Belmont Community Early Learning
Belmont Community Early Learning serves the 3-5 year students as a full-day, highly academic early education program that focuses on the education of the whole child. With a heavy emphasis on academics, the development of healthy social skills and frequent parent-teacher interaction, Early Learning provides a sound educational foundation to ensure future academic success.
The Community Education Alliance of West Philadelphia runs this program through a partnership with Head Start and therefore the program follows all National Head Start Outcomes and Standards. Belmont Community Early Learning strives to provide a learning environment of trust, structure, creativity, and one that is sensitive to the varying developmental rates of the students. Belmont Community Early Learning stresses the daily combination of teacher-directed and student-initiated activities and small-group and class time.
The curriculum is thematically organized in units which inspire stimulating lessons, covering a variety of topics. The program combines the following curriculum resources and also encourages creative expansion from the teachers: Children’s Literacy Initiative’s Blueprint Curriculum, Everyday Counts Calendar Math and the Creative Curriculum. All are rich in literacy and mathematics and meet the PA State Standards as well as the National Head Start Outcomes and Standards.
Integrated throughout the program is an emphasis on nutrition, healthy living, and “getting along” skills. We believe these learned skills will assist in the healthy development of our children. We want our children to be not only well educated, but also well socially well adjusted and prepared.
The instructional schedule ensures that all teachers are on the same unit as one another, thus facilitating collaboration and collective planning. The sharing of lessons and activities leads to further cohesion across the group.
Complimenting our curriculum and allowing for additional hands-on exploration are exciting student trips. Parents are invited to plan and participate in unit related trips, some of which include: the Camden Aquarium, the Please Touch Museum, Linvilla Orchards, and the FREE Library of Philadelphia. These events compliment the curriculum and allow for additional hands-on learning opportunities.Additionally, Early Learning devotes great effort to keeping parents involved with the program on a constant basis. Parents are encouraged to meet with the teachers and the program director to stay abreast of their children’s progress and development, participate in staff-parent conferences, and to volunteer with projects happening in their children’s classrooms.
