Learning Through Play

We value play as the Essential WORK of the child.

The benefits a child receives through the actions of play are extremely rich and necessary for development.  The creative actions of play builds neutrons for higher thinking.  Play expands a child’s language skills and comprehension.  As we get to know “our” children, we come to recognize the various stages of play that we are witnessing and can then provide the necessary resources to expand that specific stage of play, which, in turn, broaden the child’s understanding and knowledge.

How do we play at Rothewood Academy?

Our programs focus on strengthening children’s social, emotional, and cognitive development with age appropriate activities.  Inspired by methodologies such as Reggio Emilia and Montessori to create a unique program that honors the children and their process of gaining knowledge and preparing for the rest of their school “career”.  Our goal is to provide a rich, meaningful environment that compliment a child’s natural desire to learn.

Physically – we work on developing both fine and gross motor skills – in our classrooms, our playgrounds and in our gross motor rooms.

Verbally – our classrooms are rich with expressive communication to help develop strong language skills.

Socially – teachers scaffold social skills by role modeling how to interact with others.

Cognitively – we offer many opportunities for children to develop solid critical thinking and problem-solving skills.  Teachers are not providing the answers – they are creating scenarios and providing resources where children are able to find out the answers for themselves.

Emotionally – we help children to identify and learn to master and express emotions.

We believe that children have a natural curiosity and a need to construct their own knowledge.  The best way for them to accomplish that is in an environment that is created to encourage them to actively pursue investigations and projects that are of interest to them to develop and strengthen critical thinking skills.

Refer to the following link for deeper understanding of Role of Play : https://rothewood.com/2021/09/03/the-role-of-play-in-daycare-learning/