The Little Archers Learning Center (LALC) is an institution created solely for the purpose of providing a fun, safe and effective environment for children to learn and develop their multi-faceted talents and skills.
We do not abide by traditional methods and means of teaching which tend to limit the capacity of each child. Rather, we strive to identify and harness each child’s unique abilities, as we identify their unique Multiple Intelligences. This ensures that our Little Archers become joyful children! At the Little Archers Learning Center, EVERYDAY IS A FUN LEARNING EXPERIENCE!
Our Heritage
Drawing inspiration from the Founder of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, St. John Baptist De La Salle, Noni and Katz Odulio acquired the Little Archers Learning Center from a fellow Lasallian in 2006. Realizing how special an opportunity lay before them to positively and constructively touch minds and affect lives, Teachers Noni and Katz took it upon themselves to transform the Little Archers Learning Center into the best pre-school available. They proceeded to upgrade the facilities; to improve the curriculum; to add more equipment, manipulatives, and resources; to train and develop better faculty; and to institute systematic reforms for the preschool. Teacher Noni and Teacher Katz’s years of formal education under the Brothers of the Christian Schools, and the Religious of the Assumption (respectively), illuminate their decisions to conduct the Little Archers Learning Center under the following principles:
- The drive and passion for creating an excellence-driven culture, where we all become better versions of ourselves, is one that is necessary in a globally-competitive environment.
- Preschool Education is a service we provide in positively reciprocating the good evident in life, as we build a community that is ready to reciprocate that same good to other people.
- Our belief in a good God instructs our spirituality to be always conscious of the Incarnate Good in other people.
- Simplicity does not mean being unsophisticated, but rather focusing on what’s true and real and lasting, devoid of pretentions and false imagery and expectations.
- Proper and adequate education is the single biggest instrument that will affect real and lasting progress for our country, and for the world.
Our Educational Philosophy
The Little Archers Learning Center envisions a society where people have Gaudium et Fides – Joy and Faith.
We envision a society that always celebrates the Joy in living, where respect for each person’s individuality is cultivated, and where personal success is measured not by material things but by personal integrity.
We see a future where people have Faith in themselves and in their ability to be true catalysts for development that is lasting, transformative, and sustainable.
Gaudium Et Fides
“GAUDIUM ET FIDES” means Joy and Faith in Latin. This is the underlying core value of the Little Archers Learning Center.
We want be able to help develop in your child a joie de vivre – Joy in life. Your child will be happy while they are with us, and we want nothing more than their continued happiness. But joy goes beyond mere happiness. Being joyful means trusting and developing the innate curiosity in our children. It means facing and accepting challenges and mistakes as opportunities for learning and insight, not as stumbling blocks of growth and change.
Developing an innate and profound sense of joyfulness will ensure that your child will remain forever young, delighting always in learning new things and discovering their world. We want our Little Archers to be always joyful.
But more than anything, we want your child to be able to acquire a basic faith about life. The early Romans used Fides to describe an essential element in the character of a person – a necessary element of all social and political transactions. Fides implied ‘reliability’ and a sense of trust between two parties in order for a relationship between them to exist. It was always reciprocal and mutual, and implied both privileges and responsibilities on both sides. Instilling Fides will guarantee that your child will always be fair in his dealings and handle himself with utmost integrity and honor.
This entails teaching them at an early age the values of trust, obedience and loyalty; and goes beyond any religious or theological constructs of God. It is a faith in themselves, a faith in their abilities and in their strengths.
“GAUDIUM ET FIDES” – These two words represent the underlying core value of LALC. Should you and your child pick-up only one thing with us, we hope that it is Joy and Faith.
Values Development
It has been said that values is something that is caught and not taught. This is nowhere more evident at the Little Archers Learning Center.
Using the principles of virtue ethics as our foundation, the LALC faculty and staff model positive values and principles for your children. The value system we use at the LALC focuses on the totality of the person, not on punishment or punitive action, towards helping develop a mature human being.
Our values development program emphasizes the role of deliberate thought in establishing the character of a person. We believe that a person’s character determines the actions that they do, and that a person’s action should be a manifestation of their character and not one done out of blind acceptance for a rule or duty or one that is weighed on the consequences of such an action.
