Valley Interfaith Child Care Center.

¶ … Valley Interfaith Child Care Center. Program Basics: The program name was Valley Interfaith Child Care Center, located at 948 Heather Drive, Blacksburg, Virginia. The center's hours of operation are 7:00 A.M. To 6:00 P.M. Tuition for Valley Interfaith Child Care Center is $145.00 per week ($623.50 per month) for full-time child care. This includes children from the age of infant up to those turning 5 after September 30th. For those who are 5 years old by September 30th, these children transition to kindergarten or another program. There is also a one-time $50 registration fee.

It includes the summer activity fee. However, there are no reduction in fees for missed days, vacation time, or center observed closings, vacations or holidays ("Tuition, 2008). Valley Interfaith Child Care Center is a 501(c)(3) not for profit organization and is licensed by the state of Virginia. Valley Interfaith Child Care Center models its programs after the High Scope approach. Their active learning and hands-on experiences engage the children with the world around them, allowing them to make choices and decisions from an early age ("Valley," n.d.).

Caregivers: The center's caregivers include: four teachers, one assistant teacher, four teacher's aides, and one center aide. Volunteers are also used for administrative duties as well as one-on-one interaction with children and special projects. The qualifications for teachers includes an educational background in early childhood development, while teacher's aides are only required to have a high school diploma. Experience is checked by phone prior to interview. The child-adult ratio for the center is approximately 5:1 for infants to three years of age and approximately 7:1 for four- and five-year-olds.

Teacher turnover rate is extremely low; however, teacher aides typically see turnover every 12 to 24 months. Activities: The teacher and child initiated activities center of social, physical, emotional, and cognitive development. Activities typically involve a variety of materials and textures and cover the areas of art, music, puppetry, science, gardening, reading, rhythm and movement, and creative play. The children learn how to follow simple directions, sit in a group, and use their words for their wants and needs. Each day, the children spend time outside as well.

Health and Safety: Valley Interfaith Child Care Center is equipped with basic required safety equipment including: fire extinguishers, smoke detectors, and first aid kits; however, no emergency plan is clearly stated in any of their documentation, for the center as a whole. For individual emergencies, each child's enrollment documentation not only includes their parent or guardian's emergency contact information, as well as an extra emergency contact. Safety guidelines only allow the release of a child to a person listed on the enrollment form.

Others may pick up a child if the parent or guardian gives verbal permission and the person has a photo ID. The center's health policy is that if a child is not well enough to participate in all of the day's activities, including going outside, then they are not well enough to be at the center.

A fever of 101 degrees, diarrhea twice or more in a one-hour period, single occurrence of vomiting, an unidentified skin irritation or rash, chicken pox, bacterial infection, pink eye, or head lice will also exclude the child from the center ("Parent," 2008). Special Needs and ESL: There are no special needs or ESL programs at Valley Interfaith Child Care Center. Parent Involvement & Child Assessment: General communication with the parents is conducted through the center's quarterly newsletter, VICCC The Messenger.

The newsletter talks about upcoming events, as well as other relevant center news, and gives parenting tips. As discussed earlier, parental involvement in the form of volunteerism, as well as community involvement, is strongly encouraged. There are no child assessments performed, however. The Center and Quality Child Care: There are many ways the center provides quality child care. Their health policies are quite strict and each child's health is assessed when they are dropped off. The environment is designed specifically to facilitate learning.

The activities are often child initiated and hands on, taking advantage of the benefits of High Scope research. Guidance is encouraging, with teachers and assistants there to support physically and emotionally the needs of the children, without hindering their natural creativity and learning experience. Discipline was appropriate, using encouragement and positive reinforcement when children behaved properly. The Caregivers and Quality Child Care: Each of the caregivers truly seemed to enjoy their job. The teachers, Debbie, Joy, Sarah, and Cate, appeared to be 100% committed to providing the best learning environment possible.

All four teachers had early childhood development education, but none were certified teachers. Suzy was an undergraduate pursuing her education major and hoped to be a grade school teacher. The assistant teacher, Suzy, was also instrumental in facilitating learning and her level of interaction with the children was very similar to the teachers. Debbie especially could often be seen working with the older children, one-on-one, giving each individual attention throughout the day. During a particularly difficult art project, one child had difficulty with scissors and was getting frustrated.

Debbie didn't just assist him with completing the cutting, but worked with him on scissor skills. Later, during naptime, one child had forgotten her stuffed toy at home and was upset. Debbie's individual attention and patience had the child choosing a suitable toy from the center and resting in no time. The Best and the Least: I liked the fact that much of the children's activities.