About Us

The Creative Curriculum:

The Gathering Place: Child Learning Center adopted The Creative Curriculum, the country’s leading scientifically based curriculum that promotes exploration and discovery as a way of learning, enabling children to develop confidence, creativity, and lifelong critical thinking skills. For nearly two decades, The Creative Curriculum for Infants, Toddlers & Twos has supported teachers and caregivers as they create responsive daily routines and meaningful learning experiences for the youngest learners. We believe that our child learning center should be integrated with high-quality assessment, professional development, and family connection resources to create a well-rounded program that addresses the needs of early childhood education professionals, children, and their families.

There are many different “studies,” that our classrooms participate in throughout the year focusing on different topics that are developmentally appropriate – promoting children’s social-emotional development, and learning in the core areas of literacy, mathematics, science, and social studies. This includes: Beginning the Year Study, Clothing Study, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Study, Block Study, and more. Throughout the investigation into each of these different topics, we focus on all areas of development including, social emotional, physical, language, cognitive, literacy, math, science and technology, social studies, and the arts.

We can only begin to imagine the future careers that today’s children will take on, which is why it’s so important that we provide them with a strong foundation. Research shows that a whole child approach to education – one where children develop not only math and literacy skills but also the social-emotional, physical, and cognitive skills necessary to communicate, think both critically and creatively, and solve complex problems – is developmentally appropriate and better prepares children for life well beyond their time in a classroom.

The physical environment of our classrooms has a profound effect on individual children, the group as a whole, and the teachers. We want to provide a physical setting that is safe, attractive, comfortable, and well designed to help children engage in the activities we offer each child. The Creative Curriculum, includes interest areas, which are ideal for children to explore, make things, experiment, and pursue their interests. The Creative Curriculum classroom has defined interest areas for dramatic play, block building, toys and games, art, looking at books and writing, sand and water play, and discovery table, cooking activities, musical instruments, and computers.

Our lesson plans for these studies are created to follow our daily activities, meal times, and individualization of the children. With our curriculum we have an online program called Teaching Strategies Gold. Our teachers continually observe and enter documentation on children’s development based on these lessons, our teachers complete checkpoints four times a year which are the same time that we have our parent-teacher conferences or home visits.

 
Direct Phone Number:
406-551-7215
 
Email:
 
Mailing Address:
121 S. Willson Ave.,
Bozeman, MT 59715
 
Fax Number:
406-586-6932
 
The Gathering Place: A Child Learning Center We are a non-profit early learning center. Although we are located within Bozeman United Methodist Church, we are a secular program.

We are an Early Head Start partnership site.

“Early Head Start (EHS) programs serve infants and toddlers under the age of 3, and pregnant women. EHS programs provide intensive comprehensive child development and family support services to low-income infants and toddlers and their families, and to pregnant women and their families.” -ECLKC