Child Development Center

Our centers are not only here to serve children, but also to serve families. Our success in working with families depends on hearing from them. We value your thoughts and ideas. Every family comes to us from different circumstances and with different points of view. We respect the family and child relationship, support its growth, understand it as a process, and trust its outcome.

Caregivers are welcomed and valued. We are partners in learning to work together. When caregivers and staff communicate, children's needs are met more effectively. When caregivers participate, it enhances children's’ learning. This is a family center, and our doors are always open. By being supportive and nurturing of each other, we create a caring community for all who walk through our doors.

The Child Development Center offers opportunities for students in early childhood education, nursing, child development, nutrition, American Sign Language, and psychology to work with young children while pursuing their educational goals. These students provide an exceptional adult-child ratio and many marvelous experiences for the children.

In accordance with federal civil rights law and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) civil rights regulations and policies, this institution is prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex (including gender identity and sexual orientation), disability, age, or reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity.

Program information may be made available in languages other than English. Persons with disabilities who require alternative means of communication to obtain program information (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, American Sign Language), should contact the responsible state or local agency that administers the program or USDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TTY) or contact USDA through the Federal Relay Service at (800) 877-8339.

To file a program discrimination complaint, a Complainant should complete a Form AD-3027, USDA Program Discrimination Complaint Form, or from any USDA office, by calling (866) 632-9992, or by writing a letter addressed to USDA. The letter must contain the complainant’s name, address, telephone number, and a written description of the alleged discriminatory action in sufficient detail to inform the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights (ASCR) about the nature and date of an alleged civil rights violation.

The completed AD-3027 form or letter must be submitted to USDA by:

• MAIL:
• U.S. Department of Agriculture
  Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights
  1400 Independence Avenue, SW
  Washington, D.C. 20250-9410
• Or fax: (833) 256-1665 or (202) 690-7442;
• Or email: Program.Intake@usda.gov

This institution is an equal opportunity provider.

The staff at the ARC Child Development Center, which includes the classroom teachers, program director, CDC clerk, ECE faculty and Instructional Assistant, as well as student employees and practicum students, share a common belief, purpose, mission, values and commitment to children and families.

We respect the child as a unique, whole person, as citizens with rights. We believe that children are competent, creative, imaginative, innovative, capable, independent and thoughtful human beings. We see children as scientists, researchers and physicists who are curious about exploring the world around them with an unstoppable thirst for knowledge.
Our curriculum is child-initiated, which gives them opportunities to experiment, problem solve, and explore. We provide open-ended exploration that allows children to reach their full potential in the moment of discovery, forming meaningful connections in the brain.

We see childhood as an important, precious time, not just a race to adulthood. We have great respect for the child and the child’s ideas, and center our daily routines around the child’s interests and needs. We enjoy helping children see themselves as capable, independent and thoughtful. We acknowledge and validate children’s feelings by providing kind, respectful, and responsive interactions. Our focus is to develop secure attachments and trusting relationships with each child and their families. As we constantly weave together our classroom community, we build a sense of belonging and a warm, welcoming, loving, compassionate empathetic atmosphere. As intentional teachers, we serve many roles to support children’s learning experiences: mediator, conflict negotiator, facilitator of play and learning, storyteller, brain architect, objective observer and positive role model. We believe that teachers are co-learners, co-researchers, and collaborators with children. As lifelong learners with abundant education and experience, we approach everyday with joy, excitement, and curiosity about the discoveries that children will make.

We believe that families are the experts on their children, and are their children’s first and lifelong teachers. We are here to support you, and happy to be on the journey with you. We have an open-door policy; families are always welcome in the classroom. We understand that we all come from different cultural backgrounds, and we appreciate when you share your skills, ideas and experiences with our classroom community. We understand the challenges families face in regard to balancing work, school and family, and we are committed to supporting you. Each semester, we offer family workshops and gatherings in order to form a community among families and staff, and exchange ideas for promoting healthy growth.

We are committed to fostering anti-bias dispositions that enable children to respectfully engage with a range of people they encounter in their classroom communities, and in the wider community. We strive to be culturally competent and responsive. There are several ways we carry out these goals. The first of these is our own on-going learning process through professional development to become aware of our biases and to foster positive self-identity for children and adults by modeling acceptance and discussing our differences. We provide classroom materials in many languages and cultural images including books, photos, and materials that are representative of children and families. We actively seek to show respect for the individual and home beliefs by involving families in center culture. We invite families to bring items from home: songs, books, or other items that represent their family values, beliefs, culture and traditions. We also share our own culture, language, and traditions with children. We discuss issues of racism and sexism in the classroom as they occur, in order to help children develop a positive self image and learn coping strategies that they can use throughout their lives. By having these group discussions, we are creating positive experiences that build trust and respect amongst children and teachers, as well as fostering kind friendships.

