Center for Young Children (CYC)

April 13, 2017- The CYC participated in Greenfest at Denton Quad UMD. The Center's display included a huge collaborative trash sculpture created by the Purple Room. Attendees were asked to cut and attach something to add to the sculpture. Scraps of paper and old magazines were provided to. The original sculpture was created discarded boxes and materials donated by the parents. The Purple Room children are in the midst of an art study and looked art made from trash for inspiration that week. Several families attended the event which included music, food, give aways, and other activities. A big thanks goes to the Bertges family who spear headed the event.

March 10, 2017- Today the whole CYC went on a field trip to the School of Public Health to see a spectacular performance by the UMD GymkanaTroupe. Gymkana is a University campus club formed to promote healthy living by performing gymnastic routines for the public. Children, parent chaperones, and teachers were in awe as they watched entertaining routines on the bars, rings, vault, trampoline, aerial silk, and mats. A highlight in the show was the ladder act that was featured on the television show, "America's Got Talent" in 2011.

The performance was doubly exciting since one of the CYC's staff members, Mr. Murick, was part of the show. The parallel bar comedic act Mr. Murick was participant in, was the talk of the children afterward. Director and Head Coach Mr. Josh Montfort has two boys that attended the CYC in years past. Look for Gymkana's home performances April 21 and 22 and also on Maryland Day April 29.

March 13, 2017- CYC music teacher Eric Maring, received a Fulbright scholarship to teach music in India this winter. To keep in touch with the children Maring has set a schedule to FaceTime the students every two weeks. During these FaceTime sessions "Mr. M" sings familiar songs with the children and takes them for a "walk" around the streets near his home to see some of the sights. This week people were celebrating the Hindu festival of Holi. Children watched as Maring was wiped on his face with different colors by passersby. Maring was also able to show the children motorcycles, cows, and different shops down the street from his home in India. One child noticed there were not any cars.

Eric Maring has made two videos of his trip for the children that you can access on Youtube. He plans to be back for a big sing-along in May. During his absence Jes Kendal and Aryssa Burrs have been giving the children weekly music lessons. Kendal is a Ph.D student at the University for music education.

March 8, 2017- A big thank you goes to Dr. Steven Cohan's Environmental Horticulture Class for pruning the CYC playground again this year! It looks terrific.

March 6, 2017- The Center for Young Children successfully completed re-certification for the Eco-School USA Green Flag award. This award is put on by the National Wildlife Federation and comprises seven steps. The steps include forming a team to facilitate completing the steps. The CYC has a strong Green Committee made up of staff, parents, and the outside community that meets monthly, usually by email. There is also a Kindergarten component of the Green Committee, who conduct meetings in their classroom to do things like talk about waste and make posters and signs. The Committee came up with the slogan, "The CYC Saves Energy" which was voted on by the children and the PTP. An audit is conducted with the children helping check for things like drafts around the windows, cracks in the foundation, and weighing trash, compost, and recyclables.

An action plan is decided on, this needs to fit into three of the 10 pathways. The CYC chose energy, healthy living, and sustainable food. Children made signs as reminders to turn off lights, a new "salad bar" option was given for snack, and the school purchased a " greener" cleaner as part of the action plan. Community involvement was also specified and the CYC will be participating in a campus Green Fest April 15th for the 3rd year in a row. The Eco-School USA award is good for two years. See the progress toward this award.

February 26-28, 2017- The CYC's Curriculum/Enrollment Coordinator, Leslie Oppenheimer, attended NAEYC's annual Public Policy forum. The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) had over 260 members and Affiliates from 44 states and the District of Columbia, participate in Washington, D.C. and it was their largest Public Policy Forum to date. There was a "Power to the Profession" boot-camp and Congressional meetings on Capitol Hill. Those that attended were advocates for high-quality early childhood education.

Oppenheimer said, "After an exciting and energizing day on Capitol Hill, I can say that I was proud to serve on the MDAEYC Public Policy team. All of the team members are exemplary early childhood professionals and I'm happy to call them all colleagues. We met with amazing senior staff members of our State Representatives and Senators, and we were pleasantly surprised when Sen. Chris Van Hollen himself found time in a very busy day to spend with us!" Read more on the NAEYC web page.

