About EPCS – Eliot-Pearson Children's School @ Tufts University

Tour of Eliot-Pearson Children’s School

Transcript of EPCS Video Opening Scene Only

OPENING SEQUENCE:

Question: Where do you go to school?

Child 1: At Eliot-Pearson

Question: What do you like to do at Eliot-Pearson Children’s School?

Child 1: I like to do art because it’s what I like to do.

Child 2: It’s that I get to have exercise in classes

Child 3: Katie!

Child 4: Play.

Child 5: Go on the swing.

Child 6: Help building Kibo.

Child 7: Play in the treehouse.

Child 8: The swings!

Child 9: Painting. I like to color. I like to color.

Child 10: I raise my hand and answer questions.

Child 11: I like swinging on the swing.

Child 5: Go up and down on the hill.

Full Transcript of EPCS Video

OPENING SEQUENCE:

Question: Where do you go to school?

Child 1: At Eliot-Pearson

Question: What do you like to do at Eliot-Pearson Children’s School?

Child 1: I like to do art because it’s what I like to do.

Child 2: It’s that I get to have exercise in classes

Child 3: Katie!

Child 4: Play.

Child 5: Go on the swing.

Child 6: Help building Kibo.

Child 7: Play in the treehouse.

Child 8: The swings!

Child 9: Painting. I like to color. I like to color.

Child 10: I raise my hand and answer questions.

Child 11: I like swinging on the swing.

Child 5: Go up and down on the hill.

A Brief History of Eliot-Pearson Children’s School

In 1922, Abigail Eliot and Elizabeth Ware Winsor Pearson founded the Ruggles Street School and Training Center in Roxbury, MA. It was one of the first nursery schools in the country. It became a natural training ground for preschool teachers. It also served as a research site for those interested in learning about typical, healthy, active young children, an interest that emerged with the establishment of child development as a field of study. In 1926 the Ruggles Street School became the Nursery Training School of Boston, reflecting its primary focus on teacher training.

In 1951 the Nursing Training School began its affiliation with Tufts University. Teachers were able to pursue college education at the university through the College of Special Studies while undergoing training in a preschool setting. In 1964, the Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Study was formally established, with the Children’s School as its laboratory – demonstration facility.

Eliot-Pearson Children’s School Today, Tufts University

EPCS serves children and families from the surrounding neighborhoods and cities. No matter where families live, EPCS is another place like home.

EPCS offers an early childhood program to sixty-five children ages two years and nine months to seven years old – Rainbow Room, Purple Room, Green Room, Orange Room.

EPCS provides enrichment programs through our extended day program, our summer program, and our ongoing collaborations with several Tufts departments:

Early childhood Makerspace at the Evelyn G. Pitcher Resource Lab
Robotics Engineering in collaboration with DevTech Research Group of Tufts U.
Movement and dance in collaboration with the Dept of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies
Philosophy Class in collaboration with the Dept of Philosophy

Abigail Eliot and Elizabeth Pearson’s philosophy of early education remains at the heart of our work with children. Children are at the center of everything we do. We provide them learning experiences that are active, meaningful, and integrated. We commit to the whole child. We strive to help children develop their full potential and fulfill their complete humanity:

Social and Emotional
Cognitive, Language, and Literacy
Perceptual, physical and motor
Personal and sense of self

Our model of teaching and learning is based on the socio-constructivist approach where children are actively engaged in the learning process with a focus on the social and collaborative dimensions of learning.

Our curriculum is inquiry-based involving problem-solving and discovery.

Our curriculum develops through an interactive process between the child, the teacher, and the environment.

Our curriculum connects within and across disciplines through project-based, authentic learning, allowing children to pursue their interests to their hearts’ content.

EPCS holds four core values that influence the character and content of our curriculum:

Anti-bias education:

Natural Environment:

Connection
Responsibility
Caretaking
Earth Citizens

Mindfulness:

Developmental Technologies:

Together we make a vibrant community of learners bound by our joy of learning with and from each other.

Together we sing, “This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine…”

Let it shine!

Come and play soon!

This is Eliot-Pearson Children’s School.

Mission Statement

Provide high quality, nurturing experience for all children and their families.
Develop and disseminate new ideas in teaching and learning.
Serve as a site for research and children-focused collaborative projects with departments at Tufts University, local and international learning and research institutions, and with community schools and programs.
Conduct local and global teacher training and professional development, or both in-service and pre-service teacher education.
Actively seek communities of learners reflecting diverse abilities, racial, ethnic, religious, linguistic, cultural, family, and socio-economic backgrounds.

Eliot-Pearson Children’s School is the laboratory-demonstration program of the Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Study and Human Development at Tufts University:

We serve as a model and demonstration facility.
Provide a training and observation site for teachers, undergraduate and graduate students in Child Development.
Act as a research site for faculty and supervised students in the Department of Child Study and Human Development.

Eliot-Pearson Children’s School is a school that provides an exemplary early education and care program to children ages 2 years and 9 months to 7 years:

Grounded in the principles of child development and developmentally appropriate practice.
Guided by our core values of anti-bias education, connecting children with the natural environment, mindfulness, and developmental technologies.
Serves 65 families from neighboring communities that includes Medford, Somerville, Arlington, Cambridge, Boston, Winchester, Malden, Everett, Concord, and Watertown.
Licensed by the MA Department of Early Education and Care (EEC) and accredited by the National Association for Educators of Young Children (NAEYC).

"Many schools claim to be deeply committed to community, but at Eliot-Pearson it isn’t just a squishy concept. It is a clear and purposeful pursuit of inclusion, acceptance, and support. We were initially drawn to the notion, but the dedicated and passionate teachers and administrators (as well as fellow parents and caregivers) have delivered in ways that have exceeded our expectations."

Nicole and Eric

Parents

A Vibrant Community of Learners

History of EPCS