News Archives 2016 | UMD College of Education

October 25, 2016 A UMD Design Team from the UMD iSchool came to the CYC to get the children’s ideas about an interpretive sign that had been designed for the CYC Rain Garden. The original sign was an idea that came from Landscape design award winning student, Laura Robinson. The sign was meant to enhance the education value of a rain garden that had been installed as part of another project Landscape Architect professor Dr. Steven Cohan helped spearhead. The rain garden was created to take care of a flooding problem on the playground and includes many native plants such as Asters and Echinacea.

The design team was made up of graduate students Brenna McNally, Leyla Norooz, and Priya Kumar. The sign depicts raindrops as they travel through the water cycle, pick up pollutants, and get cleansed as they move through the dirt and mulch of the rain garden and finally end up in the river. The design also includes a large slate board for children to draw on. McNally said the children helped by explaining what they thought the sign meant.

Some ideas the children came up with were to make the drawing board larger, show the path of the raindrops, and show smoke coming out of the boat in the ocean. The sign is considered 30% and will return to the sign company for some revisions. Look for the sign to be installed on the playground sometime in spring 2017!

October 19, 2016- Sustainability Celebration- The University of Maryland's Office of Sustainability honored the CYC at it's second celebration ever as they reveled their latest magazine highlighting sustainability activities around campus.

The CYC article mentioned many of the sustainable activities geared toward the littlest terrapins on campus including the garden, recycling, composting, Trash Free Tuesdays, and learning about nature. Two teachers, Sara Person, and Vera Wiest, and two parents, Sally DeLeon and Peter Sunderland, attended.

The key note speaker was the vice president of Administration and finance, Carlo Colella. He talked of reaching out to the global community and of all the advances the University has done in the area of sustainability. Other articles highlighted included a time-line on environmental activities on campus, Partnership for Action Learning in Sustainability, and how the University of Maryland takes a leadership role on Global Climate policies.

Gardens- If you have ever happened by the CYC you surely will have noticed the beautiful gardens in the center of the parking lot and adjacent to the entrance. These gardens are lovingly planted and taken care of by Penny Abbey and her crew from UMD grounds. Ms. Abbey chooses the plants for the gardens according to environmental factors such as shade, the soil make-up and how much watering they will need. She gets the plants from different resources such as catalogs or from negotiating with other gardeners for their leftovers.

Abbey says, " My favorite time of year is the few weeks in spring. It is when the grass first greens, the cherry trees, the daffodils and forsythia are blooming." Although she maintains other gardens at the University she says the CYC is her favorite because everyone seems to enjoy the flowers so much. She says the kids, "crack her up". For maintenance, Penny says, "the most important thing is getting the new plants established in the beginning stage. That is when they need more water to root. Then it is just weeding and maybe deadheading or trimming."

Abbey got her first job at a farm stand when she was still in high school and has been working for the University since 1989. She plans to retire in 2019, buy a small home and plant her own vegetable garden. The CYC is very fortunate to have Penny Abbey tend to their gardens.

CYC At College of Education’s Welcome Fair

August 25, 2016- teachers and administration from CYC spent the afternoon

greeting new and returning Graduate Students at the College of Education’s Welcome

Fair. Kristen, Amy, and Amanda (respectively in photo above) along with Mona Leigh,

Center Director (not pictured), shared information with Graduate students about our

facility, how they can conduct research at our center, how they can enroll their children

at CYC, and how they could work with us in other capacities. Looking forward to more

collaboration with COE Graduate Students in the future!

Summer 2016- Summer Camp at the CYC involves swimming, music class, lots of playground time, and an in-depth
study topic. Each classroom does their own study based on the teacher’s ideas of what would be a good
topic to delve into during the hot summer days The criteria are something that will hold the children’s interest,
something that could incorporate being outside and something that uses the resources on our University campus. This
summer the six camp groups chose, recycling, farm animals, bugs, healthy bodies, fish, and bridges.
Some of the youngest preschoolers were able to observe the campus recycling trucks in action and talk
to the University’s recycling expert, Adrianne Small. The farm animal campers took frequent trips to the
campus barn to visit the cows and the healthy body group took fitness lessons at the Rec center and
toured the Health center. The Entomology department hosted the bug group to view their insect
collection and this group of 5 year olds also visited a solitary bee display at the Apiary on campus. One
group of older children were able to visit the biology department to see and learn more about fish. They
also went to the Paint Branch creek on a successful fishing trip. Lastly the rising 2nd graders toured many bridges on
campus and used the Campus bus to travel to some interesting local bridges.

The Epply Recreation pool is utilized fully during summer camp and it is only one block from the Center. Children go to the pool at least twice a week with the older ones going three times a week. Having camp on a University campus has
been a great advantage for teachers and children at the CYC to give hands on opportunities for the campers to learn
as well as just have fun during their six week attendance at summer camp. View the Yellow Room's summer camp web page to see more activities done during their bug study.

July 20, 2016- The children from the Green Room visited Klotz Institute of Karate in Columbia to take an introductory karate class during summer camp. The Green Room children are learning about healthy bodies and what it means to exercise. The children stretched and warmed up before practicing a few karate skills. Mr. Ken, the owner of Klotz Institute of Karate emphasized that karate is a practice to help you focus and activate your mind through physical movements and as a form of self-defense. Mr. Ken shared with the children that it is important to practice and not play karate. The Green Room children learned that karate is just one form of exercise to help keep your body healthy!

May 11, 2016- The Center for Young Children was proud to unveil the repainted bird sculpture located outside of the front entrance. The bird was originally part of the Prince George's County Art Council project in 2003 and had been donated to the school. The original paint on the bird had begun to chip and fade. Two UMD students, Yilin Zou and Elaine Qiu, had noticed this and offered to repaint it. Yilin and Elaine are graduates of the Plant Science and Landscape Architecture Department. Yilin majored n Landscape Management and Elaine in Horticulture Production. They are both part of the 2+2 program that allows Chinese students transfer their two years of college education in China towards a four year degree at UMD. Both of them were actively engaged in the CYC landscape projects. Children from the CYC kindergarten helped submit ideas for the new bird and were delighted with the results. One kindergartener said, "It's better than beautiful!"

April 30, 2016-was another successful Maryland Day. The CYC opened it's doors for a sing along with their very popular music teacher Eric Maring better know as "Mr. M". Along with Mr. M were his two son's, one on violin, one on mandolin, Milan's from the Yellow room's Dad, Can Ertogan, and a mom from the Purple room on the piano. Alumni and current students were present as well as some new faces. Several displays were set up to show green activities that the CYC is involved in to make it an all around annual Green Celebration.

April 2016- The Center for Young Children was certified as a University of Maryland's Gold Green Office for the third time! To become a certified Gold Green Office all members of the office must agree to participate by signing a pledge. The next step teachers and staff did was to review all of the criteria they earned as a Bronze and Silver Office, denoting those activities that they participated in at home. Some of the items on the check list were to have a non-idling zone for cars, a kitchen so that staff could bring their own food in, and to make sure coffee purchased is either fair-trade, organic, or both. The CYC was the first to become Gold Green Office certified on the entire campus. Staff agreed it gets easier each time. See the complete checklist of items completed by the teachers and staff. Learn more about the Green Office program at the UMD Sustainability web page.