In being good role models for your children, the LALC faculty and staff emphasize the following values at the LALC:
✅ Respect for oneself and others ✅ Empathy
✅ Fairness ✅ Friendship
✅ Collaboration ✅ Kindness
✅ Integrity ✅ Responsibility
✅ Honesty ✅ Modesty
Family Involvement
We invite active family participation in the school. After all, a child’s first teachers are his or her parents.
Raising a child is both challenging and exciting, and the Little Archers Learning Center provides venues where we can share the wonderful and important task of raising wonderful children together and in partnership.
Parents and family members are welcome to assist and attend our regularly scheduled school activities that incorporate celebrations of holidays and other special occasions. We want to make sure that the children not only enjoy these events but know the reason for such celebrations. We also go on at least two field trips every year in order to expose your children to new learning opportunitie, and family members are more than welcome to join our educational trips!
Our curriculum features wonderful take-home books and activities for that provide home enrichment opportunities for the students and parents alike. We conduct seminars and symposia for parents on different topics, all geared to develop teamwork between the school and home environment in order to ensure that one reinforces the other.
We provide regular feedback to parents about their child’s progress through regular Parent-Teacher Conferences and newsletters, and weekly journal progress reports. We also maintain a web-based group where we share photos and anecdotes of the students.
Most importantly, our fees are reasonable and easily managed, giving you the opportunity to give your child an affordable, world-class quality education.
Language and Literacy
Our vision at the Little Archers Learning Center is to make education and learning a happy experience. One of the tools we use to achieve this goal is developing in the child a habit of learning through reading that will one day translate to a true love for knowledge.
Children who learn how to read early on in their lives grow to love the magic of words. Words become a part of who they are and enrich their lives in immeasurable ways.
We have made it our enduring commitment to help children read and learn as we educate children by expanding their horizons through reading. We wish to nourish young minds and in turn, nourish all the dreams that they discover for themselves.
As a Japanese proverb claims, the written word is worth a thousand pieces of gold. Indeed, the treasure inherent in knowledge is something that is truly priceless.
The Little Archers Preschool Program is a concrete manifestation of a vision we’re sharing to reach and inspire every child to read more, learn more, understand themselves better and, ultimately, lead better lives. We have designed our curriculum to introduce children to the joys of reading and learning during the crucial stage when learning properly makes all the difference.
When it comes to learning, the Little Archers Learning Center believes not only in starting children young, but in starting them right.
Our Curriculum
Our proprietary and exclusive curriculum sets us apart from other early-childhood learning centers, pre schools and day care services.
FLEx – Fun Learning Experience
Whether your child joins us as a bouncy 2-year old toddler or a confident 5-year old, everyday at the LALC revolves around four key characteristics:
We never lose sight of the fact that children love to have FUN, and we make sure that your children will continuously have fun while they are a Little Archer! Our highly individualized approach allows us to take our time with our kids-not rushing them and always stopping to smell the roses!
All our fun is creatively directed toward LEARNING something new and useful. Just as Isaac Newton had his Eureka moment, we are sure that your child will have their own when we develop and sustain your child’s natural curiosity and thirst for knowledge. Once this natural inclination is cultivated, that they will grow to love to learn beyond Little Archers!
We provide a holistic EXPERIENCE for your child. We are mindful of the global realities that our children will be facing in their lifetimes, and address our programs to be responsive to the changes happening daily, relevant to the students’ lives and respectful of culture and traditions.
We are proud of the EXCELLENCE of our graduates. Most of them have gone on to be accelerated upon enrolling in the big schools. Our Little Archers make it a point to aim high and to aim true!
Multiple Intelligences
Our primary underlying educational philosophy is hinged on Howard Gardner’s theory of Multiple Intelligences (MI), where he posits that there are more than 8 ways to qualify one’s intelligence.
MI theory goes beyond the traditional norm of qualifying and quantifying intelligence solely by the use of a standardized IQ test by saying that people may not be book-smart, but they can be body smart, or music smart, or art smart, or language smart, or space smart, or numbers smart, or people smart, or self smart, or science smart.
