Mount Baker

Kids Co. at John Muir

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Overview

Ages served: 5 to 12 year olds
Before-School Program
After-School Program
Summer Day Camp

Kids Co. at John Muir is the new child care provider serving the vibrant John Muir Elementary learning community. A participant in the Seattle Public Schools Community Alignment Initiative, Kids Co. at John Muir’s programming dovetails and extends the school day into non-school hours, infusing learning with the vitality of play, the strength of good companionship, and enriching confidence-building activities.

The center’s teachers follow the emergent curriculum approach in their work with kids. This orientation emphasizes the students’ interests and curiosity, in combination with the teachers, as the shapers of the curriculum. A key strength of this approach is that it encourages children to ask questions and actively explore the things in life that captivate their curiosity and imagination. Kids Co. at John Muir’s use of the emergent curriculum also fits well with John Muir Elementary’s inquiry-based science curriculum.

Before-School Program

Kids Co. at John Muir’s Before-School Program offers children an easy, comforting transition from home to school and parents a smooth start to the work day. Every morning, children are served a wholesome, nutritious breakfast, followed by time to read, play (individually or in an organized group activity), color and make crafts, or simply catch up with friends. Teacher supervised homework support is also offered during the Before-School Program hours for those children who need it.

The program emphasizes free choice and gives children options for how to spend their time. This way of being community helps children develop self-direction and gives them room to explore their interests and passions as they choose.

For many children, the morning hours are a tricky time, and depending on how they pay out, can make or break a day. Kids Co. at John Muir’s team of teachers and care-givers are consummate professionals, adept in art of readying children for school, including helping them acquire critical skills in managing their emotions.

The Kids Co. at John Muir Before-School Program aims to help families start the day off on the right foot by providing the kind of quality care children love and parents trust.

After-School Program

The Kids Co. at John Muir After-School Program bookends the school day with high quality programming ideally suited to meet the needs of children during the afternoon hours. The After-School Program is designed to give children support for the transition from school to out-of-school to home. The program gives kids who have been sitting for much of the day activities that help dissipate their excess energy through organized games (indoor and outdoor), projects (e.g., lego building), and activities that allow them greater freedom of movement. Children who tend to be more kinetic learners are supported by activities that engage them physically.

Other children require the opposite kind of after-school transition environment and are best supported by quiet time to recoup. Kids Co. at John Muir teachers create supportive, welcoming spaces and enrichments for these children, too.

The center is intentionally designed to give children a variety of environments from which they can choose—from blocks areas to kitchen areas to areas with comfy couches situated near shelves of books. Kids Co. at John Muir gives children the home-away-from-home they need in order to feel secure and welcomed.

A tasty after-school snack is served every day and homework club staffed by Kids Co. teachers is offered Monday -Thursday. As with the morning program, the emergent curriculum approach underlies the activity and environmental design.

Kids Co. at John Muir’s After-School Program gives children and their parents a supportive, happy transition from school and work to home.

Summer Day Camp

From June to August, Kids Co. at John Muir’s Summer Day Camp is the place to be! Organized around weekly themes and spiced with kid-engaging field trips, the Summer Day Camp program gives children a broad-spectrum camp experience that strikes a happy balance between activity and unstructured free-play.

The schedule is flexibly designed to accommodate the child care needs of families during the summer months. Children can enroll in Kids Co. at John Muir’s Summer Day Camp two days a week or all five, one week out of the summer or all eleven.

The program offers children a relaxed pace, one that allows them to move through their days without being rushed. Each week is inventively and individually themed and is paired with activities that allow kids to explore subjects and topics colorfully and creatively. Examples of Summer Day Camp week themes include:

• Rockets, Ramps, and Gears ( Exploring motion in bodies, rockets, Hotwheels, and eggs)
• Fun and Fitness (Mini-Olympics and the Seattle Storm)
• Hip Hop Ya Don’t Stop, Week 1(Local hip-hop artists, dance teachers, D.J.’s, and graphic artists)
• Hip Hop Ya Don’t Stop, Week 2 (Taking it to the next level)
• Wild Water Week (Exploring the science of water and water sports)
• Kids Co. Game Show (Experiencing and inventing games and game shows)
• Insectopia (Bugs, spiders, flies, and worms)
• Circus Week (Learning the traditional circus arts of acrobatics, juggling, and clowning)
• Kids Co. Idol (Unleashing the inner performing artist)
• Best of the Summer (Remembering and celebrating what was experienced and learned over the ten weeks of day camp)