April 14, 2016- The Center for Young Children participated in Residential Life’s Green Fest for the second time. This year’s exhibit included collages presented on large discarded cardboard boxes. The collages consisted of pictures of the children engaged in earth friendly activities such as composting and creating art out of recycled materials. Other images showed the students involved in activities outside with snow, wind, gardens, and other natural elements. Children dictated or wrote on recycled paper how they took care of the earth. These quotes were attached to the collage of images. Eliot dictated, "This is me and my friend exploring the Earth so we can learn how to better take care of it" to go along with a picture he had drawn. Yellow Room children, ages 3-5, made flowers from old magazines, yogurt cups, and cut apart egg cartons to adorn the top of the boxes.

At the festival, attendees were asked to cut flowers from scraps of construction paper, write how they took care of the earth and attach it to the collage. Several CYC families attended the event which was within walking distance of the school. The exhibit will be shared at Maryland Day, April 30 to help celebrate environmental awareness at the CYC.

March 9- To kick off their garden study, the Orange Room walked over to the UMD Community Learning Garden where they met Ryan Kieft, a volunteer who is a music education major. Kieft showed the children the rain barrels and explained how they work, he also told them about the hay and how it kept moisture in and that they cover the vegetables at night when it is cold to keep them warm. Kieft wrapped the material around his body to demonstrate this idea.

One of the favorite items at the garden was the dinosaur kale that had bumpy skin like a dinosaur. Children brought clip boards with paper and pencils to draw some of the things they saw at the garden. 5 year old Veronica wanted to know why the tree nuts Kieft showed them were so big. Sam speculated it was because" a tree is so big." The class will continue their study by growing seeds in the classroom and vegetables on the playground and by more field trips to other gardens in the area, both vegetable and flower. ~ v.wiest

March 4, Teachers spent all day Friday participating in two workshops sponsored by the Prince George’s Child Resource Center. The first workshop led by Paul Armstrong, was titled, Including All Children and the Americans with Disabilities Act,
where teachers were able to learn the benefits of including children with disabilities, both physical and mental. Modifications for these students was discussed and it was discovered that most of these cost little in time and money and the paybacks for children were immense over an institutional setting. Resources were charted to help classroom teachers accommodate numerous types of disabilities.

The second training, On Track: All Aboard for Developmental Progress Overview, introduced staff to the new Maryland Department of Education’s regulation to screen young children for developmental delays. Using a variety of professional tools, teachers and parents will need to comply by briefly assessing children against typically developing milestones of their child's age to pinpoint whether a child is in need of intervention. This law will help identify children that may benefit from extra services. These children may have previously fallen through the cracks. This workshop was presented by Laura Terrell a trainer for the Resource Center.

Teachers commented that this information was important to help them comply with Government regulations and do the best job available for the children at the center. Not only does taking courses like this help comply with State criteria but it also increases the effectiveness of the CYC and helps to maintain the exemplary program that is already in place. ~ v.wiest

February 28, The Center for Young Childrens long standing tradition of attending a Maryland women's basketball game together as a CYC fun community event continued this year. Maryland women's basketball coach, Brenda Frese, whose two sons attended CYC, and who continues to support us in many ways, provided the CYC with 200 tickets (FREE!) for the Sunday, February 28 5:00 PM women's game.

This was the last home game of the season. Maryland's four Seniors, who have been to two consecutive Final Fours (and pushing for this year as well), were honored prior to the game. One Senior, Tierney Pfirman, has CYC connections...she was a student intern in the Blue Room a couple of years ago. The opponent was a worthy one...Minnesota. The Terps were ranked 5/6 in the country....a worthy opponent for Minnesota and for almost everyone this year. Everyone had a fabulous time at the Maryland vs Minnesota basketball game. Thank you to the parents who shared their pictures.

February 18, 2016- Children at the CYC were able to experience an electric guitar today during their weekly scheduled multi-class sing-along.

Can Ertogan, the dad of Milan in the Yellow Room, played some music with Eric Maring the school's music teacher. Eric Maring, known to the children as “Mr. M”, frequently encourages families with musical talent to share it with the children. Ertogan’s guitar playing was a big hit with all of the classes. Maring and Ertogan had the children compare an acoustical guitar (Mr. M's) with the electric guitar. Children noticed that they both had six tuning pegs but the electric guitar had all of them on one side. They also noticed the electric guitar did not have a hole and was plugged into a little "box" (amplifier). Maring showed the children how the volume could be controlled by turning a knob on the amplifier. Ertogan brought several pedals that connected to his guitar and amazed the children with the wah wah and reverb effect. Mr. M and Ertogan played the ABC song and Down by the Bay as the children sang along. Afterwards, several of children thought about making their own electric guitar with metal and wires.

Maring said even though they are both from different countries they could find common ground playing music with their guitars. Ertogan is from Turkey and has been playing on and off for about 20 years. You can listen to some of his music at www.oturmagrubu.net ~ v.wiest

December 18, CYC’s director, Dr. Fran Favretto, handed over the reins to Dr. Mona Leigh Guha today. Dr. Favretto directed the center for the past 23 years. Dr. Guha is no stranger to the CYC, her daughter attended the Purple Room for two years and she spent five years doing research at the Center with the UMD College of Information Studies & Human-Computer Interaction Lab. The staff, children and families will surely miss Dr. Favretto but are excited and welcoming for the new director Dr. Guha. ~ v.wiest

December 16, 2015 - This week the Green Room hosted Penny Russell of Penny’s Puppets who shared her puppet show called Billly’s Bridge with the whole CYC. Her STEM based show featured Billy, Nan, and the Kid as they worked together to find a way to cross the stream to get to the green grass on the other side. Penny sang a song about problem solving and engineering saying, “1. There’s a problem. 2. Make a plan. 3. Build it. 4. Test it. Did it work? Why not? 5. Redesign, redesign, redesign! …”

During the fall semester the Green Room has been studying puppets with a focus guided by the children’s interest in creating a variety of puppets. The children created finger puppets and a stage with the characters and setting for Goldilocks and the Three Bears. After watching a video of Jim Henson demonstrating how to make a hand puppet each child created their own character using fabric, yarn, a foam ball, markers, and lots of double stick tape. At present the children are involved in a more complex small group project of making string puppets also called marionettes. We are finding many opportunities to use the engineering method taught to us by Ms. Penny! ~ S. Person

December 9, 2015- Dr. Fran Favretto, the Center for Young Children’s director retires after 23 years of service. As the director, Dr. Favretto has been in charge of teachers, researchers, staff, and children as well as being a presence at the College of Education. Her ideals for the school have resulted in a worldwide acclaimed program. Dr. Favretto’s leadership included moving to the current building designed specifically for the Center. Favretto was also instrumental in steering the school toward using the Project Approach, a style of curriculum which evolves from the children’s interests and looks at topics in-depth. This has resulted in teaching children how to go about finding the answers to their questions by observing, talking to experts, going on fieldtrips, and reading.

