Philosophy

This expanded explanation of our philosophy is provided so that you can understand how we teach, why we teach in such a fashion, and why we feel that our methods are appropriate for the way young children learn.

At DIGI Academies, our classrooms are child-directed in order to stimulate development through creative play choices. Our teachers prepare the environment for children to learn through exploration, and interaction with adults, other children, and materials. The environment is structured with several hands-on learning centers to facilitate small, informal group learning as well as children working individually. In addition, group time activities are offered several times a day to help foster large group skills and a sense of community. We feel that children better learn by making their own choices, instead of the traditional way of teachers controlling the environment by talking to the whole group most of the time, and telling children what to do. The teacher’s responsibility is to be a resource for the children by submitting new materials, inviting the children to play, and encouraging them to make choices throughout the classroom.

Additionally, our preschool curriculum offers a nature element for the outdoor classroom. The children are encouraged to interact with nature in the multi-sensory environment. It is also our belief that children need a huge amount of time of unstructured play time when they can create their own games. It is the goal of DIGI to create an environment that will encourage the children to grow up with a deep understanding of the world around them. It is important to us that our students experience the joy of being in nature so that they grow to have a sense of responsibility for caring for it.