Chaperoning the CDCLR Trip to the Duck Pond

Grayson has been attending the Child Development Center for Learning and Research at Virginia Tech (commonly known around here are the "Lab School") since early August and Luke will join him on October 23rd when he turns 15 months old. I put Grayson's name on the list for this daycare before he was born. It has 4 stars with the Virginia Star Quality Initiative - the highest of any daycare in Virginia. A spot finally opened for him this past summer - 3 years after making my initial inquiry. The center uses the Reggio Emilia approach for learning and it has been a terrific match for Grayson! I encourage anyone interested in knowing more to google Reggio Emilia - it really is a neat concept. I couldn't be more pleased with what we've experienced thus far. Each day when we arrive the teachers have 3 "investigations" already setup in the classroom. The teachers design the investigations around interests the children have recently expressed. The children are free to roam among the guided investigations until "morning meeting" at 9:00 when the children discuss things as a group. They spend TONS of time outside on a super-nice playground that even includes a solar happy sunshine face that some of the electrical engineering students came over and installed when the kids were learning about the sun. I get to go over during my lunch hour often and watch and listen through a two way mirror that is also equipped with headphones. I love being able to spy on him unnoticed! In the observation booth you also get the chance to read through all of the lesson plans and research notes from the teachers. I don't know how these teachers find the time for all of the documentation and planning! But it's awfully fun to be able to look back and see the things Grayson said during certain investigations, etc. It's also really neat to see, on paper, how the teachers pay attention to the interests of each child and try to develop investigations by taking cues from the kids. The center is also attached to an Adult Day Services program for VT employees who need daycare for their elderly parents. As a result, the daycare and adult day services have a "Neighbors Growing Together" program where Grayson gets to visit his "neighbors" and do projects with some older folks. The daycare uses the VT campus as a classroom, often taking trips to learn about things nearby. Today I helped chaperone a trip to the duck pond to collect fall leaves and other things from nature for collages. Here are some pics from the trip...