Supervisor: Peggy Ondera

Assessments: 847-888-5000, X.5520

PTO President: Evelyn Vazquez

Mission

Illinois Park Center for Early Learning is a community of learners dedicated to creating a school environment rich in language, literacy education and mutual respect for each child, family and educator. Our mission is to develop independent, curious, confident learners equipped with the skills and academic excellence to contribute to our global community.

Faculty: 15 teachers (7 bilingual and 8 English)

Kindergarten Transition Facilitator – Therese Gingerich
Student Enrollment – 136 full day kindergartners

                                         320 pre-schoolers

School Hours:  8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

School Environment:

Walking into Illinois Park, visitors are surrounded by bright colors and friendly faces.  After being closed due to enrollment changes, Illinois Park reopened as an Early Learners Center in 2006.  The school houses children in preschool and full day kindergarten classes held in both English and Spanish.  Students are referred to the program through a careful screening process that identifies children who, with extra attention, can be ready learners when they enter elementary school.

The school is alive in a way that only an early childhood center can be. Young students purposefully walk to the office, intent on the task of delivering the attendance. A glance in a classroom reveals children gathered around a teacher participating in group activities, working at learning centers, or interacting with others in the play area. All busy going about their business of learning.

Screening:

Illinois Park also houses one of U-46’s screening and assessment centers for preschoolers.  Parents can have their child screened as a “developmental checkup”.  If learning concerns arise, further play-based assessment is done to see if the child qualifies for special education services.

Student Learning:

The classrooms at Illinois Park are full of activity centers, toys, books, letters, words and numbers all selected with the goal of providing students with experiences they need to understand and develop their awareness and skills.

Lessons at Illinois Park are based on the Illinois Early Learning Standards and the recently released Illinois Learning Standards for Kindergarten.  The High Scope Curriculum and the U-46 Curriculum Roadmap are also integral components.

Students at Illinois Park are immersed in an environment that provides educational learning activities. At this school learning is a priority, but it does not exclude the need young children have for play and fun experiences.  While teachers and support staff work with individual students or groups of students using best practices, there is an element to the activities that encourages song, experimentation, and play to make learning age appropriate.

The importance of literacy is apparent with books, class stories, and student work surrounding the rooms and hallways. Technology is also used to expand students’ awareness and experiences.  Video streamed across the computer screen may take students on a tour of a zoo, a farm or some distant place. 

Even the principal takes time to teach literacy skills. She has a word wall in the cafeteria with the alphabet across the top and does not limit her list to 3-letter words. Fun words like armadillo with a picture of the creature below it is an example of what they can learn. Students were so taken with the word one of them brought in a newspaper article with a picture of an armadillo. That article now is also up on the word wall. Experiences like this involve students in the experience.

All these experiences add to the students’ knowledge and provide a broader base for successful learning.  

Parent Involvement: