Santa Fe Little School
Preschool in Gainesville, FL 32606
Santa Fe College Little School is a child development laboratory center located on the northwest campus serving toddlers and preschool children. It is a unique well equipped facility which provides opportunities for students to observe and interact with children or to participate as student interns. Parenting classes are offered to parents of children enrolled in the center.
The Little School is a parent/child center which offers a developmental program for children ages 14 months to 5 years. Although the Little School is a service to Santa Fe College students staff and faculty enrollment is not limited to the campus population; it is open to the community.
The program provides toddler and preschool care for the financially able as well as for those requiring assistance. One of the goals of the center is to assist student/parents to achieve and sustain self-sufficiency.
Additional Services:
Full Day Food Served
- Child Ages:
- 1 year - 5 years
- Licenses & Accreditations:
- Florida Department of Children and Families
- Preschool:
- Yes
- Hours of Operation:
- Monday_Friday 5:30 AM - 05:30 PM
Want more information?
- Classroom Ratios
- Director and Teaching Staff Bios
- Course and Teaching Material
- Menus, Activities, and more...
Children practice creative thinking and cooperative behavior through play-based activities. Using positive discipline techniques teachers foster a positive attitude about the school experience so that children develop a love for learning.
Mixed-age grouping is practiced and supported throughout the preschool program for the following reasons:
Mixed-age grouping resembles family and neighborhood groupings which provide much of children’s socialization and education. Many young children now spend relatively little time in either family or neighborhood settings and consequently are deprived of the kind of learning made possible by multi-age contact.
Research indicates that social development may be enhanced by experiences available in mixed-age groupings. Leadership and prosocial behaviors have been observed to increase.
Current concepts of cognitive development – “the zone of proximal development” and “cognitive conflict” – imply that children whose knowledge or abilities are similar but not identical stimulate each other’s thinking and cognitive growth.
Research on peer tutoring and cooperative learning indicates that interaction between less able and more able children benefits all individuals both socially and academically.
Mixed-age grouping relaxes rigid curriculums with its age dependent expectations that are inappropriate for a large proportion of children.
Mixed-age grouping has been successfully used with young children in the United States and abroad.
