The Learning Brooke Philosophy
For an early childhood education center, the ultimate goal is to respectfully support children throughout the exciting journey of self-discovery. How do you help children become lifelong learners? By celebrating their inquisitive nature. Finding out what motivates them. And allowing them to question the surrounding world.
Our overriding focus is to bring out each child’s natural curiosities. By encouraging problem-solving and investigation, our teachers also help instill a lasting feeling of confidence — enabling each Learning Brooke Explorer to gain a sense of personal purpose and individuality.
Viewing “languages” from a wider perspective.
At Learning Brooke, we blend valuable aspects from varied approaches to early childhood education such as Reggio Emilia and RIE’s Educaring™. These approaches are based on the notion that learning is expressed through the use of hundreds of “languages” or means of expression, self-constructed knowledge and meaningful relationships with others.
Young children are encouraged to move freely and explore their environment and express themselves through all of their “natural languages”, or modes of expression during play. We offer children the gift of time, to explore, deepen their research, and apply their knowledge in new contexts, while finding joy in their collaborative work.
The collaborative wonder of joint exploration.
In Reggio Emilia, education is viewed as a sharing of cultures through joint exploration between children and adults, opening topics for speculation and discussion. Guiding children to higher levels of theories, symbolic skills and creativity, the Reggio Emilia Approach supports planning, complex thinking and knowledge application, while maintaining the wonder of learning.
As such, the basis of our work is to help children gather knowledge and represent their thought processes through the spoken and written word — along with non-verbal avenues such as art, movement and motor skills.
Providing multiple channels for expression.
At Learning Brooke, the possibilities are endless. Children have the opportunity to express themselves in a multitude of ways, including:
| verbal expression and wordplay | open-ended materials |
| theatre and dramatic play | artifacts of nature |
| music: singing and listening | recycled items |
| movement & dance | light-shadow exploration |
| water and sand play | paint, pen, pencil, chalk, charcoal |
An assuring environment for learning and growing.
The children’s works-in-progress are documented and prominently displayed as a living, breathing part of the school environment. While eliciting pride in their work, this encourages ongoing dialogue and sharing of ideas among the Learning Brooke community of staff, children and their families.
While fostering this inspiring learning environment, Learning Brooke artfully integrates daily routines that ensure the health, safety and comfort of all children. This also provides a measure of predictability, which is crucial to the children’s emotional and psychological well-being.