Hello! My name is Katie Estes and I am new to Montana, just moving here this past January 2019 from Ellensburg, Washington. I graduated in 2018 from Central Washington University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education with a specialization in Early Childhood Education hoping to start my Master’s program in the fall of 2019 in Educational Leadership online through WGU. When I am not working with children, in my free time I love to go fly fishing, hike, read and be anywhere outside with friends. I absolutely love to be around children and have always wanted to provide a safe learning environment for children to grow as learners and set them up for success. I am passionate about education and believe that every child should have access to high quality education and be taught by exceptional teachers who love what they do. This is what I hope to help provide here in Bozeman at The Gathering Place: A Child Learning Center at the Bozeman United Methodist Church.

 

The Gathering Place is a child learning center that is play-based and child-centered. In a play-based program, children are given the autonomy to choose activities based on their current interests. They can have the freedom to choose what is out for them to play with, then you base your curriculum around what they are interested in.

We believe that children learn best through play in a safe and nurturing environment. The play-based preschool philosophy is designed to enrich the whole child, including social, emotional, physical, cognitive, and creative development. We also include emergent learning which ties into their play through curriculum that is closely connected to what they are interested in and follows the Montana Early Learning Standards and Head Start Program Performance Standards. It is a term used to describe a flexible pedagogical approach that relies on the children’s interests and the circumstances of the day to dictate the learning content.

 

One of our other main priorities is to have open communication with families and their caregivers, to be a team and to build relationships with one another.

 

The Gathering Place: A Child Learning Center is owned and operated by Bozeman United Methodist Church but is a secular preschool, open to all and prohibits discrimination based on race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or age.

 

For drop off and pick up you can park in the back alley or in the Dokken-Nelson parking lot. For longer periods of time you can park on the side streets labeled daycare parking or along Willson, Olive, or Grand. Please respect the signs on the roads and parking lots dedicated to other businesses, thank you.