February 6, 2017 - The CYC received a NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children) accreditation renewal decision Friday, two weeks after the official visit, and two months sooner than we anticipated. The results showed a more than perfect score due to some of the emergent criteria that the school was able to showcase.

Director- Dr. Mona Liegh Guha expressed, "We are proud of our teachers and our community, and it really speaks to the quality of early childhood education at CYC that NAEYC gave us such high marks." The 10 NAEYC "standards" (covering nearly 400 criteria through documentation appearing in 10 "program portfolios") were all awarded 100%. In fact, six of the 10 standards were awarded 100+% because the Center for Young Children addressed and documented "emerging criteria," not required, but evidence of highest quality.

The many portfolios documenting the school's actions toward these 10 standards were "commended" for their quality, completeness, and evidence of best practice. Assistant Director Anne Daniel says, "These portfolios (the 10 program portfolios and the three classroom portfolios [Red, Blue, Purple] examine and document the life of the CYC: its physical plant; the relationships built between school and families; our participation in the community beyond CYC; our teachers' preparation to teach and their teaching strategies;  our curriculum; our assessment methods; our concern for the health and safety and general well-being or your children;  and our leadership and management strategies. Thousands of pages of text and photos comprise these portfolios, telling the story of CYC.   I am so happy that everyone's hard work is appreciated and acknowledged by NAEYC." Ms. Daniel was extremely instrumental in preparing the CYC during this renewal process by coaching, checking, encouraging, and supporting everyone in their effort.

Classroom visits (one hour each) to the Red, Blue, and Purple rooms equally validated the excellence of the school's program.  All teachers at CYC were ready for their rooms to be visited.

When asked where do you go from "perfect?" Daniel said, "We will continue to listen to families and build relationships.  We will continue to learn and grow as professionals, and to reflect on all that we do. We will continue to explore the campus community and the community both within and beyond CYC so that our children can learn and grow and become understanding members of a diverse world."

The Production of The Castle and the Dragon - By the Blue Room

Since September, the Blue Room Kindergarten children have been studying theater. They have learned about many aspects of theater, including, “that backstage has everything that actors need.” The children took a vote in January and decided that for their culmination, they should put on a play. First, they signed up for jobs that needed to be completed in order to put on the show. This included writing the script, roles of actors, making the set, props, among others. On Friday, January 27, 2017, the Blue Room performed The Castle and the Dragon in the Great Room. Families and friends came and watched the performance. After the show we had a party to celebrate all of our hard work! The food was even made by children in the Blue Room! We had a fun and exciting semester learning about theater! ~ Danielle Miller and the Blue Room

January, 2017 - On the campus of the University of Maryland, three to six year olds at the Center for Young Children help the Earth. The kindergarten class at the Center are all members of the “Blue Committee”, the child section of the school's adult “Green Committee”. “The Earth is special and we want it to survive”, said Veronica and Brady, two kindergarten members of the committee.

The children also said they want animals, plants, and people to be healthy. They work hard to use less power by turning off the lights when they don’t need them. They even made signs to put on the light switches as a reminder. The Center for Young Children has earned the Maryland Green School award, The University of Maryland’s Gold Office award, The National Wildlife Federation’s School Yard Habitat award, and they are working on renewing their Eco-School USA Green Flag award. Part of the Green Flag award requires students to write an article about what they do. The children brain stormed ideas to put in the article to cover the questions, what, when, where, when, how, and why.

To answer how they help the Earth, children listed their weekly “Trash Free Tuesday” event. Families pack lunches, “that have only a little trash so we don’t put too much trash on the mountains of trash in the landfill,” said one boy. Last Tuesday the whole school made less than ½ of a pound of trash at lunch time. The Blue committee also mentioned that they use both sides of the paper and they have a basket to put scraps of paper in that can be used again. Recycled materials are also available for the children to make collages or other art work. Children take care of materials so they last like, “putting caps on markers so they don’t dry out”, said Ben. The children came up with the motto, “The CYC Saves Energy” and it is proudly displayed in the front lobby of the school. Mimi, a 6 year old said, “The CYC saves energy because we want the Earth to be a healthy place”.