Favretto brought numerous well know speakers in the field to present workshops to the staff, including Sylvia Chard, Judy Helm and Carol Seefeldt. She paid attention to what the teachers asked to learn more about and included workshops on math, literacy, special education , documentation, outdoor learning, occupational therapy and many other topics.
Her most recent accomplishment was the complete renovation of the Center’s kitchen. Dr. Favretto always negotiated such projects making sure the CYC received the best available.

To honor Dr. Favretto, not only did the staff take her out to dinner but the school devoted an entire PTA meeting to celebrate her years of service and rewarded her by naming the Centers Great Room after her. The children were also involved by giving her advice for what to do in retirement. They suggested such things as, “sleeping, eating, doing laundry and visiting her grandma and grandpa.” The department chair, Nathan Fox and the Dean, Donna Wiseman attended the celebration as well as most members of Favretto’s family and many teachers from the past.

The College of Education singled her out at their annual Holiday party to give tribute to her accomplishments. Dr. Fox noted that the Center for Young Children was a “jewel” on the campus and that Favretto helped it become so well acclaimed. She will be greatly missed but the strong foundation she has provided the CYC with will love on. ~ v.wiest

November 2015, UMD Keeps the Yellow Room's Learning Mooving! -
During the fall semester, the Yellow Room children decided they wanted to study Cows. At first, the teachers recognized and valued the children’s ideas, but were concerned with how to carry out a deep and meaningful investigation into this specific animal. With a little research, the teachers were able to find out more about the UMD Campus Farm, the knowledgeable farm experts on campus, and the incredible lives of cows so close to our school. After creating a list of questions about what they wanted to learn, the children shared their first cow experience when visiting the campus farm. They observed these fascinating creatures, drew pictures, and asked many more questions. On their second visit “Farmer Lauren”, a UMD undergraduate expert, answered all of the children’s questions in addition to teaching them more about cows. Ms. Holliday, one of the classroom teachers noted, “We were lucky to have the campus farm available for many more future trips so the children could have live, meaningful experiences with our two resident cows, Chai and Eva.”

As the study continued, the children were extremely interested in dairy cows, the four compartments of the stomach, and the process of milking. The teachers spent a lot of time researching with the use of books and videos, but needed another live experience to truly understand these subtopics. The Central Maryland Research and Education Center (CMREC) located at the Clarksville Facility allowed the class to take a special tour of the barns, feeding silos, and milking parlor which services 80 dairy cows. The children met calves for the first time, watched many cows eat, touched real feed, watched a high-tech milking machine, and saw an enormous cooling tank up close. Needless to say, they gained an incredible amount of knowledge from a single field trip. “Having this UMD research facility open their “barn” doors to us was an experience which kept our study “mooving” in the right direction” Holliday expressed.

While the children will never forget all of their amazing experiences, the Yellow Room teachers will never forget the amount of resources we have available on campus. ~ A. Holliday

November 5, - The Come Alive Outside project has brought two more additions to the CYC playground. One being a pergola to cover the stage built last spring. The landscape company Lawn Wrangler did the work much to the satisfaction of the children seen here dancing under the new structure.

The other addition was a maze designed and installed by Horticulture and Landscape Management students using ornamental grasses for the borders. Dr. Cohan, professor in the Plant Science and Landscape Architecture Department at the University of Maryland, the originator of the project said the grasses will grow to about three feet next spring, just the right size for 3-5 year-olds to "hide" in. Read more about the Come Alive Outside project. ~ v.wiest

October 28, 2015- This is the fourth year that College Park Scholars - Global Public Health students celebrated Global Hand-washing Day with the Center for Young Children. "I think this was the best yet with a small group of GPH students conducting an educational session about how to wash hands effectively, leading hand washing songs, and coloring a “Raise a hand for hygiene!” banner", said Professor Marring. Learn more about Global Hand-washing Day. The Global Public-Private Partnership for Hand-washing's mission is to save lives and improve health by teaching the important habit of washing hands with soap world wide. ~ v.wiest

October 4, 2015- Two CYC teachers present to a Science Methods class at the UMD. Amy Laakso and Vera Wiest conducted a work shop to an EDHD 321 class titled, The Young Child as Scientist, a science methods course, taught by Susan Klauda. The presentation emphasized the Center for Young Children’s project style curriculum with an emphasis on in-depth studies. This approach involves student inquiry and integrated learning with the child’s interest being the focus. Laakso and Wiest used several studies previously implemented in CYC classrooms including a reptile and pond and stream study. The workshop was enhanced by showing slides and video clips from the actual studies.

In addition the class was asked to think up science related topics that might be used in a long term project (several weeks) and to brain storm investigations and discussions that might be included in the topic. EDHD 321 students were then asked to write their own rudimentary lesson plan to accompany one of those concepts. Many good ideas were shared with the class including ways to adjust the lesson for children with special needs. After the lesson Klauda responded, “It was very interesting to get an inside look at how the Project Approach is implemented at the CYC, and very helpful for the students to have the opportunity to practice planning for a project/lesson with your guidance and input.” ~ v.wiest

July 2015- The University of Maryland Center for Young Children (CYC) Green Room summer camp children, studied "taking care of their world" for six weeks, with field trips around and off campus including a solar tracker, the A. V. Williams building, and LEAFHouse. At left, campers tour the Student Union with Dan Wray. Here they observe their green roof. After returning to the classroom, several campers made block structures with green roofs. The UMD Sustainability office featured one field trip to the Energy Research Center where the children climbed in Dr. Wachsman's Tesla and viewed a fuel cell. Read more at the Sustainable news page and visit the Green Room's camp web site to learn more. ~ v.wiest

May 2015-
The Music Kids program exists to enrich and improve student development by bringing musical instrument education programs into the local school environment. They passionately believe that the study of a musical instrument should be an integral part of every child’s learning experience, right from the start.

Music Kids says that research shows studying a musical instrument during childhood, especially ages 3-7, is a powerful way to promote neurological development: it enhances verbal communication skills and spacial-temporal reasoning, teaches focus and discipline, and builds self-esteem.

To make the program as convenient as possible, they offer lessons at school during the day where children can learn an instrument alongside their peers. Parents are not required to attend lessons but are always welcome. Each student receives an instrument to take home for practice while they are enrolled in lessons.

The Music Kids violin program at CYC had a fantastic season with 26 budding virtuosi enrolled in lessons for the 2014-2015 school year. On May 19th, families gathered for the recitals to see each student perform a solo and celebrate their musical growth over the year.

“Three to six-year-old students are my favorite age group to work with, and it is so special to see the students start to self-identify as young musicians. The progress can seem slow in the beginning as first-year students gain the motor control to produce a beautiful sound, but I can always see them soaking up new information and improving week to week. The students grow in focus and discipline in their lessons throughout the year and really take ownership over what they are learning. By the spring, things really start to click, and I am always so thrilled to see my young students perform with poise and confidence at the recital.”– Sarah York (“Miss Sarah”)

Peter Sloan, whose 5 year-old took violin with Ms. York for 3 years said, “I think it’s wonderful. It’s great that the CYC makes it available. It makes it so much easier having it at school. The philosophy is just right.

