History
Ascension Lutheran Early Childhood Center is a mission of the Ascension Evangelical Lutheran Church and School of Thousand Oaks. When it was founded in 1963, the preschool was located on the upper-level church grounds and provided two half-day programs: M/W/F for four-years old and T/Th for three-years old. There were twenty students and two teachers. Today, our program has grown to include an Infant Center and a two-year-old program; we currently have 175 beautiful children enrolled and 30 wonderful staff members. ALECC & ALIC became a certified Nature Explore classroom in 2010.
Specialties
Ascension Lutheran Early Childhood Center believes deeply in the experience of early childhood & each day our extraordinary teachers create an environment that nurtures the minds & bodies of our young learners. We know that children learn best through hands-on experiences. Our students spend large amounts of time investigating & exploring our outdoor classroom environments. Our teachers facilitate problem solving, encourage collaboration, instill empathy & foster independent thinkers through play-based opportunities. Our learners are given the time & space to grow socially, emotionally, physically, cognitively & spiritually. We are a Certified Nature Explore Classroom & are committed to providing quality outdoor classroom experiences to all students, infants through 5 years of age. ALECC teachers & staff recognize the individual that each child represents; every student has unique life experiences, learning styles, & ways of taking in the world in which we live. We nurture the whole child & encourage a love of learning, an appreciation for others & a strong sense of self-value. We respect & celebrate each child, the family in which they belong & our relationships with each other. ALECC is proud to be a part of a thriving One Ascension community which lives out our Christian faith in all that we do each day! We are confident that the experiences our students have are laying a foundation for a lifetime of faith & establishing a sense of stewardship in God's beautiful world.