Staff members of the Mary Meta Lazarus Child Development Center use their thorough knowledge of child development as they consider the children’s daily schedule, design the classroom environment, and plan and implement a variety of developmentally appropriate classroom experiences
Children become actively involved and learn through direct, hands-on experience with a variety of concrete materials. Experiences in art, science, language arts, math, imaginative play, music and movement, block building, and cooking are planned and offered each week
A balance of activity is provided throughout the day which includes indoor/outdoor, quiet/active, and individual/small group/large group
Our goal is to create an environment rich in opportunities for sensory/exploratory play, constructive play, and symbolic play
Language and Literacy
Children learn to love books through their joyful encounters with stories shared with them by enthusiastic, dedicated teachers
In the writing centers in each classroom, children spend time using a variety of writing tools, scissors, hole punches, paper, and envelopes to transition from making random marks to developing picture-making skills to actually creating print forms
Our teachers make reading aloud and transcribing the spoken word on paper experiences that entice their young listeners to want to become readers and writers themselves
Math Learning
Our teachers recognize that children have a natural curiosity about math and understand that mathematics for young children is more than just numbers and rote counting – it involves logical operations like matching and sorting, arranging by size, and learning about space, time, speed, and sequence
Our teachers work to make mathematics a sense-making process for children, one with everyday relevance
We believe teaching is all about challenging children to go beyond what they already know and actually use new math skills they have acquired
Science Exploration
Young children are natural scientists who observe people, animals, insects, and objects in their environment both inside the classroom and outdoors on the playground. Science in our program begins with children’s curiosity, involves exploration, and leads to discovery with the support and encouragement of our skilled teachers
Teachers plan the curriculum to include lots of opportunities for children to practice the process skills of observing, predicting, classifying, hypothesizing, experimenting, and communicating
Children learn about air, liquids, color, shadows, and living things by theorizing, through hands-on investigation, and by engaging in lots of discussion about what they observe
Staff members of the Mary Meta Lazarus Child Development Center use their thorough knowledge of child development as they consider the children’s daily schedule, design the classroom environment, and plan and implement a variety of developmentally appropriate classroom experiences
Children learn to love books through their joyful encounters with stories shared with them by enthusiastic, dedicated teachers 
Our teachers recognize that children have a natural curiosity about math and understand that mathematics for young children is more than just numbers and rote counting – it involves logical operations like matching and sorting, arranging by size, and learning about space, time, speed, and sequence
Young children are natural scientists who observe people, animals, insects, and objects in their environment both inside the classroom and outdoors on the playground. Science in our program begins with children’s curiosity, involves exploration, and leads to discovery with the support and encouragement of our skilled teachers 