Teaching method:

Influenced by the Suzuki method, where students learn music in the way that they learn a language: listening, learning to play before they learn to read
Parent-teacher communication is key. Parents receive video summaries of lessons and have access to a practice video play list on YouTube so they can help at home.
Students learn musical concepts like rhythm and pitch through singing, clapping, movement activities, and games and apply them to playing the violin.

www.musickidsprogram.com

May 6, 2015- As part of a sports study the children from the Red Room focused on football. A representative from Gossett Football Team House arranged for the children to tour the football team house. Two current football players, Evan and Stephen, gave the children a tour of the facility. The children saw many different rooms in the team house including: the cafeteria, weight lifting room, study room, physical therapy space, and the players lounge. The children were then able to go onto the football field and try on helmets and gloves. The children enjoyed learning about the football team house and what the players do at the facility. They even heard the UMD fight song! See it on instagram.

May 7, 2015 an official ribbon cutting by the Provost Mary Ann Rankin, opened the schools new playground additions.

This spring, the Center for Young Children undertook a new playground revitalization project,
Come Alive Outside. This project encourages children to spend more time outdoors. Dr. Steven Cohan of the Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture asked CYC director Dr. Francine Favretto about collaborating to reinvent the Center’s twenty-year-old playground. Dr. Favretto immediately saw the opportunity to get the CYC kindergarten children involved and to think and design new aspects to the playground. Dr. Powell Draper, an assistant professor at the School of Architecture, also found UMD grad students enthusiastic about pitching in.

The the CYC's 5 year olds contributed plans and ideas for their new playground. In this first phase, the new features include an outdoor stage, a bridge, a hillside slide, and a weather station, as well as a garden, and a teepee bean pole structure. Important for the children, the playground will still have a lot of open space to run around and play soccer.

Jessup, Maryland – April 30, 2015

The Maryland Association of Environmental and Outdoor Education (MAEOE) is pleased to announce that the Center for Young Children has been re-certified as a 2015 Maryland Green School. The Maryland Green Schools program is nationally recognized as having significant impact with students and schools. The program encourages educational opportunities for preK-12 schools that increase awareness and understanding of environmental interrelationships that impact public health and our society, and that promote responsible environmental stewardship practices. The program is aligned with Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement 2014 goals and supports Maryland State Department of Education graduation requirements and standards.
Over the past two years, our school has demonstrated and documented a continuous effort to integrate sustainable environmental management practices, environmental education curriculum, professional development opportunities, and community engagement into our daily operations. This award signifies that our school has made a commitment to developing stewards of the earth and reducing the environmental impact of our school.

“Students, teachers, school personnel, parents and community partners working together to create lasting, positive environmental actions at school are core elements to becoming a Maryland Green School,” says Laura Johnson Collard, MAEOE Executive Director. Students are involved in projects that save energy and reduce waste. Schools are also encouraged to get students outdoors to the schoolyard or to visit a local nature park. The Maryland Green Schools program plays an important role in fulfilling the state’s commitment to ensure our young people become environmentally literate by the time they graduate.

MAEOE will celebrate with Green Schools, Green Centers and schools that are interested in knowing more about the program at the Maryland Green School Youth Summit on May 29, 2015, at Sandy Point State Park in Annapolis.

April 25, 2015- Maryland Day at the CYC was well attended by current students, alumni, and visitors. Kaydee puppets put on two spell-bounding performances, “Peter Rabbit and Nursery Rhyme and Rhythm”, that were greeted with lots of claps and enthusiasm. CYC’s own music teacher Mr. M (Eric Maring) followed with his two sons, Leo on mandolin and Julian on violin, as his back-up band.

Mr. M announce the renewal of the Center’s Maryland Green Flag award making the Maryland Day celebration double as a Green Fest. The CYC displayed some of their efforts on earning this award with an exhibit on composting, the importance of outdoor play, and with quotes from students on how they take care of the earth.

Parts of the new playground including the new slide and stage were enjoyed by attendees before the show and during intermission. The new playground elements are part of Professor Dr. Stephen Cohan (Plant Science and Landscape Architecture Department) and his student’s efforts in the Come Alive Outside design challenge.

April 16, 2015-The CYC Green Committee participated in the North Campus Green Fest by making an exhibit on composting. The Blue Room Kindergarten and the Green Room contributed by constructing charts for a “compost recipe” and one on “what worms won’t eat”.

Several months prior children prepared for the exhibit by making " mini composters" in their classrooms.. The mini composters were assembled by layering recycled 2 liter soda bottles with dirt, leaves, and items found in the children’s compost bins (paper towels, banana peels, green beans etc). Worms were added and children observed over the weeks as each item decomposed into the dirt.
A mini composter was part of the exhibit and two CYC children helped man the table at the Green Fest, giving out gummy worms and explain how the mini composter worked. Other exhibits at the Green Fest included BikeUMD, a clothing swap, and therapy dogs.

April 10, 2015 As part of the “Come Alive Outside” program, Ruppert Landscaping from Gainsville Virginia donated materials and labor for a 23 x 3 foot cedar log bordered garden and a bamboo trellis for peas and beans. Red Room children took turns watching the landscapers dig and install the garden. As the children watched they speculated on all kinds of fruits and vegetables that they would enjoy planting and eating, including carrots, pumpkins, and broccoli. This week the children planted a section of the garden with lettuce seeds and pea seeds around the trellis. When it started to sprinkle, one boy shouted, “Hurray! Hurray! The rain will help the seeds grow!” Grounds along with student volunteers supplied and moved the rich soil.

The Come Alive Outside plan for the CYC playground stated a fund raiser on launch.umd.edu to help finance some of the other stations and activities landscaping students designed to enhance educational and physical development on the playground. These include a stage, weather station, rain garden, and suspension bridge among other activities. To donate or learn more, see their launch web page.

March-April 2015 As part of a sports study the children from the Red Room focused on karate. Ms. Klotz, one of the Red Room teachers, is also a Tang Soo Do instructor at her fathers, Ken Klotz, karate school called Klotz Institute of Karate (KIK). The children visited one of the KIK studios at the beginning of the week to take a tour of the facilities including the family waiting area, the matted room, and the changing rooms. The children looked at a karate uniform called a gi, the order of karate belts within this karate school, and punching bags and pads. The children learned about the importance of practicing karate only in karate class and how karate is not a sport that you "play."

The next field trip the children took was to the School of Public Heath to watch a Department of Kinesiology karate class taught by Ken Klotz, from KIK, to college aged students. The children watched the college students stretch and warm up before practicing karate. The focus on this field trip was to identify ways that we protect our bodies and keep them healthy and safe by stretching and exercising before and after doing physical activity. Ronan, a four year old Red Room child, takes karate classes at KIK and confidently demonstrated his karate skills on this field trip in front of the Red Room and the UMD college students. See link for pictures.

