Closed in response to COVID-19

April Update: Our Board met in April and decided to remain closed through the rest of spring semester due to the Covid-10 pandemic. Although our building is closed, we are still serving families through 1:1 phone and email consultations, Zoom parent ed meetings, Zoom circle times hosted by lead parents, weekly videos with songs or stories for kids, and Friday emails with ideas families can use now. We are looking forward to opening again in the Fall. Our first day will be September 8th! Can't wait. We miss everyone very much! We hope you're safe and healthy. That's the most important thing. 
Many thanks,

Teachers Stephanie & Dani

March update:
On Friday, March 13, our Board of Directors met and decided to close co-op through at least Friday, April 24. This is in response to COVID-19 which has made a global impact these past few months.

We will be keeping a close eye on this developing situation and will notify our families as soon as we have more information about when we can re-open. The current plan is to re-open when the public schools do on Monday, April 27. Of course, this is a best guess and we will know more in the coming weeks about the virus's impact on our state and our community.

This is such a challenging time to people for many reasons. We are staying in contact with our families via weekly e-mails, updates on our Facebook page, and a weekly video (posted on Facebook as of today but we'll also post here in the future).  We may also add ZOOM conferencing as well. We are taking each day as it comes and did not want to overwhelm ourselves or you with too much too soon.

To our families: We miss you, we love you, and we're thinking about you. Please check your Friday email for additional local and state resources that may be relevant during this tumultuous time.

~ Teacher Stephanie & Teacher Dani

Enroll now for Fall, 2020!

We are now accepting enrollments for Fall, 2020!

CURRENT FAMILIES: PLEASE use your Jovial Family Portal to complete a registration form for next year. The form for current families is in your portal under "FORMS"

NEW FAMILIES: Enroll or join the waitlist here: www.jovial.org/richland/register

COST:
The annual registration fee is $45, non-refundable, and saves your spot. We do not charge a registration fee to waitlist if the class is full.  Registration fees are only due when you accept a spot in a class.

Tuition is $60 per month, September - May, with no tuition due in December due to the winter break.

CLASSES:
We have five classes to choose from. Most people attend one day a week but several families enjoy coming more than once and enroll in multiple classes. It's your choice! Children attend class with a parent or guardian, as we follow the co-op model of early childhood education.

All classes are from 9:30-11:30 a.m.

Cost is $60 per month

(with no tuition due in December due to the winter break)

Please note: we are unique in that we welcome make-up days 

if you miss due to illness or travel! 

Monday: Ages 1-2

Tuesday: Ages 1-2

Wednesday: Multi-age (Ages 1-3)

Thursday: Ages 2-3

Friday: Ages 2-3

Fall Classes begin the second week of September!

Enroll or join the waitlist here: www.jovial.org/richland/register

SNOW DAY, stay warm and safe at home!
Jan 17, 2020

NEW WAY TO SCHEDULE CO-OP JOBS

www.WhenToWork.com

The Early Learning Co-op is now using WhenToHelp online software to schedule our Co-op jobs.  If you are registered with our Co-op, you will soon receive an email with sign-in instructions.  I believe you will enjoy the ease of this software, and the ability to pick your volunteer jobs and dates.  Also, this software will send out reminders to your email or by text.  Pretty nifty!! 

Week of the Young Child 2018

Week of the Young Child: April 16 - 20

Week of the Young Child™ is an annual celebration hosted by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) celebrating early learning, young children, their teachers, and families.  Follow along at the NAEYC’s Facebook or Twitter with the #woyc2018 hashtag.

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Music Monday

Children learn so much from music. It brings language to life and develops vocabulary, listening skills, and helps children internalize the rhythmic patterns of literacy and mathematics.  Music helps children in many other ways, too, including calming and soothing, easing transitions in daily routines, and anchoring special experiences like bedtime or naptime.

Try making music with handmade or improvised instruments, share a special song from your childhood, or learn a new song together. 

Tasty Tuesday

Cooking together is a powerful learning experience. It brings families together, helps kids feel more confident about trying something new, and even helps teach healthy habits.

Try making a healthy snack together, shopping at the market or store for fresh produce, or reading about farms and food production.

Work Together Wednesday

Building together encourages planning and problem solving and social skills while learning about mathematics and scientific concepts.

Try building with materials such as sticks and branches, boxes from packages or pantry items, or toys like blocks and Legos.

Artsy Thursday

Process art is open-ended and allows children to use their imagination, experiment with materials, experience cause-and-effect, and develop fine motor skills.  It is enjoyable, boosts creativity, and can even help with self-regulation.

Try coloring on dark paper with light chalk, light paper with crayons, or even painting outdoors.  Paint with water on concrete or dip sidewalk chalk in water for a different experience.

Family Friday

Families are the most important influences in children's lives.  Children need to feel a sense of connection and belonging in order to develop a healthy sense of identity and social competence.

