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Groton, MA 01450 Phone: (978)448-6179 Fax: (978)448-2399 |
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Distinguishing Characteristics
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Distinguishing Characteristics At Groton Community School we pride ourselves on the characteristics that contribute to our high quality. We maintain excellent teacher-child ratios that enable teachers to provide attention to individual children’s interests and needs. Our staff is highly qualified, and supported in achieving ongoing professional development. Staff longevity at GCS is both valued and rewarded. Family participation in the classroom and involvement in the school overall is always welcome, and is beneficial to children, family members, and teachers alike. Classroom curricula and our school-wide curriculum goals follow the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care Guidelines for Preschool Learning Experiences and the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) Early Childhood Program Standards and Accreditation Criteria. We promote children’s curiosity, creativity, and self-expression with hands-on learning experiences. We offer language-rich environments, and enhance our curriculum with the Handwriting Without Tears® Program to develop writing and literacy skills. Our indoor facility was created especially for young children in 1984. Our classrooms have been designed to accommodate the energy, curiosity, and creativity of young children. We value outdoor play to foster children’s development, and have an extensive outdoor “Playscape” for outdoor fun and learning opportunities. In addition to the general community consultants and resources we recommend, we have two consultants on staff at Groton Community School. Patty Barr of Imagimotion Kidz visits classrooms each week for creative movement activities to promote children's physical development, listening skills, and social-emotional growth. Susan Lizotte, our Occupational Therapy Consultant, also visits classrooms each week, to offer her invaluable expertise and advice on teaching strategies and activities to benefit individual children and our school overall. Groton Community School has been serving the needs of children and families since the 1940s. We contribute our longevity to continually evaluating our program, and making improvements. We strive to be a “community” school in every sense of the word, welcoming and embracing the community and being a place for children and families to feel a sense a belonging, and to learn and grow together.
Handwriting Without Tears® Program We endorse the Handwriting Without Tears® Program, with age-appropriate activities for children in our Preschool, Pre-Kindergarten, and Kindergarten classes to enhance letter recognition and writing skills. The program incorporates music and movement activities and hands-on materials to foster the development of physical readiness and literacy skills. Handwriting Without Tears® introduces children to lines, curves, sizes, and directional concepts through a unique curriculum using multi-sensory techniques, beginning in the early preschool years. Before children even pick up a pencil, they are working toward consistent habits for letter recognition and formation in subsequent years. The instructional techniques and activities also help improve a child's self-confidence, pencil grip, body awareness, and posture.
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