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Hello and Welcome!
Thank you for visiting this page, and for wanting to learn more about the Early Childhood Education Center (ECEC).
ECEC is proud to have a well-established Preschool-For-All Program that was awarded funding by the State of Illinois through a competitive grant application process. This grant has given us the opportunity to provide families with a program free of charge with a healthy snack and bus services for our preschoolers. Each classroom has a minimum of one paraprofessional and one Early Childhood Special Education/ESL teacher. Classrooms range in size from 10 to 20 students.
The Early Childhood Education Center has six multi-age classrooms serving students in the morning and in the afternoon. We follow the Illinois Early Learning Standards and use the Creative Curriculum model in our classes. Our mission is to provide the finest research-based early childhood education program in partnership with the child’s family. Our parents are involved through volunteer opportunities, parent-education programs, frequent home/school communications, and open-door visitation opportunities. We expect our families to regularly attend our wide array of programs, since we believe that parents are their child’s first and most important teacher.
We invite all district families to bring their preschoolers to the Early Childhood Education Center for regularly held screenings that are offered throughout the year. Screenings are offered at no cost to parents of 3- and 4- year-olds, or prior to Kindergarten entry at age 5. Our screenings offer you a personal visit that includes vision and hearing screenings, developmental screening in expressive and receptive language, fine and gross motor coordination, cognitive development, self-help skills, and social/emotional development. Families that have any concerns about their child’s developmental progress are encouraged to call ECEC for an appointment. Individual concerns can then be addressed to determine if a child should be seen prior to any scheduled calendar screening dates.
Philosophically, we believe that all children are more alike than different in their needs, particularly in the early childhood play-based environment. At ECEC, we try hard to individualize our approach in working with each child and strive to include all children, whenever possible, (based on each child’s needs) in regular classrooms. Any therapy that a child receives is given in the classroom, where the child feels most secure.
If we can be of any assistance to you, or should you have any questions about our programs, please feel free to contact us.
Sincerely,
Elvia Villalobos
ECEC Principal
630-694-1174
