Elementary School Good start for your child

Portland Language Art (PLA) is a new child care facility in NW Portland. It is located off Cornel Rd and NW 102nd Ave, cross street from Cedar Mill Elementary School, just outside of Forest Heights. PLA owner/operator Lillian Sun has a child care license and will open Jan 2, 2012.

Lillian is a loving and caring mom, who has two boys (4 and 6). More than three years ago, when Lillian was frustrated by finding her older son a good quality preschool, she started to have this idea of having her own child care/preschool. In past three years, Lillian has visited many preschool programs, attended early childhood workshops, and done research on preschool education.

The result is Portland Language Art, a new child care/preschool facility that provides children an opportunity to learn a foreign language while he/she plays in a clean, healthy, safe and creative environment that supports learning and creativity. PLAis planning to provide multiple foreign languages in future (which helps brain development and allows the child to develop an interest in learning another langauage). For the time being, as Lillian is native Mandarin speaker, she will provide Mandarin teaching.

In doing her research on preschool teaching methods, Lillian was highly influenced by the Montessori and Reggio Emilia approaches. She has designed a program that will be Montessori based but Reggio inspired --- mixed age group, each child has own curriculum that allows the child to progress at his/her own pace, but will utilized more visual arts and music which enhance creativity.

"Scientific observation has established that education is not what the teacher gives; education is a natural process spontaneously carried out by the human individual, and is acquired not by listening to words but by experiences upon the environment. The task of the teacher becomes that of preparing a series of motives of cultural activity, spread over a specially prepared environment, and then refraining from obtrusive interference. Human teachers can only help the great work that is being done, as servants help the master. Doing so, they will be witnesses to the unfolding of the human soul and to the rising of a New Man who will not be a victim of events, but will have the clarity of vision to direct and shape the future of human society."

- Maria Montessori, Education for a New World

Montessori Overview

Montessori is a system of education based on the child's developmental needs for freedom within limits and a carefully prepared environment which guarantees exposure to materials and experiences through which to develop intelligence as well as physical and psychological abilities. It is designed to take full advantage of the self-motivation and unique ability of children to develop their own capabilities. Maria Montessori believed that in a child's life there are certain sensitive periods in which he learns and develops more completely and efficiently than at any other time. The Prepared Environment of a Montessori classroom provides the necessary materials and stimuli to allow for this intense growth and development. Educators and child development specialists alike have told us that the first six years of life provide windows of opportunity for the development of the intellect never equaled again. The child indeed does the learning, but it is up to the parents and teachers to furnish the necessary stimuli and environment. Choosing a preschool has become as important as choosing a college.