15th Ave N Learning Academy at Bethlehem Centers
15th Ave N Learning Academy at Bethlehem Centers
OUR PROGRAMS
OUR PROGRAMS
We have many programs we offer at our center. We have the puppet truck come visit every three months and the children love interacting with the puppets. We have lots of family engagement events like Thanksgiving dinner, Fall Festival, and our annual Christmas Program. We offer Frog Street Curriculum in our classrooms and GOLD assessments.
Here at 15th Ave N. Learning Academy, we believe that supporting children's social and emotional skills is the best way to help with promotiong positive behavior. Research show that children that don't have good social and emotional skills have a harder time learning and getting along with others. Our approach to enhancing children's social and emotional skills is to implement the Pyramid Model and Conscious Discipline techiniques in each classroom. We will provide additional support for children who need additional instruction whether it be individual interventions or behavior supports for children that need it. We will include families in the intervention and behavor support process. We feel that a family's input is very valuable to their child's progress.
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Our program-wide expectations for all children and adults in our program are:
We are Respectful We are Kind We are Safe
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Staff will model these expectations in our center and teach children about the expectations. We will also encourage families to teach the expectations at home. Having staff and parents all on the same page with our expectations helps children understand them and be able to follow them. We only use positive methods of child guidance which includes natural and logical consequences and redirection to reduce problems that may arise in classrooms. Staff are prohibited from using any kind of corporal punishment, threatening, humiliating, or shaming disciplinary techniques. Staff receive training on our Pyramid Model and Conscious Discipline curriculum along with developmentally appropriate practices. When children have a behavior chanllenge, we will contact the family so we can work together to develop a plan for teaching their child social and emotional skills to reduce the challenging behavior, We have an open-door policy and encourage families to come and ask questions if they need help with behaviors or have concerns.
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When a child has behavior that is harmful to themselves or others, we will remove them from that situation, If possible, a staff member will take the child out of the room for a brief time while talking positively to the child about proper behavior and what we want to see happen. If this seems to be an on going issue with a child our behavior specialist will do an observation in the room to see if they can give some insight on what could be causing the behavior
Pyramid Model
We have included the Pyramid Model here at our center.
We are able to support all our young children's social-emotional development and preventing and addressing challenging behaviors
Conscious Discipline
Part of our Conscious Discipline techinique each classroom has a safe place where children are able to go and calm down while looking at emotional books, posters and use stress relief toys. Our goal is to teach self-regulation of emotions by using the following.
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Some techiniques we use are:
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The S.T.A.R. = Smile, Take a breath and Relax!
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The Drain = extend arms out in front of your body parallel to the floor. Have the fists closed palms facing down. Inhale squeezing and tightening your fists, arms and face. Pretend your arms are faucets on a sink.
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The Balloon = show children how you blow up a balloon, then demonstrate what happens when you hold the opening of the balloon and allow air to escape.
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The Pretzel = sit or stand crossing the left ankle over the right ankle, extend your arms out in front of you with your thumbs pointing down, and cross your left wrist over the right wrist. Interlace your fingers and draw your hans up toward your chest. Close your eyes and breathe. Press your tongue flat against the roof of your mouth when inhaling and release it when exhaling. The pretzel shifts the electrical energy from survival centers of the brain to the reasoning centers of the brain.
Garden Curriculum
Garden Curriculum
Our Pre-K and preschool children get garden lessons that allow the children time to help out in the garden, along with planting seeds, watering plants, and exploring what they are learning.
