About the Center

The Mendocino College Child Development Center has been serving the college community since 1978. It is a pre-school and child development center for 18 month to 5 year old children and is designed to serve three goals: Child Care Student Training Parent Education Child Development students observe and work with children in the daily program.

Child Care

Mendocino College offers a quality child care and education program for young children, eighteen months through age five, Children of students, staff, faculty and the community participate in a program of developmentally appropriate activities, facilitated by a caring, professional teaching staff.

• The Mendocino College Child Development Center is licensed for 57 children from 18 months through 5 years.
  
  
• The Center adheres to the college calendar. In addition, the Center offers an "inter-session" between semesters to conform with the Ukiah Unified School District calendar. The Center is open from 7:45 am until 4:30 pm for the Toddler group and 7:45 am until 5:15 pm for the Tweener and Preschool groups.
  
  
• The teaching team in each classroom consists of a Child Development Specialist who is highly trained and experienced in the field of early childhood education, an Associate Teacher, and one or more Assistant Teachers.
  
  
• The Center also serves as an integral part of the training program in child development, providing child development students with a "hands on" opportunity to practice skills and techniques learned in the classroom. Student parents with children at in the Center enroll in a parent participation class and participate two hours a week in their child’s classroom.
  
  
• Student parents, staff, faculty, and community families may enroll their children in the Child Development Center. Student parents must be enrolled in an academic or vocational program leading to a certificate or degree.
  
  
• Low income families are encouraged to apply for subsidized child care. Families who do not qualify for a subsidy may enroll their child(ren) as private pay and pay a daily fee for child care.

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Program Philosophy

We wish to offer the best possible experience for your family.

• The philosophy of the Mendocino College Child Development Center has its basis in a humanistic view of the child as an independent and individual learner.
  
  
• The aim of the program is to respond to the needs of each child as he/she develops awareness of the world and readiness for learning.
  
  
• Each group provides developmentally appropriate materials and activities for children in the areas of social/emotional, intellectual and aesthetic growth and psychomotor development, while fostering a positive self-concept.
  
  
• Through planned activities, children are challenged to explore ideas, solve problems, and develop and expand skills, language and concepts. Their sense of competence and self-worth is encouraged by empathetic, caring teaching teams.
  
  
• The emphasis is on active, hands-on learning with pre-math activities such as shape identification, sorting games and one-to-one correspondence, and pre-reading activities such as alphabet bingo, dictation and storytelling.

Our approach is consistent with research based on longitudinal observation of young children, which indicates that children learn best through their senses, needing many opportunities to initiate learning on their own, and needing periods of choice that alternate with periods of guidance.

By means of these developmentally appropriate "academics", a strong foundation is built for the kindergarten experience that will follow the years at the Child Development Center.

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The Curriculum

Teaching
The teaching staff carefully plan the curriculum at the Center. Broad objectives for each month, as well as retrospective documentation of daily activities are posted in each room and throughout the Center. We believe that curriculum should be carefully planned, and that good teaching also involves being ready and able to catch the "teachable moment" by following the interests of an individual child or group into activities that may not have been pre-planned.

Activities
The Center provides activities that offer a variety of choices designed to encourage physical skills, cognitive learning, problem solving and independence. Active physical play, conceptual learning, art, music, science, literature and dramatic play are part of the daily program. Materials and encouragement are available for children who are developmentally ready and who are interested in more formal academic learning.

Cultures
An important component of all curriculum planning is the embracing of the entire human family. The books we read, the songs we sing, and many of our cooking projects follow this theme. We thoroughly enjoy Halloween (with trick-or treating visits to campus offices); we touch on our heritage at Thanksgiving; we celebrate winter and our appreciation of loved ones in December; and we construct and mail valentines in February. While we do follow the events of the year in our planning, especially in our science projects, we do not have a holiday-directed approach.

Age
Curriculum varies according to age. As children mature, they engage in increasingly intricate and challenging activities. Curriculum also varies from year to year because no one group of children is like another. This flexibility allows out teachers the opportunity to assess the nature of their group and design their plans accordingly.

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The CDV Club

Parents of enrolled children are automatically members of the Parent Club. The Parent Club serves as the Advisory Board of the Center.

Meetings are held throughout the school year with parenting information, planned Center activities, fundraising, and special events as topics for discussion.

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Admissions Policy

• The Mendocino College Child Development Center is operated on a non-discriminatory basis without regard to race, creed, religion or national origin.
  
  
• Children with physical or learning handicaps will be accepted when judged to be in the best interest of the child and within the capabilities of the Center.
  
  
• The Mendocino College Child Development Center does not engage in religious instruction or worship.
  
  
• The Mendocino College Child Development Center offers care to student, staff, faculty and community families with children who are at least 18 months old through 5 years of age.
  
  
• Eligibility for subsidized child care is determined by family income, with priority given to children of students attending Mendocino College.

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