Later in the week the children took a mini karate class with Ms. Klotz in the Red Room and made sure to stretch and warm up before practicing!

March 2015 The Center for Young Children is the first to re-certify it's Gold Office award. This award is presented by the University's Office of Sustainability to campus offices that meet certain criteria from a check list of "actions". To obtain the Gold Award first an office must complete the Bronze and Silver checklist actions. Some of the requirements for Gold, are to buy fair trade or organic coffee and tea, use washable plates, and to make sure meetings are zero-waste. We are proud that our office received this award. "Our children as young as three, have helped contributed to our Gold Office standards by recycling, composting, and reducing trash daily", remarked the Yellow Room teachers. See the completed check list.

March 2015 Three members of the Confucius Institute on the University of Maryland campus have again offered to give Chinese language lessons to several classes. The teachers, Jing Shen, Yue Shao, and Ruixue Wang,
come in once a week for 30 minutes per class, sing songs, tell stories and play games to teach the children basic Chinese words and phrases. "I think it is a wonderful opportunity for the children to experience another language and culture," commented a teacher. There is an added benefit for the 10% of the students with a Chinese background as they feel esteemed to share the knowledge they already have.

March 11, 2015 Dr. Stephen Cohan’s UMD Environmental Horticulture class, experienced a tutorial from the University’s arborist Richard Jones, on pruning, prior to trimming and sprucing up the entire CYC playground's trees and bushes. Dr. Cohan expressed that he usually does this particular class with a field experience around the campus and this year he chose the CYC. “The pruning lab demonstrated pruning techniques for rejuvenating, correcting and removal of hazards,” said Cohan. Results of the pruning class filled a pickup truck.

The Center was delighted to have a fresh landscape appearance especially in anticipation for the playground improvements spearheaded by Dr. Cohan and the challenge from the national program “Come Alive Outside”. The challenge involves parents, children, teachers and adult students working to enhance the outdoor space for optimal learning and enjoyment experiences. See the CYC’s vision for the Come Alive Challenge along with three other teams.

January 21, 2015 Amelia Segal , a meteorologist from NBC4 news, came to talk with the children in the Green Room about weather. The Green Room just started an in-depth study of weather which includes choosing a weather reporter each day and keeping track of the weather at home on a grid that was partially designed by the children. Ms. Segal started her meeting with the children by teaching them the word for her profession, “meteorologist”. She then demonstrated the difference between low and high pressure by having the children stand up when she talked about nice weather and couch down when she described stormy weather. The children listened attentively as Ms. Segal read two weather related books and helped answer some of their questions like “How does weather change?”. Ms. Segal explained that weather moves around the world and that she studies the globe to help predict where the weather will travel.

January 21, 2015

The CYC has been collecting dried markers to be recycled by Crayola’s ColorCycle program. Today some kindergarten children counted the amount collected so far and came up with 222 markers to be sent to the program. Ms. Fowler, teacher from the Yellow Room, will take the markers to Holy Redeemer school in College Park so that they can be mailed to Crayola. The kindergarten children saved the marker tops to be used in collages and sculptures when they are working at the art table.

November 2014-

Dr. Steven Cohan, professor in the Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture, is working with the CYC and a program called "Come Alive Outside" to revamp the center's playground. The idea of Come Alive Outside is to encourage children to spend more time outside for health, education, and to become more appreciative of nature. Dr. Cohan and his team came to take measurements today for some of the anticipated structures. Under consideration are a new raised garden, zip-line, suspension bridge and stage. Teachers and children are helping with the planning.

See the website article.

October 15, 2014 was Global Hand Washing Day. To celebrate, Dr. Lis Maring and Kelly Blake from the School of Public Health, and a group of Global Public Health Scholars at UMCP visited the Blue Room kindergarten children to do educational hand washing activities. Afterwards they created a giant banner to help remind others of the importance of hand washing. One child remarked, "They shined a light and it showed germs, when we washed our hands right the germs went away, then we made a poster about hand washing". See the video. Hand washing with soap is the most effective way to prevent diarrheal and acute respiratory infections. See the Global Hand-washing website.

Provost Mary Ann Rankin visited CYC on Tuesday, October 7, 2014. The provost toured CYC and observed each classroom. She was very impressed with the program and is knowledgeable about project based learning.

She began Terrapin Teachers an initiative in undergraduate secondary STEM teacher education at the University of Maryland supported by the National Mathematics and Science Initiative. The program is a replication of the nationally known and highly regarded UTeach program that was developed at the University of Texas at Austin under her leadership. This is a collaborative academic program between the College of Computer, Mathematical, & Natural Sciences (CMNS) and the College of Education(COE). This program prepares students to teach math and science effectively using inquiry and project-based instruction.

The Provost wants to return to CYC especially when she needs a stress free experience. She is always welcome!

September 30, 2014 - Fire Marshall Luisa Ferreira came to the CYC to conduct one of the school’s monthly fire drills. Since there were many new faces this fall, she made an appearance in each classroom with her fire dog puppet , “Sparky”, to talk briefly to the children about the importance of fire drills. She asked the children in one room what they could do if the noise of the alarm was too loud. “Cover your ears!” responded many of the children. “Yes she said, just like this!” as she covered the puppet’s ears with its paws.

Fire Marshall Louisa works for the Department of Environmental Safety on campus and helps the CYC comply with the State’s licensing requirements for monthly fire drills.

August 16, 2014- In preparing for a new school year, teachers not only set up their classrooms and prepare lessons but will attend many inspiring and stimulating professional development workshops. Two such workshops scheduled for the first week are, Building Young Math Minds, presented by Dr. Jennifer Taylor-Cox author of Math Intervention and Family Math Night, and Physical Development in Young Children, presented by Dr. Jane Clark, Dean of the School of Public Health. Upcoming workshops will include, using nature to inspire children’s art, early childhood literacy, and an overview of the UMD’s Leap program. In addition all teachers will attend a full day of pediatric CPR and First Aid.

The April/May 2014 issue of NAEYC’s (National Association for the Education of Young Children) Teaching Young Children magazine has an article about the CYC’s Trash Free Tuesday initiative. This magazine is directed toward preschool professionals. The article highlights the CYC’s program and encourages other schools to do the same and suggests that Trash Free Tuesdays could become Trash Free Every Day. The CYC has extended their Trash Free program to include the use of natural lighting and school supplied cloth napkins. Some teachers put on soft music, use table cloths and flower center pieces to give the illusion of a fancy restaurant. The children seem to really enjoy the effect and it helps calm the sometimes boisterous time of day. By using natural light the school saves over 168 pounds of CO2 emissions per year!

March-May 2014- Healthy Harvest, a UMD Honors group participating in the UMD Do Good Challenge, helped children plant seeds, make bean tepees and arrange tires for planters on the playground. Their goal is to, “enable children to grow their own unprocessed produce and learn about sustainability, gardening and healthy eating”. Pea, bean, radish, and spinach sprouts are already appearing through the soil. The children are anticipating the harvest and consumption of these tasty vegetables. Mia Kim coordinated the activities for the group.

