El Cerrito Preschool Cooperative
Play, Learn and Grow at ECPC
Our kids got to learn about veterinary medicine recently when ECPC parent Matt visited to talk about his work. Matt showed the kids x-rays of animals, including before and after pictures of a cat’s broken leg, along with model hearts, bones and joints.
Then, the kids got to practice a little medicine of their own when Matt showed them how to put bandages on stuffed animals. Thanks, Dr. Matt!
Welcome to ECPC’s “Play Matters!” Spring 2015 Online Auction! It is open and ready for bidding, now through June 1 at 9:00 PM.
Click here to browse through the amazing travel, adventures, museums, restaurants, shows, and concerts you can win–no need for an account to view. When you’re ready to bid, it’s a few simple steps to create your account with 32Auctions, and then start your bidding wars!
Please “LIKE” the auction and individual items on Facebook (feature available on the auction site), and forward it on to your friends, family and neighbors. Send the auction link to anybody that may be interested.
Help us make this auction a success!
When the auction closes on June 1 at 9:00 PM, winners will be notified by email. Good luck with your bids, and thank you for supporting ECPC!
Take this fun quiz to find out, “What ECPC Online Auction Item Are You?”
The auction launches May 22, with lots of tempting items to bid on (stay in London, anyone??). What will you go for?
Science brought itself to our children this spring, when hummingbirds nested in our backyard. With so many beautiful outdoor areas on our campus, ECPC kids get to experience the natural world in all kinds of ways, from tending plants to collecting bugs. Watching these little ones was just one of those special opportunities to observe nature right here in the middle of town.
Recent child development research indicates that academic preschool may be harming children’s ability to think creatively. This research supports play-based early learning like the El Cerrito Preschool Cooperative has offered for decades. The article below discusses cutting-edge studies about why child-led play actually supports long-term learning.
Why Preschool Shouldn’t Be Like School
New research shows that teaching kids more and more, at ever-younger ages, may backfire.
By Alison Gopnik
Slate.com
Ours is an age of pedagogy. Anxious parents instruct their children more and more, at younger and younger ages, until they’re reading books to babies in the womb. They pressure teachers to make kindergartens and nurseries more like schools. So does the law — the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act explicitly urged more direct instruction in federally funded preschools.
There are skeptics, of course, including some parents, many preschool teachers, and even a few policy-makers. Shouldn’t very young children be allowed to explore, inquire, play, and discover, they ask? Perhaps direct instruction can help children learn specific facts and skills, but what about curiosity and creativity — abilities that are even more important for learning in the long run? Two forthcoming studies in the journal Cognition — one from a lab at MIT and one from my lab at UC-Berkeley — suggest that the doubters are on to something. While learning from a teacher may help children get to a specific answer more quickly, it also makes them less likely to discover new information about a problem and to create a new and unexpected solution.
Please join us for our spring Open House on Sunday, May 3 from 10 am to 12 noon. Parents and children are welcome.
This is a chance to explore our spacious and beautiful school; experience ECPC-style art, snack and free play; and engage with current and prospective families.
It will be a fun morning for prospective preschoolers and a great chance to learn more about the programs and philosophy of our play-based cooperative.
Click for more info on enrollment.
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