Community Service

At the heart of the Center for Early Education’s mission is a commitment to the community beyond the school, and community service is an integral part of the student experience.  The school’s community service program begins in the Early Childhood program and continues throughout the elementary years.  The program is broad in its scope, focusing on the concerns of empathic children, including the environment, aging, poverty, literacy, and disabilities. 

Each year, children in the elementary program participate in a series of community service fieldtrips, visiting organizations such as the Watt’s Senior Citizen Center, the SOVA Food Pantry, and the Blind Children’s Center.  Students meet several times to learn about and discuss their upcoming day of service, and assemble again afterwards to reflect upon their experience and create a presentation to share with the whole school. 

The Center firmly believes that learning can be deepened through service to others, and students across grade levels participate in in-class service learning projects.  By connecting the traditional school-based curriculum with civic-minded projects, the school attempts to both reinforce academic principals and instill in the children a strong sense of compassion and caring for others.  This year, for example, the third grade is integrating a water conservation program into its California studies curriculum.