The Creative Learning Center
For Very Young Children
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Our Setting


We have designed the school to be a comforting and stimulating environment for all who use it, both children and adults. Our space is well-planned, with many areas serving multiple purposes. Our space is clean, colorful, and age-appropriate. We have created a space that provides the freedom to explore, to create, to move about...within a well-defined structure, and with clear, consistent limits.

Our classrooms include:

·        The Free Choice Room, full of blocks, kitchen toys, trains, dolls, a loft, an art table for creating, and an exploration table.

·        The Circle Room, full of books, stuffed animals, and more.

·        The Music Room, full of instruments, dress up clothes, more toys, and space to dance and move.

 

Our outdoor space includes:

·        The Front Porch, where we often conduct science lessons and experiments.

·        The Back Yard, where we have 2 outdoor play areas, lots of space to run and explore, and a garden.

 

 

 

Our Approach


The school's curriculum is based on the Reggio Emilia approach, named after the city in Italy where it originated. This approach is based on the following principles:

·        the image of the child,

·        community and system,

·        environment,

·        collaboration by teachers,

·        respect for the child's pace,

·        child centered curriculum, and

·        documentation and stimulation by environment

 
 

Our History

Othella Johnson began the Creative Learning Center in 1972 on the campus of the North Carolina School of the Arts. NCSA's student government adopted the school, giving financial aid and volunteering in the classroom. After 5 years, CLC relocated to its current home on Chapel Street, near the School of the Arts campus.

Our Philosophy

The Creative Learning Center believes the environment for children needs to be one in which:

·         self worth is enhanced at every opportunity

·         individuality is respected

·         curiosity and intellectual ability are stimulated, encouraged and appreciated

·        the material, supplies, and room arrangement serve as an additional teacher

·        the emotional tone is one of being in a caring place where the child and the family are welcome and included

 

The arts – music, dance, drama, and the visual arts – are used to enrich our curriculum, which builds on children's interests, uses the project approach, and integrates all of the senses to make everyday experience rich in learning.

We weave appreciation of ways we are alike and different into our curriculum, beginning with the families in the school.

Our building reflects the children who are there, their families, and their areas of exploration.

Documentation via photographs (from the Reggio approach) helps us to revisit prior learning experiences and to share with parents the activities their children do at the Creative Learning Center.

We encourage children to express their ideas in a variety of ways, including the "100 Languages" Reggio approach.

We appreciate how each of us is unique, having one's own sense of what is beautiful.

Natural curiosity and creativity help a child grow and develop. We encourage children to try new things, ask questions, risk new behaviors, learn alternatives if an action doesn't turn out as hoped, and develop critical thinking skills and healthy emotional attitudes.

Our Art Show/Silent Auction which is held annually at UNCSA is a gathering of the CLC family to celebrate the children and their beautiful art.  The display then moves to Salem College for a month long exhibition.