Programs
"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world".
- Nelson Mandela
Child Care
LLL accepts students as young as two weeks of age and as old as 13 years of age. We work very hard to accomodate children who have special needs or disabilities. In addition, LLL accepts W-2 subsidy as well as state or military assistance in order to aid in tuition costs. Families who need aid must apply with the State of Wisconsin Department of Children and Families or other agency. Please be aware that if your family receives aid, your child must attend the main center for care and not any of the wrap-around locations.
LLL is a state licensed child care center. We are licensed through the State of Wisconsin Department of Children and Families. Our provider number is 2000557082/ 001. You may view our license in the entry way of the building. LLL follows state guidelines for child-teacher ratios. In addition, parents may read the Wisconsin Administrative Code. It is located in the office window or can be found online.
LLL has been awarded five stars from YoungStar, the Wisconsin Child Care Rating Program. In fact, LLL is the only five star provider in Elkhorn and only one of two providers in Walworth County! YoungStar is a five-star quality rating and improvement system that supports families in making decisions about where to send their children for care. The rating-scale recognizes practices that early learning settings have in place that are proven to be good for children. A providers star rating is based on four categories of quality including: provider education and training, learning environment and curriculum, business and professional practices, and health and wellness. You may learn more from the YoungStar website.
Teachers and parents work together to assess the progress of their children. The developmental screening tool we use to help plan curriculum for your child is Ages and Stages Questionnaire (3rd Ed.). We use Six Simple Ways to Assess Young Children as an assessment tool. All departments use the Wisconsin Model Early Learning Standards to help guide curriculum. In addition, teachers use the Infant Toddler Environmental Rating Scale (ITERS) and the Early Childhood Environmental Rating Scale (ECERS) to ensure the quality environment of the programs.
Four-Year-Old Kindergarten
Lakeland's Little Learners has provided an excellent preschool program since 1985, preparing 4 and 5 year olds to achieve to their highest potential in kindergarten. In joining with the Elkhorn Area School District to offer 4K, and expanding our preschool area, we have hired some great staff and we are very excited to be able to reach even more children in the Elkhorn area.
A variety of national studies (including Reynolds, 2001; Schweinhart, 2002) show substantial benefits to low income children participating in quality prekindergarten programming. Studies in several states (including Moreau, 2002 and Gormley, 2005) also demonstrate that prekindergarten participation benefits children from all income levels.
Children who have turned four on or before September 1st of that school year are eligible to enroll in the EASD four-year-old kindergarten program. Children must register through the School District. Enrollment packets are available at LLL or the District Office, which is located in the 1887 Building (3 North Jackson Street). Parents are allowed to choose which 4K program they would like their child to attend. The only caviat is that busing is only provided to and from LLL if your family lives in the Jackson Elementary School District.
Learning through play is the foundation for early childhood education at Lakeland’s Little Learners. This approach incorporates interest areas or learning centers along with small and large group instructional times. The children are encouraged to explore, imagine, and discover. EASD and LLL utilize the Fountas & Pinnell Continuum to provide a literacy driven curriculum for 4K. Our goal is to foster a love for reading through exposure and interaction with engaging, rich literature. Through shared and interactive reading, children learn how print works and develop a strong early reading base. With the teacher guiding students through texts, they are able to process texts that are more complex than their current abilities. It gives the children a step up in the development of the reading process.
The 4K classrooms also use Dr. Heggerty’s “Phonemic Awareness” (also known as the Purple Book). Phonemic awareness is being able to hear and manipulate the sounds that make up words. Engaging in sound and word play provides students with an important foundation component in literacy instruction.
Handwriting Without Tears writing and math programs immerse students in hands on, multi-sensory learning activities as they work on their fine motor skills and mathematical understanding.
The newest addition to the 4K curriculum is Project Lead the Way. PLTW taps into the students’ exploratory nature, encouraging them to manipulate the science and math materials to keep discovering, problem solving and collaborating with others. Teachers provide a variety of strategies and intentionality in setting goals for each child and guiding them in their exciting journey of learning.
These activities encourage children to get along with others and give them the skills they need for success in kindergarten, something local kindergarten teachers have always found in LLL students!
The teachers provide a variety of strategies that guide each child at their own pace. There will be many opportunities for families to become involved and the teaching staff and families will work together to support the student's development and learning.
Two and Three-Year-Old Preschool
Our two and three-year-old preschool programs are run using similar guidelines for curriculum as 4K, including Creative Curriculum and the Wisconsin Model Early Learning Standards (WMELS). In addition, teachers use the Early Childhood Environmental Rating Scale (ECERS) to ensure the quality environment of the program. In all LLL classrooms, our teachers use intentional teaching to encourage children to learn through play. Play is the natural activity of early childhood. For young children, there is no distinction between play and learning; they are one and the same. Our priorities in all classrooms are to keep your children safe and to provide a nurturing enviroment where children can learn through play and learn socially acceptable behaviors.
Parents have the option of choosing between all day preschool or our preschool only classes. The preschool only time runs from 8:45 am to 11:30 am. During this time your child will participate in circle time, snack, a project, a music activity, free play activities, outside activities, and a story time activity.
Before and After School Care
Lakeland's Little Learners offers before and after school care for children ages five-years-old to thirteen-years-old. Koerner Bus Service and Durham School Services provides school-bus services to and from LLL for all Elkhorn Area Elementary & Middle Schools (First Lutheran, Lakeland School, Jackson Elementary, Tibbets Elementary, West Side Elementary, and the Elkhorn Area Middle School). The main center at LLL has two large school-age rooms and a large school-age playground. When the Elkhorn Schools are closed LLL is generally open for all day child care. School-Age teachers use the School-Age Curricular Framework to help guide their lesson plans. In addition, teachers use the School-Age Care Environmental Rating Scale (SACERS) to ensure the quality environment of the program.
Wrap-Around Programs
Lakeland's Little Learners has two satellite programs for elementary school-age students who attend Jackson Elementary School and Tibbets Elementary School in Elkhorn, as well as the Williams Bay Elementary School. These Wrap-Around Programs offer convienent quality child care directly at those elementary schools. The Jackson Wrap-Around Program is located in the back of the cafeteria. The Tibbets Wrap-Around Program is located in the gymnasium. Williams Bay Wrap-Around is located in the cafeteria. Children who attend the programs walk to and from their classrooms to the Wrap-Around locations. LLL teachers have ample materials and supplies to plan activities and lesson plans at the Wrap-Around locations. For enrollment contact the LLL office.
Summer School-Age Programs
Lakeland's Little Learners offers all day summer programs for school-age students. These summer programs are packed full with exciting opportunities for children to participate in summer school, swim lessons, field trips, daily swimming or playing in the park, as well as the traditional lesson planning curriculum used by our school-age teachers during the school-year. Click here to see more information.