  On Friday, September 28, 2018, the Bright Horizons/Little Explorers at NOAA Child Development Center celebrated a very special milestone- their 25th Anniversary!
While the anniversary was commemorated in a few ways, the most significant and fun way was an Anniversary party held at the center. The staff planned a party on the center’s playground and invited current children, families, and alumni from the past 25 years, as well as special guests, including GSA’s Office of Child Care.
Attendees were given a tour of the center, and invited to participate in activities including creating children’s blankets for a local domestic violence home. Speeches were given by Kerry McAuley, Center Director, Lindsay Fullenkamp, Center Board President, and Howard Maupin, GSA Child Care Specialist. Lindsay, on behalf of the Board and center families, presented Kerry with a plaque commemorating the Anniversary and thanked Bright Horizons for so many wonderful years of child care. Cake was cut and shared, as well as many fond memories.
One of the ten standards for NAEYC accreditation is Community Relationships. Assessment of this standard evaluates how the child care program establishes relationships with and uses resources in the community to support learning goals. Closely related is the Families Standard; these two standards are scored together in the Center’s Accreditation Decision Report.
Collaborative relationships with families and community is a key to success for NAEYC accredited programs, and a role of the Board is to help facilitate these relationships. Listed below are concrete ideas we have collected from the field about how Boards and Providers can foster these collaborative relationships:
- Consider your federal campus and building as your community. If they have an art show, take the children and use it as a teaching opportunity. If there is a Fun Run on campus, then a class of children can cheer on the sidelines. These community events can also be connected to the program’s curriculum in a meaningful, hands-on way.
- Bring the community into the center- invite a community helper (a dentist, firefighter, etc.) or parents to talk about their jobs. A good strategy is to have them bring in one thing they use on their job that will be interesting to the children, instead of talking about their job in general. For example, a soldier with their ready to eat meals, a handyman with a hammer, an architect with a set of plans or a book like The World is Not a Rectangle”. Children generally find interest in the details, not the “big picture”.
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Instead of parties for holidays or special occasions, provide other opportunities for families to get to know each other. Have a family field trip where everyone meets at the field trip site. This makes it more of a family outing, because all the children have at least one family member with them.
- Host a family night or weekend picnic, where families are invited to come after school hours and get together with teachers and other families.
- Maintain a notebook or bulletin board about community services and community events for both families and staff.
- Sponsor a “lunch and learn” training for both families and staff, especially about a shared problem, such as biting.
We hope these ideas set you upon the path of community building as we approach the holiday season! |