April 26, Maryland Day 2014- at the CYC was a huge success featuring Kaydee Puppets and Mr. M’s sing-along. There were many familiar faces from the CYC, past and present, as well as new visitors. Kaydee Puppets presented Goldilocks and the Three Bears and the Frog Prince both with a recycled twist. Mr. M, the CYC’s music teacher, featured his two sons Leo age 10, on the mandolin and Julian age 5 on the violin. The weather was beautiful and so were the performances

March 5, 2014-
The Center for Young Children earned the Silver Eco-School Award from the National Wildlife Federation. Julia Aquino, a UMD student intern in the Yellow Room, helped spearhead the initiative. One of the requirements achieved were to audit the school for energy use and come up with an Eco-action plan to reduce the usage. The Kindergarten and Yellow Room helped with the audits and decided on the use of natural light during their weekly Trash Free Tuesday lunches. The CYC also earned an award for School Yard Habitat through the NWF. Read more about progress toward the next level or Green Flag award.

January 28, 2014--
The Center for Young Children is the first to earn the Gold Office Award from the UMD Office of Sustainability. For CYC to attain this award, some practices included purchasing organic fair trade coffee and including sustainability issues in office PRD’s. These actions were transferred to office members’ homes where each staff member practiced sustainability activities in line with the Green office criteria. Katherine Richards from Sustainability said, "Congratulations on the continued effort towards becoming a green office. It was great to see all of the sustainability initiatives your office is participating in, and all the creative ways the Center for Young Children has integrated sustainability into the office culture and the children’s educations." Please see the completed check list. To learn more please view the article on the Green Office News.

News Archives 2013

November 20-23, 2013--
All CYC teachers and administrators were able to attend the NAEYC convention in Washington DC. The National Association for the Education of Young Children sponsors an annual conference for teachers, program administrators, students, researchers and teacher educators. Hundreds of workshops were offered over the five day event. CYC teachers attended sessions that included continuing education about technology, professional development, curriculum, guidance, language and literacy, project work, current research and more. In the past CYC teachers and administrators have presented on numerous topics at the convention.

Ms. Kain said, "We had a fantastic time at the NAEYC conference last Thursday and Friday! It is such a powerful feeling being at a convention with thousands of other people working on behalf of young children. "

November 12, 2013--
Field trips are an important component for the CYC curriculum and the University of Maryland resources are frequently used during classroom studies. Today the Purple Room took a trip to the Biology Department and visited tanks full of Cichlids to enhance their study on fish. Dr. Karen Carlton allowed the children to walk between the tanks and feed the eager fish. “That must be a boy fish!” shouted Elvy after learning from Dr. Carlton that the males had brighter colors. Calvin wanted to know why they had nets and learned the fish were sometimes caught and transferred to another tank. Children have learned about fish over the past 5 weeks and visited a local creek with nets and the guidance of an experienced fisherman .Parent experts have also talked to the children and answered their questions.

August 2013- Cyc students learn first-hand about the March on Washington. Janice Gonzalez, a teacher at the Center for Young Children, recalls her experience 50 years ago in 1963 at the March on Washington where she heard Dr. Martin Luther King give his famous “I have a Dream” speech. Ms. Gonzalez was captured in a video recording by Katie Saponaro, a 7-year-old summer camp student. Katie was a participant in the Purple Room’s summer project on photography when she found out how to use the video mode on her team’s camera. During the photography study, the rising 2nd grade Purple Room campers visited the National Portrait Gallery where they saw an exhibit of photographs on Dr. Martin Luther King. After learning about Ms. Gonzalez’s experience, campers were encouraged to ask her about it. Katie got the idea to document her talking about it on video.

See more about the Purple Room’s Photography Summer Project

May 16, 2013-- Connect the Dots Ballet company preformed “A Day at the Ballet” for the children at the CYC. Selections of different ballets were preformed, themed around Sleeping Beauty’s birthday. Some dance selections came from, The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, and Cinderella. After the performance, the children were allowed to try on some of the costumes and talk with the dancers. When asked what their favorite part was, one child said, "Everything!!".

March 28, 2013-Three members of the UMD dance team came to visit The Green Room class at the CYC. The Green Room has been learning about different types of dance and they invited a few members of the UMD team to visit and share their expertise. Christina Dean, Molly Schoenfeld, and Sydney Sims came dressed in their uniforms with pom poms to show the children a few of the dances they perform when the Terp teams score a win. The children were taught some of the basic dance and cheer moves. One boy said, “They kicked their legs up to their faces!” Another child commented, “They have to practice a lot!”

Feb.8, 2013- CYC teachers attended two in-house workshops. The first was led by Dr. Guha and Dr. Clegg from the College of Information Studies. Dr. Guha has been doing research with the iLabSchool Research Community that seeks to understand the future of education, making an impact in research and practice; and understanding the role of new technologies, participant assessment, and partnerships in design. Dr. Clegg’s interests are in developing technology to support life-relevant learning environments, participatory design with children. The session went over the many uses of technology that teachers already use in the classroom and some new ways that could be introduced. Special emphasis was on the use of IPads in the classroom.

Chief David Mitchell, Major Chris Jagoe, Sgt. August Kenner, and Mark McGuigan, from the UMD Police Department, came in for a discussion on safety at the CYC. Teachers were able to express concerns and have their questions answered. A follow-up assessment was planned for a future date.

Jan.15, 2013- The Center for Young Children kicks off their first Trash free Tuesday. Initiated by the CYC Green Committee, Trash Free Tuesday is a day when children and staff strive to limit the amount of trash in their lunch that would end up in a landfill.
Children at the center already sort trash into three different bins: Compost, Recycling and Trash.

The committee objectives are to have one day a week where the focus is on using reusable lunch containers and buying bulk size items as opposed to individually wrapped ones.
The Kindergarten Green Committee (the student section of the CYC Green Committee which includes all CYC Kindergarteners) weighed the lunch trash the previous Tuesday to get a baseline which amounted to just over one pound of landfill destined garbage. For a school of around 100 students this seemed to be quite low and gives credit to families and staff for already being conscious of reducing waste.

On January15th, the CYC community surprised everyone by cutting their lunch time waste by over half! After weighing the trash, the Kindergarten Green Committee helped create a graph to show the results to the entire school. Everyone was excited and one kindergartner wondered if the school could get down to only one piece of trash.

Most of the trash came in the form of food wrappers covering things like Gogurt, cheese sticks and cereal type bars. The trash will continue to be weighed by the children for the next three weeks. See the flier.

News Archives 2012

Oct. 15, 2012-CYC earns the Silver Office Award. All members of the CYC staff and administration along with PTA members, worked hard to complete 75% of the UMD Sustainability checklist for the Silver Office award. Requirements completed include, replacing power strips with "Smart" power strips, maintaining a Sustainability Committee, maintaining plants throughout the building and eliminating disposable dishes for office use and meetings. See the complete list.

