The Center for Early Childhood Education at NVCC Provides:
- A high-quality school for children 18 months to Kindergarten age
- Child-focused, family-inclusive practices
- Highly-qualified and trained teachers and staff
- Discovery-based learning
- Emergent curriculum embedded with state developmental standards
- Holistic education and assessment
- Competitive tuition rates
- High quality materials and environments for young children
- High adult to child ratios
About the Center for Early Childhood Education at NVCC:
A high quality school for young children and teacher training facility since 1977, the Center for Early Childhood Education at NVCC is a state-of-the-art early care and education facility guided by the Reggio Emilia Approach philosophy.
The Center is a place where children and teachers co-construct learning in a hands-on, arts-based and nature-inspired classroom. Considered the third teacher, the environment is intentionally arranged to maximize children's curiosity and creativity in a home-like and developmentally appropriate setting. Collaborative learning also fosters independence, higher-level thinking skills, social competence, language development, and self-regulation, consistently building on skills which prepare children for academic success throughout the school years.
The curriculum emerges from the interests of the children with purposeful and reflective interactions which are expressed by children through exploration, self-expression, and interaction with their teachers and peers, while maintaining an alignment of the State of Connecticut Early Learning and Development Standards as the foundation of the curriculum. Holistic assessment is based on the variety of ways that children represent their understanding and questions, also known as The Hundred Languages of Children.
The use of the Project Approach allows children to explore all domains of learning in the context of in-depth exploration of a topic, inspired by the children's interests and group and individual needs.
Current Family Information
Families as Partners
Parent and family involvement is integral to the Reggio Emilia Approach. The Center highly values parent and family involvement in the school lives of your child(ren). If there is anything you would like to share with your child’s classroom, i.e. a cultural or family tradition or recipe, please contact one of the head teachers of your child’s classroom to set up a time.
There are many avenues that families can participate in at the Center, including:
- visiting the classroom to share talents and skills or to share family culture
- participating on field trips
- contributing to holidays, celebrations or special events
- dropping in to visit or read to the children
- participating in ongoing projects
Family Council
Role
As partners in your child(ren)'s education we honor you as members of our Family Council! The Center Family Council meets four times per year. As a member of the council, your role would be to review policies, participate in hiring and be an overall support to the Center.
Policy
The council will consist of:
- parents from the Sensory Room
- parents from the Exploration Room
- parents from the Discovery Room
- parents from the Kindergarten of Exploration
- staff of the Center for Early Childhood Education & Early Childhood Education Department
The council will meet four times per year and additionally as needed.
