Sanibel Sea School and CECI

The Children’s Education Center of the Islands had a great opportunity to partner with our friends at The Sanibel Sea School. With CECI’s educators and a handful of parent volunteers, they ventured to Algiers beach from their schools’ campus. There they met the staff of Sanibel Sea School who had 4 engaging stations for each class to explore, investigate, and learn more about our backyard; the beach! Each student was able to visit these stations. The first station was “Subtidal Creature Feature” - There were portable tanks with fish, sand dollars, and other creatures to find. Children used small seine and dip nets to investigate the water further. The second station was “Swash Zone” - Children explored the area of the beach where the waves met the sand. They sieved for coquinas, mole crabs, and more! The next station was “Shells” - Children explored for bivalve and gastropod shells and learned about the creatures that made them. The last station was “Sea Turtles'' - Students learned about nesting as we are in season! Luckily there was a nest close to for them to observe! Children also created their own nest! CECI is a nature-based preschool that is so lucky to have the beach right in their backyard and for friends at The Sanibel Sea School!

CECI Graduation and Last Day of School

The Children’s Education Center of the Islands held their traditional end of year celebration to mark the end of a wonderful school year. All of CECI’s students created nature-crowns with natural materials found on site to wear during the ceremony. Each class had a special moment to “walk the bridge” to signify their growth and to welcome new changes that lie ahead. CECI families gathered for a socially distant trunk-picnic after the ceremony.

Following the ceremony, on the last day of school students were excited to have Kona Ice visit our school for a special treat! Students played in a variety of water-based games and got to enjoy a cold treat!

CECI would like to give an extra amount of love as we send our VPK students off to kindergarten. We will miss you Gray, Quentin, Noah, Levi, Pax, Sarah, Emerson, Sophie, Finley, and Jaxsen!

"Compassionate Cops" comes for a visit to CECI

The Children’s Education Center of the Islands had the pleasure of welcoming their new friends at the “Compassionate cops’ Deputy Dogs program.” The children learned about the importance of peacefully cohabitating with everyone and everything in the natural world. They heard a miraculous story about a young dog and its owner encountering an alligator by a lake near their home. The children were excited to meet the dog, Gunner and its owner Mr. Rick. They asked many questions, retold stories of their own, and loved meeting their new fluffy friend.

Calling All Gardeners!

The Children’s Education Center of the Islands is proud to employ many wonderful teachers including Ms. Christie Shiley. Ms. Christie is originally from New Jersey, but moved to Florida 4 years ago. She graduated from William Paterson University in 2009 and went on to work with a nonprofit Urban farming organization. During her time there she created several community gardens, taught children about gardening, the environment, and healthy eating. She believes:

“We must encourage our children to smell the flowers, to taste the rain, to touch the wind, to see things grow, and to hear the birds sing!”

She has a passion for teaching young learners and believes that it is important to cultivate a love for learning in every little one she meets! Ms. Christe recently received the title of a Master Gardener! She has planned and implemented our yearly “Garden Club” which has become a highlight of our afternoon programming.   

   With Ms. Christie’s guidance, The Children’s Education Center of the Islands is looking for volunteers for their planning and implementing of their butterfly and sensory garden. CECI has a circular garden in the center of their entrance that has great potential! We hope to be able to incorporate the interests of our young budding environmentalists with the planting of these gardens. For more information on volunteering or donating to this project please contact Kerra at 239-472-4538 or kerraceci@gmail.com.  

CECI Thanks King Contracting Services

The Children’s Education Center of the Islands would like to thank Steven King for generously donating his time and expertise to remove a very large piece of playground equipment. Steven is a board state-certified building contractor that comes from a multi-generational construction family. He has been in the business for over twenty five years and says that it is his passion to build a business that changes people's lives. His generosity and willingness to serve his community does not go unnoticed at CECI! It has been an on-going project to mend, replace, and update this piece of equipment for well over a decade. Generations of island preschoolers climbed and played on this structure at CECI. Although it will be missed, CECI has big and exciting plans for the future for their outdoor space! CECI is currently in the process of certifying their playground as a Certified Nature Explore Classroom! Certified Nature Explore Classrooms are dynamic, nature-based play and learning spaces. CECI is thankful for its roots and for the continuous support of community members such as Steven King. If you would like to learn more about CECI, please visit their website at www.childrenseducationcenter.com.

Safe and Fun CECI Celebration

The Children’s Education Center of the Islands excitedly celebrated Halloween in a new and exciting way this year! In years past their families and friends would gather for a performance and costume parade. Due to CECI’s Covid policies, the performance and parade this year was not feasible. However, like all effective teachers do; CECI’s staff adapted and changed their tradition to still be able to celebrate and bring families together for a fun time. Only open to currently enrolled CECI students, their families were invited for a socially distant trunk-or-treat. CECI families parked their cars in the lot on campus, opened their decorated trunks, and passed out individually wrapped non-candy toys and crafts. All family members also wore masks to be mindful of the health of others. The educators at CECI thought it was very important to be able to provide a safe and fun “trick-or-treating” experience for their students, just in case their students were not able to go out into the community. One of the many benefits of being such a close-knit family school, is that they can still provide safe and fun activities for their students during this time.

CECI: A Nature-Based Approach

The Children’s Education Center of the Islands is passionate about teaching their children about foundational skills and nature conservation. Their curriculum is seasonally focused, which means that their children are learning about topics that they can tangibly see and touch in the natural world. This month CECI teachers have focused on topics such as wind and rain. With daily rainfalls and hurricane season in full swing, their children are learning about these forms of weather and making connections to their daily lives. This month CECI also based their curriculum and learning approach on sea turtles. Children counted turtle “eggs,” created sea turtles out of recycled materials, learned new interesting facts about sea turtles, and even created their own sea turtle nest! CECI would like to thank SCCF for providing supplemental information and resources to further extend this project. CECI children used the signage that SCCF uses to mark their “sea turtle nest” on their playground! Connecting children to the natural world so that they may learn foundational skills and become stewards of the Earth is why CECI teaches from a nature-based approach. 

"Doodlebugs" kicks off CECI's first week of Summer Camp!

This was CECI’s first week of Summer camp! Animals and the natural world were our inspiration for this week’s theme. Our budding artists created daily art projects that reflected the beautiful, interesting, and wonderful aspects of wildlife. We constructed our own nature journals, created paints from natural materials, investigated petrified insects, painted rocks and leaves, made garden stepping stones, and so much more! Sign ups are still available for Summer Camp, but weeks are filling up fast! Scholarships are available as well! Stay tuned for next week: “Hands on Habitat”