May 10, 2012-
The Center for Young Children has achieved a new, five-year term of NAEYC Accreditation by successfully completing the renewal process. The administration, teaching staff, and families of the CYC are all to be congratulated for continuing to uphold the mark of quality represented by the NAEYC Accreditation system. NAEYC's letter said, "On behalf of NAEYC, and specifically the NAEYC Academy for Early Childhood Program Accreditation, we commend your program’s outstanding efforts in renewing NAEYC Accreditation."

Special recognition goes to Anne Daniel who spearheaded and directed this process. She was committed and dedicated to the CYC receiving this wonderful honor. The teachers and front office staff must also be commended for their dedication to this endeavor. Also the families and children we work with are a huge asset and for whom we work so diligently. The process started last spring with parents filling out evaluations for the school.This is a marvelous outcome for this school year.

See the letter to the Director and the complete report.

April 25, 2012- The Center for Young Children has been certified as a Maryland Green School by the Maryland Association for Environmental and Outdoor Education. The CYC will officially be awarded during the MAEOE Youth Summit at Sandy Point State Park on June 1, 2012.

To be considered a Green School the CYC showed documentation of using the environment as a context for learning, staff environmental learning, best management practice actions, and school-community partnerships.

Voted as our top 5 achievements during the process were;

Receiving a Grant from UMD Campus Sustainability
Teachers presenting at NAEYC
Composting Program
Switching over to reusable dishes and cutlery
The Multiple Gardens Around the CYC

Congratulations to the administration, teachers, staff, children, and community members that were so deeply involved. See the completed online application.

April 28, 2012 Maryland Day- CYC is open 10-12:00 for a Green Festival including a Kaydee Puppet show and Sing-along with Mr. M. See the flier.

Feb. 16, 2012- Students young, and old, thrive at the CYC. See the full article in the UMD Diamondback.

Jan. 26, 2012- Campus Sustainability presented the CYC with the Bronze Green Office award after staff completed over 23 requirements, from powering down over breaks to bringing waste-free lunches. Many of the actions were already in place due to environmentally conscious efforts by teachers and staff. See our completed Bronze Green Office checklist!

January 4, 2012- Today an ABC reporter and crew came to CYC to film our playground and to interview CYC director Dr. Favretto about physical activity and its importance. This segment was based on a USA Today article concerning research published in the Journal of Pediatrics discussing the lack of physical activity for young children in programs. After the interview Dr. Favretto noted, "It does give me pause though when I think about physical activity and how important it is for thinking and socialization. Cognitive, emotional/social and physical development are all interrelated. "

News Archives 2011

December 2011- All members of the Center for Young Children community are pulling together to help make the CYC more green in many ways. A Green Committee was formed two years ago to focus on ways the CYC could improve its efforts. Since then a grant was attained to replace wasteful paper towel dispensers, and the Center has applied for Green School status with the Maryland Association for Environmental and Outdoor Education.

The CYC has also become a participant in the Green Office initiative sponsored by the Sustainability department of the University of Maryland.

The PTA has become involved by selecting a parent as a member of the Green School committee, by selling reusable water bottles and by participating in the Save Fuel week. Even the Blue Room Kindergarten has formed their own Green Committee to help with progress toward a greener school. For one part of their commitment, the Kindergarten counted all of the indoor plants at the CYC and made a graph for display in the front lobby. Before the count, the Kindergarteners discussed how plants are beneficial to the environment.

Nov. 2-5, 2011
Green Room teachers, Cici Fowler and Sara Person presented, "Do you paint what's in your mind? Conducting an in-depth investigation of painting through the project approach", at this year's convention of the prestigious National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) in Orlando Florida.

The presentation consisted of
sharing an 11-week in-depth investigation on painting conducted at the CYC and based on the Project Approach. Conferees were engaged through a series of photos, short video clips of field experiences such as the children's visit to the UMUC Art Gallery, the beginning phases of introducing a new media, and their culminating event: the opening of a classroom art gallery.

Ms. Fowler and Ms. Person shared, how through the course of the study, the children became active participants in learning how to use three different types of paint- watercolor, tempera, and acrylic. They also shared how they were able to use local artists as "experts" in their field of painting to demonstrate how to use the various types of painting tools, techniques, and paints.

We are proud to have Ms. Fowler and Ms. Person represent the Center for Young Children at the NAEYC annual convention again.

Sept. 26, 2011 author Rosemary Wells visits CYC with her editor at Hyperion Publishing, Stephanie Lurie. They were able to visit the Blue Room Kindergarten where Rosemary read her new book, Yoko's Show and Tell with the children, a book that prompted a lot of questions and discussion. One kindergartener remarked, “That’s a good book!” A brief art activity using pastels, related to the art that Rosemary uses when doing her illustrations, followed.

Later, Rosemary and Stephanie met with our CYC faculty for an hour and a half of fun information and sharing about the children's book publishing industry. I know we all feel like we KNOW this author, and the little character Yoko. That makes a difference for all of us here when purchasing and sharing Rosemary's many (over 130!) books. Visiting the CYC was one thing Ms. Wells requested to do when passing through DC. To quote Rosemary Wells, “Children learn up at CYC”. Finally, Rosemary left us with several pieces of her original art work. We'll frame and find just the right spots to display!

Check out Rosemary's website (www.rosemarywells.com) for more info about this beloved author, her books, games, etc.

August 6, 2011-The CYC Blue Room summer camp project is featured in the local College Park newsletter, the College Park Patch. Children ages 8-9 studied local American Indians over a six week period this summer culminating in their own Native American museum. Highlights of the summer included field trips to the National Museum of the American Indian and the National Language Museum, a visit from an archeologist, building their own brush shelter and hands on trips to Paint Branch Creek.

May 12, 2011-Connect the Dots dance troupe honored the CYC again with a performance on May 12. The dancers did two performances of Cinderella to accommodate the large group of children. Afterward many children were inspired to act out their own version of Cinderella. Thank you Connect the Dots for giving our children such a valuable experience.


	May 2011-The CYC is pleased to welcome back Beebee Asamoah-Mensah, a student from the Red Room fourteen years ago! Ms. Asamoah-Mensah is a senior at Holton-Arms School in Bethesda. She has returned to complete her Senior Project, involving something she is passionate about. She chose the CYC to gain more experience interacting with young children as she plans to become a pediatrician in the future and will study at Cornell University in the fall. Ms. Asamoah-Mensah was at the Center for Young Children when Hillary Clinton visited. She was the one chosen to present Ms. Clinton with a tee-shirt gift from the school. Welcome back!

April/May 2011-Yin Deng from the Confucius Institute at the University of Maryland campus offered to give Chinese language lessons to several classes. Deng has been teaching basic words and phrases using a variety of games. The classes have been going on for the past two months. The children are enjoying the classes and they have been able to retain much of what has been taught. "It has been a rewarding experience for the class and really highlights the culture of several Chinese students in our classroom which they seem to really enjoy," said one of the Red Room teachers.

