Palm Beach State College's Center For Early Learning
Preschool in Lake Worth, FL 33461
Palm Beach State College’s Center for Early Learning (CEL) in Lake Worth is a Montessori-based preschool located in SCA 103. The Center serves as an observation site for Palm Beach State College students from a number of disciplines who are required to observe or work with young children as part of their coursework. The Center is licensed by the Palm Beach County Health Department to enroll twenty-two (22) children ranging in age from 3 to 6. The hours of operation are 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
The Center is open during fall spring and summer A terms on the same days that the College is open for classes. The Center is staffed by two Montessori trained teachers [credentials from the American Montessori Society] and one assistant. The Center is open to children of Palm Beach State College students staff and faculty. A Palm Beach State College student does not have to be a fulltime student in order for their child to be eligible to attend the Center.
Additional Services: Half Day Before School
- Child Ages:
- 3 years - 6 years
- Licenses & Accreditations:
- Florida Department of Children and Families - SACS Accredited
- Preschool:
- Yes
- Hours of Operation:
- Monday_Friday 8:00 AM - 12:00 PM
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The Center for Early Learning/LW is a Montessori-based laboratory preschool. Montessori is both a philosophy and a method of education developed by Maria Montessori the first woman physician in Italy. The first Montessori preschool opened in Italy in 1907. Montessori based her philosophy and methodology on her observations of young children. The following are some of the principles of the Montessori method:
1) Each child is respected as a unique individual.
2) Each child works at her/her own level and individual pace.
3) The children learn by utilizing specially designed learning materials. (Hands-on approach.)
4) The classroom is called the prepared environment. Montessori was the first person to have classroom furniture built to the childs scale. The prepared environment is made up of four major areas
a. Practical Life or Daily Living: contains water activities sorting dressing frames and a wide variety of fine-motor activities.
Sensorial: contains specially designed equipment to fine tune the childs senses since all information is taken in through the senses.c. Language: contains pre-reading activities such as vocabulary enrichment matching patterning rhyming opposites etc. as well as phonics lessons sight word activities and whole language.
d. Math: contains activities from numeral recognition and one-to-one correspondence through the decimal system and the four basic operations.
The Center for Early Learning/LW also has an art area which emphasizes process over finished product. In addition the curriculum also includes botany (the parts of flowering plants and their functions) zoology (the five classes of vertebrates: fish amphibians reptiles birds and mammals) history (the concept of time) and geography (the Earth as part of the solar system as well as the continents oceans countries and their peoples).
The prepared environment contains the tools the child needs to do his work. His work is constructing the adult he/she will become.
5) The teacher (known as a directress) serves as a link between the child and the educational materials in the prepared environment. It is actually the materials that do the teaching.
6) The children are given freedom within limits. They are encouraged to choose their own work as long as they show respect for each other and the learning materials.
7) The classroom is multi-aged usually including a three year age span.
8) The children are encouraged to be independent. Being able to do something without help fosters self-confidence and a strong self-image.
9) Montessori teachers are required to complete a two-year Montessori teacher training program.
