WELCOME to the Middlefield Children's Center, where children are given the opportunity to explore, experiment and construct their own knowledge  

​Preschool - 4 Classrooms for children ages 3-4

 

Our classrooms are divided into learning centers which support social/emotional development, creativity, early literacy and writing skills, as well as fine and gross motor development. Children are provided extended periods of time during the day to move through the classroom and select centers based on their interests.

​

Our centers include:

 

• Art: Open-ended activities and materials are available for children to explore based on their interests. This promotes independence,     creativity, self-expression, eye-hand coordination, art appreciation and problem solving skills.

• Writing: Children are provided with a variety of materials to promote alphabetic and print awareness, written language, reading comprehension, phonological awareness, oral language and listening comprehension. Children learn at their own pace so we provide tools to support each individual child’s level of development.

• Blocks: Blocks of a variety of sizes, along with props are available for children to use throughout the day. While building with blocks children build skills that promote problem solving, negotiation, pride and creativity along with design, balance, gravity, position, size and shapes.

• Dramatic Play: Through dramatic play children can develop and build expressive language, respect for others, negotiating skills, problem solving, self-confidence and self-reliance, independence and they begin to identify how it feels to be someone else.

• Math/Manipulatives: Opportunities to count, sort, make patterns, measure, weigh and compare materials promote number recognition, one-to-one correspondence and traditional early math skills. A variety of puzzles are available, as well as games to encourage problem solving, taking turns, and expressive language.

• Science: Children are encouraged to ask questions, make hypotheses, conduct investigations and collect data. These experiences allow children to be active learners.

• Sensory: In this center children learn to compare weights, measure, the effects of gravity, properties of matter and buoyancy, as well as problem solve, use expressive language, learn and build on their growing vocabulary.

​

Pre-K at MCC

​

Pre-K at MCC gives children the advantage of an extra year to develop critical social and emotional skills gained through play and self-directed learning, an extra year to develop curiosity, creativity, resourcefulness, perseverance and resilience, an extra year of childhood before starting formal education.

A large and ever-growing body of research around brain development tells us that development of the social-emotional brain takes center stage between the ages of two and seven years, and that the development of this brain is critical in terms of future outcomes for children.

The needs of the social-emotional brain must be met for a child to develop certain dispositions like creativity and resilience, and therefore necessary to access higher executive functions of their frontal cortex, which doesn’t move into center stage development until a child is around the age of seven or eight.

Along with the focus on social-emotional development, children will be introduced to more focused studies such as author studies, projects based on their interests as well as additional opportunities in literacy, math, and science. Art and nature are core to MCC, for all ages, and will continue within the Pre-K program.

​

Programs offered for preschool and Pre-K: 8:30 am - 12:00, 8:30 am - 3:30 pm, or a full day which is 8:30 am - 6:00 pm.

​