an understanding that spoken language is composed of sequences of sounds (phonological awareness)
  • Uses letter-sound knowledge to decode written language
  • Develops an extensive vocabulary
  • Uses a variety of strategies to comprehend selections read aloud
  • Responds to various texts
  • Participate actively when predictable selections are read aloud.

 

Mathematics:

  • Uses numbers to names quantities
  • Identifies, extends, and creates patterns
  • Uses patterns to make predictions
  • Describes the relative positions of objects
  • Applies Kindergarten mathematics to solve.

 

Social Emotional

  • Identify and manage one’s emotions and behavior
  • Recognize personal qualities and external supports
  • Demonstrate skills related to achieving personal and academic goals
  • Recognize individual and group similarities and differences
  • Use communication and social skills to interact effectively with others
  • Consider ethical, safety, and societal factors in making decisions
  • Apply decision-making skills to deal responsibly with daily academic and social situations
  • Contribute to the well-being of   school and community