Tabernacle Baptist Church CDC, DC

Tabernacle Child Development Center provides' children with a caring. Safe and secure environment that utilizes a child development centered curriculum. This type of curriculum is based on the emotional, physical, social and cognitive needs of the individual child. The developmental needs of the child are used to determine appropriate activities carried out with that child. Because children grow and develop at different rates, this approach offers them the opportunity to explore each area of development at their own pace. The Staff of the Center creates an atmosphere of support and affection as well as provides the materials, equipment and experience required to optimize the experiences of each child. They also serve as examples to the children, since children learn as much by observing others as they do by direction instruction. The teaching staff acts as facilitators rather than the directors of activities. The environment is carefully planned based on an assessment of the children's skills. Planning is most obvious by the presence of "interest centers" in every classroom. These centers include are, dramatic play, manipulative or small motor skills, gross motor play or block, sand, water, books listening, etc. Teachers make available a wide variety of activities in each "interest center." Children are encouraged to explore all interest centers. Teachers provide an external structure for the day and provide the children time to work in the centers. Their explorations of the environment are usually self-initiated. Because of the variety of materials, children can learn several different skills in each center. Children's creativity is enhanced by the open-endedness of the learning material. A sense of responsibility and powerfulness is also promoted by allowing children to choose their own activities.