Salina Child Care Association (SCCA) was organized in 1967 as a non-profit social service agency and currently operates a child care center in the Donna L. Vanier Children’s Center located at 155 N Oakdale Avenue, Suite 100. Our center offers full day, full year child care and early education to children 2 weeks to 6 years of age. SCCA is licensed by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment and is open 6:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Mission Statement
Salina Child Care Association is organized to provide center-based child care and early education, support healthy nutrition, and advocate for the overall wellbeing of young children.
Learning Philosophy
SCCA believes children learn through social interaction with other children and adults, through active exploration of their environment and through play. SCCA’s goal is to create an environment of warmth and friendliness where children develop according to their personal learning style.
Curriculum
Children are offered age-appropriate individual, small group and large group activities throughout the day. Each classroom has its own schedule providing the children with the opportunities to build the following skills to help develop the whole child:
- communication and literacy
- social and emotional
- physical health
- mathematics
- science
- creative art
- cognitive
- fine motor
SCCA’s classroom schedule allows for both active and quiet time. Learning centers are incorporated into the classrooms with materials routinely rotated to provide a variety of experiences. SCCA strives to give young children the skills they need to be successful upon entering kindergarten.
SCCA utilizes the Pinnacle curriculum center wide. Pinnacle is a research-based early childhood curriculum based on the works of Piaget, Gardner, and Erikson. Pinnacle provides early childhood educators with lessons that engage children in developmentally appropriate activities. Pinnacle is published in an easy-to-use, reusable format that includes lesson plan guides, activity enrichments, and long-range goals linked to key standards.
This “play to learn” style early childhood curriculum instills a deep love for learning through active and engaging lesson plans. Each child learns differently, and the Pinnacle curriculum offers adaptability with lesson plans that are designed for personalization.
