Comments from Lisa on Wee Works:
"The physical space was open and high ceilinged, and the interior painted in bright harmonious fun kid-colors. It's in the center of Hollywood (you've seen driving by). Instead of separate classrooms, they've divided the large leased space into smaller areas for each of the age-groups. There are some indoor playstructures that act as boundaries between age-groups. There was colourful kid artwork and creative educational media on the walls. There were large easels with big pots of poster paint set up in a corner. There was a group of kids receiving music when we came in. They have someone come in and provide that. She was playing a keyboard and singing, and then later some taped music and her guitar where she was leading the kids in song.
"The staff are a mix of people with early childhood education backgrounds and students who are working in the preschool either full or part-time and continuing their studies at night; all female except one male. The directorship is shared by two sisters who used to have Wee Works in a house down the street until the group got too large. The staff seemed attentive, nurturing and very appropriate in their interactions with the kids. They focus on social skill-building and relationship-building with the kids. I saw one caregiver intervene when the kids were seated on the carpet for storytime and one child was pushing against nearly on top of another child. She said something like, You need to sit properly, that's not ok, she's looks sad, See? The way the teachers talked to the children was respectful and with intent to teach. They don't use time-out, instead when possible they use distraction or have the kids help decide how to solve a problem. If necessary, they have a child sit down and tell them when they are ready to join the group and play in a more friendly way, they can come back.
"They don't have an outside play structure like most childcare centers, but the church next door let's them use the indoor playgym for large muscle activity (good for when it's raining) and they try to take them - weather dependent - for an outdoor walk, as far as Grant Park when they can.
"They get a dance class once a week.
"[Reggio Emilio philosophy] seems compatible with theirs, no specific focus on academic type instruction, just letting them play and explore through various creative activities. 4 year olds get more structure and specific learning.
"The energy in the room was calm (so different from my son's current class!!) and industrious and the children seemed engaged and happy."