The Child Development Center was designed with concepts of the Reggio Emilia philosophy, where children are deeply respected and the environment is lovingly created just for them, always evolving to accommodate children’s needs, interests, and abilities. Natural lighting, distinct playspaces, and child-sized furnishings made of natural wood create a calm, comfortable and beautiful environment, promoting social skills, language, and open-ended play. We create beautiful classroom environments with flexible materials and thoughtfully designed play spaces to allow children to freely explore, discover, play, learn, and create. Children and families see themselves reflected in the classroom, creating a sense of belonging with family photos and culturally relevant objects in a warm, welcoming environment. Everything in the classroom has a purpose and has been intentionally chosen to adapt to children’s evolving interests. Our classrooms are flexible and always evolving and changing to the groups’ needs, providing a balance of predictability and the excitement of new materials.

We believe the children ARE the curriculum. Our curriculum is emergent and organic - it grows out of children’s activity, play and interests. We spend time in the reflective curriculum planning cycle that begins with observation and documentation of children playing, which leads to reflection, planning, and implementation. We watch for recurring themes and children’s understandings, developmental growth, and underlying questions. Our observations guide our curriculum as we create customized opportunities for children to deepen their thinking, represent their understandings, and encounter new perspectives. As we follow children’s lead, we bring in a variety of related materials to further learning. By providing meaningful, relevant, individualized activities, our curriculum is meaningful and relevant to children’s lives. While it may seem like ‘just play’ and ‘messy fun’, there is a tremendous amount of learning that is documented by the teachers.

We view children as competent seekers of relationship and meaning, who are our co-researchers in the quest for learning. We support children’s ideas, allowing the child space to observe the surroundings, giving them opportunities to form questions, hypotheses and opinions of what they are investigating. As teachers watch, they offer guidance, support and open-ended questions, which encourages further contemplation. Learning alongside children and exploring and looking for tools and materials for enhancing learning opportunities creates a reciprocal journey of learning and open-ended exploration.

We create a constructivist classroom community where all voices are heard and respected. Children are involved in making decisions as they navigate relationships and learn how to live in a community with others where everyone belongs and is valued. We acknowledge children as individuals, and respect their learning styles, abilities, and temperaments. In addition to social learning, there is a tremendous amount of cognitive learning through constructivist activities. Hands on, cooperative learning experiences provide opportunities for children to expand their thought processes and consider multiple perspectives. Social emotional learning is enhanced as teachers’ facilitate conflict resolution, which models problem solving strategies for children and how to navigate strong feelings.

By documenting children’s learning, we are better able to understand each individual child’s learning progress. We value the learning moments in the classroom, and observe and document so that we can reflect, interpret and plan curriculum that meets the needs of the current group of children. Our documentation provides a window into understanding what the child is communicating, and helps us give them language to express their thoughts, ideas and feelings. Noticing small details and the importance behind them, as well as recognizing the intentions behind the children’s actions, allows us to better understand what the play means and what the child is trying to figure out. Learning moments are made visible to families in a variety of ways, both digitally and in the environment.

In addition to providing high-quality child care for student families, we also are an instructional lab school providing hands-on experience to train Early Childhood Education practicum students to be teachers in the workforce. We work as a collaborative team to support lab students: ECE practicum faculty, ECE Instructional Assistant, mentor teachers and program director. All members of our team are well educated, qualified, experienced, dedicated, collaborative, and respectful of each other’s roles. We provide a quality learning experience with dedicated mentors and model classrooms with a design to inspire them and emulate in the field of early childhood education. In addition, the center provides an opportunity for students from a variety of majors to observe and learn about young children.

• Role of the Lab Mentor
  Every teacher deserves a mentor who is dedicated to encouraging and supporting their growth and learning journey. Lab mentors provide a model for students to learn from and collaborate with during their lab. Mentors provide guidance, take time to listen, and are available to answer questions throughout the course of the student’s time with us. Throughout the semester, mentors invite students to participate in the routines and activities with children, and provide a safe environment for learning. Mentor’s provide feedback and encouragement, without judgment, which nurtures their growth and acknowledges their accomplishments.
• Image of the Lab Student
  Lab students bring to their classroom their own strengths, experience, diverse dreams and goals as they are exploring career options. We appreciate how eager they are to learn, how capable they already are, and how they are willing to take risks as they learn new skills and approaches to teaching as they become part of the teaching team. One of the many benefits of having lab students in the classroom is the ability to provide individualized, enthusiastic attention and interactions with children.