Play is more than just recess. At Washington Learning Center (WLC) our children play to learn. Playing is integral in social emotional development, developing communication and oral language skills, developing the ability to think independently, using their imagination, being responsible, self regulating and building friendships. The WLC preschool and kindergarten teachers value the concept of play and the learning opportunities it provides and ensure that play is incorporated into the children’s daily schedules.

“Kindness” is now the overall theme for WLC. Kindness is what relates well to all the children and adults at WLC. WLC will be recognizing acts of kindness daily. When recognized the recipient will have their name on a fish that will be posted in the main entrance hallway under the caption, “Get caught being kind!”

WLC PBIS (Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports) program has also had an update. The three main concepts of PBIS are, “Be kind! Be safe! Be a learner!” Danielle Deopere, special education teacher, has also written and composed a song that supports our three concepts. The new song is posted on our Facebook account. We encourage you to sing along with the children.

Last spring the high school students in Mr. Briggs’ CTE class built a ship for the WLC playground. It is very popular with the WLC children, and for the community. Mrs. Bridget Gusso will be working with her high school art students to get it painted. Unfortunately WLC has seen quite a bit of vandalism from older children using the space. We hope that as the playground continues to develop and more items are added that all users of the space treat it with respect so that it is a safe place for our preschoolers and kindergarteners.

Grades 5 – 12 students have moved to a 1:1 technology initiative while WLC has 2:1 ipads in the kindergarten classrooms. The students at WLC have 30 minutes of a technology class each week and will use the ipads in their classrooms to complete learning activities. While we do not focus our work on the use of technology, we will be using the Seesaw app to connect and communicate with families. Teachers and students will be sharing messages and images of their activities and school work. This allows parents to get a snapshot of their child’s day at school.

WLC is a fun and exciting place to learn and grow. We thank the community for the support and hope parents of young children will take advantage of the opportunities we provide. We also look forward to continuing to serve the community at large through our Community Education offerings.