Sensational School-Agers
The School Age program is an after-school program for children to transition between school and home. Because children who come to our after-school program have already been through six hours of schooling, we feel children need to differentiate their after-school learning time. The homework help we provide is more effective because the children work in very small groups, or ideally, one-on-one with the school-age educators. Some children might feel lost in the large groups of the school day, so our educators try to individualize the way they help them with math, reading, or other problem areas so they can produce some successful outcomes!
Children who attend John Stanford and St. Anne are picked up directly by our licensed childcare bus and are brought back to our Fremont location for the afternoon.
Children attending West Woodland, Coe, Hay, Lawton, Magnolia and Queen Anne come directly to our centers from school via Seattle Public Schools transportation. Some children are then transferred to our Fremont location via the childcare bus based on enrollment location.
Children attending BF Day are picked up by our school-age educators and then walk down the street to our Fremont location.
If any of the schools we serve have early dismissal, teacher in-service days, school breaks, or other school closures, we provide full-day care options for families.
Stories from the Alder Classroom: Our Educator’s Vision…
coming soon
Stories from the Cedar Classroom: Our Educators’ Vision…
We work together to build community and challenge each other to do our best. While students connect and develop deeper relationships, they often find themselves at odds. This means children have opportunities to develop the language and vocabulary needed to negotiate, compromise and reconcile whenever conflict or disagreement arises.
In Cedar, we honor this process through mediation and acknowledgment of children for authentic interactions using a values-based pedagogy. Our classroom values are always posted clearly in the
classroom for children and adults to see. we developed and began to practice these four values, Respect, Personal Responsibility, Social Resiliency, and Being/Feeling Safe.
Stories from the Ocean Classroom: Our Educators’ Vision…
In our afterschool program, we foster a child-led environment where children can be themselves and openly explore their interests and share them with their peers. As educators, we facilitate a home-like physical environment and plan activities based on where the group of children leads them. Activities vary depending on what interests the group, including (but are not limited to) community art projects, theatrical performances, scientific experiments, collecting, and observing insects, and crafts like knitting, felting, and soap making. The space is filled with intentionally chosen materials that allow the children the autonomy to learn through free play both indoors and outdoors. Free play is especially important in teaching social and emotional skills, leadership skills, and the democratic process. Leadership skills are nurtured by including children in decision-making processes, leading important parts of the day such as our daily group meeting, and sharing their own knowledge and skills by planning and running activities. The mixed age group allows for older students to take a greater leadership role and for younger children to learn from their example.
Educators place the values of Community, Safety (both physical and emotional), Respect, and the Celebration of Multicultural Identities at the forefront of their work with the children. Anti-bias education and a social justice lens inform everything from interactions with children and families to conversations and programming choices. We do not shy away from difficult age-appropriate discussions and allow the children’s curiosity to lead the way. We see ourselves as a part of a team that cultivates each child’s well-being and future successes and work closely with families to ensure that each family’s values and identity are honored in our space.