Find a way to celebrate your family today.  Share pictures about your family.  Tell stories about what makes your family unique.  Start a family journal or scrapbook about the fun and interesting things that happened (or are happening in your family now).

What are they learning?

It often looks like "only playing" is happening in the classroom.  Play is, however, the true work of the child.  When toddlers are at play, they often act as scientists, investigating causality, proportion, systems, matter, and function as they explore the classroom's materials.

Imagine a toddler playing with droppers and watercolors.  The child squeezes the bulb on the dropper, pulls up liquid and pushes it back out, mixes colors, and watches the drips blend on the paper, It may look like a simple activity, but there is tremendous value to this experience.  

• Fine Motor Control: squeezing the dropper bulb refines the muscles and movement of the hand, developing the pincer grasp, necessary for many fine-motor activities including writing.  
• Physics: the child is experimenting with properties of liquids.
• Cognitive Development: classification and causality
• Art: color mixing
• Hand-Eye Coordination

To encourage additional learning, this activity might be available for several class sessions.  The children get an opportunity to further develop their theories and schema about how things work by repeating their actions over time.  When is the last time you heard a child say, "Wow, that was fun!  Now let's never do that again."?  

Children are learning in other interest areas, too.  We have several anchor centers in the room that do not change, such as the play kitchen, vehicles, and blocks.  Keeping these centers consistent gives the children security in the environment and allows them to expand and refine their play experiences over time.  Some centers are the same, but small changes are made to boost the experience.  For example, the water table can be changed by altering the temperature or color of the water, adding bubbles, and offering different water exploration toys.

There is a lot of learning going on at each interest area!

In dramatic play (the kitchen, babies, and farm), children are developing higher order thinking skills, practicing social skills, and applying newly acquired knowledge.

Vehicles help children learn and practice early learning concepts, vocabulary, physics, and cognition (cause & effect).

At the block center, children are developing knowledge of mathematics (length, measurement, balance), problem solving, and creativity (among many other skills).

Playdough is powerful.  It encourages comparing/contrasting, symbolic thinking and representational thought, imagination, physical development (great for hand strength), and is very good at calming kids down and extending attention spans.


Part of the instructor's role is to carefully observe the children and plan new opportunities and activities to facilitate continued learning and development.  Parents do this, too, when they share about new interests and abilities their children are expressing and make plans that focus on these changes.  It is such a joy to be able to learn and work together with you and your children.  

Why Choose a Co-op?

What is a Co-op?

Cooperative parent-child programs are popular programs that combine parent/caregiver* support and quality, developmentally appropriate learning experiences for children.

Adults participate in the daily activities, which keeps costs lower and gives the parent a unique window into their child's learning process.

Benefits of Participating in Co-op

Parents benefit from observing their child in a social learning environment and from interaction with other children and adults.  Caregivers also receive parent education sessions based upon the questions and requests of the group.  They also help the group by sharing their own experiences and expertise with others.  Parents/caregivers have the opportunity to be directly involved in their child's education and to work alongside other active adults.

Children benefit from having a community of peers, and connections with respectful, responsive attuned adults.  Equipment and materials are appropriately sized for children and learning activities are hands-on and geared toward their interests and development.

Sensory bottles

Examples of Parent Education Sessions

The needs and questions of the group will determine the scope and sequence of the parent education sessions, but sessions will usually fit under one of these categories:

Parent-Child Interaction:  

Encouraging healthy relationships through caring, responsive leadership

Development-Centered Parenting: 

Making choices based upon developmental domains

Family Well-Being: 

Helping families strengthen protective factors and 

understanding the role of the family in child outcomes

Early Experiences Build the Brain

The early years are especially important to the developing child.  Early experiences affect the growth and development of the brain.  Scientists are learning more about the importance of the brain's architecture and how early experiences affect all future learning and behavior.  (If you'd like to learn more, one place to visit is Harvard's Center on the Developing Child.)  Parents and caregivers literally build the child's brain over time from the bottom of the brain on up.  

At the Richland Toddler Co-op, we know early experiences affect long-term development.  We empower parents with information and support. We provide children with a safe, child-centered environment. We teach and learn with you.

• Materials and furniture are child-sized to encourage exploration and independence.
• Play-based activities and toys foster cognitive development.
• Routines help develop executive function.
• Social learning experiences help develop social skills and pro-social behavior.
• Freedom of movement and choice give children practice in decision-making and self-direction.

For more information on current course offerings, please visit Classes.

*On this page, we will use "parent" and "caregiver" interchangeably.  Sometimes, it is the child's parent who attends co-op with them.  Other times, it is the child's regular caregiver who attends.  We have a lovely network of moms, dads, grandparents, and nannies.  We recognize the value of everyone who shares in the life of a child.