People are most often smart in a mix of several different intelligences. At LALC, we strive to identify and nurture these gifts in each child. We fill each learning day with diverse exercises that serve to stimulate the various facets of a child’s individuality, enabling us to slowly discover how each student is best educated.
While we are hinged on MI, we appreciate the positive value of other educational philosophies, especially Montessori’s purposeful play and Steiner’s holistic approach to development. By incorporating these elements (and more) in our curriculum, we ensure that our Little Archers grow into well-rounded and responsible adults in a global community!
Positive Discipline
We believe that Discipline should be instructive and not punitive. As such, we strive to develop an early sense of personal autonomy and initiative among our students through the use of Positive Discipline in interacting with children. As much as possible, we let children resolve their problems and issues by themselves by promoting communication and appreciation for one another. Rest assured, however, that we intervene in any and all instances where one student may cause physical and emotional distress to another student.
It is important to develop positive habits and attitudes in children. A lot of these attitudes and habits can be developed in the child’s school. That’s why starting them young is not enough – you’ve to start your child right.
At the Little Archers Learning Center, our Discipline system revolves around our 5A’s:
Acknowledge – The first step we take when we address a child is to acknowledge them and their wants and desires. This is a very crucial step because it allows both the adult and the child the opportunity to be on the same plane of thought with one another. This simply means recognizing that the child always has a unique perspective on things, and the adult being receptive to the child. The child thus feels valued and respected.
Assess – The second step is to assess the child’s actions or desires. The basic criterion that we use to assess the action or desire is the constructive nature and consequence of the request. Situations and circumstances may inhibit the adult from acquiescing with the request of the child. Regardless of the child’s age, an adult has to explain to the child why they are prohibiting their request. This develops in the child a faculty for self-evaluation and problem-solving.
Alter – The third step is to alter the behavior, in cases where there is an immediate physical danger posed, or to provide alternatives for the child, in situations where the child can not be given the request. Two children fighting over a toy are most often placated by providing one or the other child with an alternative toy to play with, and thus allowing the children to play together harmoniously. In providing alternatives for the child, the child is given a chance to exercise their freedom of choice. More often than not, the discipline process ends here.
Absolve – The fourth step is to forgive the child for any negative repercussions that their actions precipitated. This may range from a child having an accident while being potty-trained, to them writing on the wall, to damage to appliances or furniture, to physical injury to either the adult or another playmate. We always bear in mind, and heart, that a child, and its intentions, is always innocent and pure.
Affirm-The fifth step is to positively reinforce the child after processing the action and repercussions with him. This means fundamentally letting the child know that he is loved and valued, and that his actions do not dictate his character. We sometimes forget this most crucial step, but it is this step that creates positive feelings between the adult and child, and reinforces positive behavior. Failure to forgive the child through a hug, or a pat on the head or shoulders, would lead to a corruption of this pristine nature, and would be a failure on the part of the adult as an educator.
The Value of Kapwa
Our entire value system at the Little Archers Learning Center is centered on the Filipino value of Kapwa. Our understanding of kapwa is rooted on the Filipino concept of self.
There are three aspects of the Filipino person, the loob, labas and lalim. For the Filipino, our loob is the ultimate, organizing center of human reality; the very zone of his humanity where one’s ideas, feelings and behavior reside. Loob is the authentic self of the person; the real, core constituent character of the person.
Kapwa can be taken to mean the unity of ones’ self with the self of others. The kapwa relationship exists when we start to consider ourselves one and the same with the other person in recognizing our shared identity and shared roots. Kapwa understood this way is similar to the Filipino word for sibling, kapatid, which literally means cut from the same (umbilical) cord. The kapwa paradigm removes the dichotomy that exists between differentiating members of an in-group and out group in a culture because this accepts and relates with the other person as a total equal, with respectful regard for the dignity and well-being of the other.
Kapwa then means the relation of one’s loob to another person’s loob. As loob interacting with loob, kapwa creates a dynamic symbiosis where one recognizes in the other the other’s authentic inner self where their true worth lies.
Kapwa is a plea to recognize the common human condition that exists among all of us. It is a call to recognize the loob of another person and realize that this loob is inextricably linked to our loob because of our common humanity.