April/May 2011- Ms. Casey and Ms. Adamson-Kain have an article in the current issue of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)
"Teaching Young Children". The article features an investigation of pumpkins and gourds, entitled "Picturing Good Practice."

April 30, 2011 Maryland Day

Maryland Day is a special UMd tradition when campus is open, the last Saturday in April each year, to tens of thousands of visitors. Hundreds of separate activities and experiences are planned for those visiting Maryland. CYC is always open that morning, and we'll celebrate Md Day on Saturday, April 30, from 10:00-12:00. Kaydee Puppets will visit and present "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" and "Nursery Rhymes and Rhythms" beginning at about 10:30 (but don't arrive at 10:30, as the Great Room is usually all filled by that time!); "Mr. M", Eric Maring will lead all guests in a special sing-along following the puppet shows. So it is a special, though brief morning here at CYC , with lots of time for your family to explore all the other happenings on campus.

For more information visit the Maryland Day web site

April 6, 2011- UMD President and Mrs. Loh visited the CYC today. Dr. Loh spent time watching children sing and dance and mentioned "You can see their personalities right now in music". He toured the building and observed all the classrooms. I want to thank the kindergarten children for making a welcome sign and cooking banana bread for the event. CYC is the best place on campus!

March 16, 2011-CYC Kindergarten raises money for Habitat for Humanity.

CYC kindergarten teachers Kathleen Sayers and Beth Solomon helped to initiate a desire in the Center for Young Children Kindergarten class to do a service project by reading a dozen or so picture books about people in diverse situations. Next the children came up with ideas of people they might be able to help. Then they talked about how they could help, and whether the help would be sustained over a long period of time. After many discussions and some research, the children focused on wanting to buy or build a house to help those in need. This is where the idea of Habitat for Humanity came from.

Zack Olsen and Michelle Chan, two experts from the UM Habitat for Humanity organization were invited to speak to the children and answer their questions. Meridith Phillips, the CYC PTA president and a fundraiser specialist, also came to discuss with the children how to raise money. From this information the children decided to hold a bake sale for the hungry college students at the Diner. The proceeds would be donated to Habitat for Humanity. Mr. Thompson from the Diner, embraced the idea and helped gain permission, set up a tent etc. to help make the bake sale a huge success.

The Kindergartners made signs and sent out donation letters to local stores in addition to baking items for sale at home and at school. Giant, Jason’s Deli, Roots and MOM’s donated food to be sold at the bake sale inspired by the children’s letters. The day of the bake sale all of the children helped to sell the goods and collected the money. The final tally has not been completed yet but it is estimated that the children sold over 400 items. The Kindergarten teachers said the success of the project could never have been realized without the help of their “incredible parents” who helped bake and bring in donations, as well as supervising the actual event.The children calculated a final total of $425.76!

News Archives 2010

December 16, 2010-UM’s Connect the Dots Dance Company in collaboration with the Royal Scottish Dance Society, The Catholic Student Center and Dance Discovery, presented The Nutcracker at the CYC to the delight of all. In preparation different versions of the Nutcracker were read to the children and Mr. M, our music teacher, used musical activities from several selections of Tchaikovsky’s music.

The Dance Company collected Christmas gift donations from the CYC to donate to a children’s hospital. Many parents also purchased books through the CYC annual book fair to donate.

December 6, 2010- CYC Goes Green: The University Sustainability Council and the Student Advisory Subcommittee have decided to fund
the Youngest Terps Go Green project. There were a total of 29
proposals seeking funding from the Campus Green Fund, and six have
been funded to date. The Council thoroughly enjoyed reading over the project submitted by CYC and the funding will educate future generations about sustainability issues.

November 6, 2010 -Six CYC teachers presented at the annual NAEYC conference in Anaheim California, on topics ranging from language arts to science. See a write-up of each topic on the Presentations page. Congratulations teachers!

October 6, 2010 -Sponsored by the A&C International Exchange Center, a Delegation of Early Childhood Educators from China visited the Center for Young Children at the University of Maryland on October 6, 2010.

The purpose of this visit was to learn about the following:

Overview of the CYC mission
To observe a preschool class
Overview of the early childhood education programs at CYC

They were impressed with the CYC and would like a partnership and collaboration with the staff and faculty. A Trip to Beijing may be in the future.

September 20, 2010 - The NAEYC Governing Board has invited Orange Room teacher Stefanie Kain to serve on the NAEYC Consulting Editors Panel for a three-year term beginning September 1, 2010 and ending August 31, 2013. As a consulting editor she will review and write a critique of approximately 12-15 manuscripts a year for NAEYC's journal, Young Children. Congratulations Ms. Kain!

April 16, 2010 - Author Dr. Sue Bredekamp Visits the CYC

On April 16th, the Center for Young Children (CYC) hosted a publishing event to announce and introduce the latest publication of the renowned early childhood expert, Dr. Sue Bredekamp. Her book is entitled Effective Practices in Early Childhood Education-Building a Foundation. Early childhood faculty from around the State of Maryland attended the event. Dr. Bredekamp presented an overview of the text and participants were given a tour of CYC. It was so important to Dr. Bredekamp to have this event at CYC for many reasons. She earned her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees as well as her Ph.D. from the University of Maryland. Her mentor, advisor and friend was Dr. Carol Seefeldt who was an advocate for the CYC.

There was a perfect match between the new textbook’s philosophy and the exemplary classroom practice, environment and documentation evident at CYC. The event was very successful and we hope to continue this positive partnership.

April 9, 2010 -
Check out PBS's Reading Rockets to read Maria Salvadore's entry, "Why folk and fairy tales?", written after the Yellow Room teachers, Ms. Denaro and Ms. Ciardi gave a presentation to her Children's Literature class. The presentation showed the three stages of a fairy tale study recently completed with a group of mixed aged preschool children. Though the CYC is not mentioned specifically by name, Maria's thoughts are highly complimentary...and carry weight in the world of children's literature! Ms Salvadore's class had just completed a several week look at folklore. Congratulations Yellow Room teachers for this acknowledgment of your work.

March 11, 2010 -
The CYC is happy to announce that renowned children's author, Rosemary Wells, stopped by CYC for a short visit on March 11th. An author/illustrator and the creator of beloved picture book characters including Max and Ruby, Noisy Nora, and Yoko, Wells expressed a desire to visit CYC while she was in DC being featured as the "Literary Honoree" speaker at the Reading Connection's annual fundraiser. She is interested in observing "best practices" in early childhood education ...hence the visit to CYC! Maria Salvadore, the EDHD 222 children's lit instructor, accompanied her. Ms. Daniel added some of Well's many books (she's written over 120 books!) to the bookshelf outside of her office for checkout. Ms Wells' books may easily be found in all public libraries too.

Go to Rosemary's web site to learn more about her and enjoy reading her books with your children.

Dec. 12, 2009 - The Winter 2009 issue of Endeavors (a magazine for alumni and friends of the College of Education), mentioned the workshop presentations of CYC administrators and staff at this year's NAEYC convention. To view the article go to page 2 of the December 2009 Endeavor issue.