EARLY CHILDHOOD CENTER HAS ENROLLMENT OPENINGS!

Spread the good word about the extraordinary preschool that is the ECC! The school has 4 Pre-K enrollment spaces available, from 2 - 5 days per week. If you know of friends or family who might be interested, please have them call Linda at 923-5846 right away.

 

Your referral can make a HUGE difference for the ECC! Our small preschool depends upon full enrollment to maintain good financial health. It is essential that we fill the school in the next month to maintain a balanced budget this year.

 

Thank you for your advocacy on behalf of the ECC.

                                                                                                                                                           

 

At the Early Childhood Center (ECC) we believe that the child’s innate curiosity stimulates the inspiration for learning. The mission of the non-profit Early Childhood Center is to provide children aged 1 ½-5 years a rich learning environment which promotes self-confidence, self-discipline, and the desire for life-long learning.

 

The child’s experience lies at the heart of the Early Childhood Center. We strive to create educational opportunities that are student-driven rather than teacher directed. Our teachers have developed an innovative approach, using observation of children’s play as a tool for identifying students’ interest around which the teachers structure learning opportunities. At the ECC, we create the curriculum to suit the child’s interest, instead of trying to create interest in a curriculum deemed “suitable.”

 

We believe in fostering an environment which:

·        builds on each child’s strengths and most absorbing interests;

·        challenges children’s intellectual capacity;

·        respects and accepts individual differences and diversity; and

·        offers a family atmosphere with opportunities for parents to become actively involved in their child’s learning.

 

The Early Childhood Center was established in 1988 as a part of the Aspen Community School complex. The center was founded by Bertha Campbell and a group of Woody Creek parents. They were looking for a preschool and toddler program that was philosophically aligned with the Aspen Community School.  We consider our program the foundation of the philosophical belief in child-centered, experiential, integrated learning. COMPASS provides the umbrella 501c3 nonprofit status to the ECC. We are one of the projects of COMPASS which includes the two charter schools, Aspen Community and Carbondale Community Schools. 

 

All the members of the COMPASS community recognize the value of life-long learning with the premise that all learning is an interconnected web rather than a series of disconnected and unrelated events. The ideology is a commitment to the process of learning that arises naturally through experience and active involvement in the world around the learner and teacher/mentor. The participants understand that the paths to acquiring knowledge are as diverse as each individual. The essence of the relationship between the learner and educator is based on respect for each individual’s contribution to the process of creating and refining those pathways to discovery and knowledge about ourselves, our responsibility to our community and to the future sustainability of a healthy, peaceful world.