PURPOSE

Dianne Arnett founded the Children’s Discovery Center in September of 1979, with the intention of creating a safe environment for children to explore and learn through hands-on experiences. In August of 1991, Kyle Holder took over the school carrying on with that same philosophy while expanding the philosophy to where our school is today. In 1996, Kelly McRee became the Educational Director to help guide the school’s curriculum and shape the philosophy of the school to become even more developmentally sound. Our goal is to maintain an environment that is rich in opportunities that instill self-confi­dence and enable children to develop socially, emotionally, physically and cognitively. We form a partnership with parents that promotes a greater understanding of the ways in which children grow and learn.

PHILOSOPHY

The Philosophy of Children's Discovery Center is based on the image of the child. We see the individual child has having rights to a quality education. We respect that the child is the co-constructor of knowledge. This means that our curriculum is choreographed by the children's interests and their innate curiosity. We support the children’s exploration of their environment as natural researchers, and their need to be interactive learners. We offer children the environment for learning and the provocation to take another look. Our philosophy combines some of the teaching of the greatest educators of our times- Jean Piaget, John Dewey, Erik Erikson, and Reggio Emilia's Loris Malaguzzi. Our environment is structured so our curriculum is truly child centered which implies that it is both child initiated and teacher facilitated. We focus on the process of learning in all its intricacies, not just the end result or the product. The learner must be trusted and supported to follow the creative processes without worry of what the finished product may be. At Children's Discovery Center, we are dedicated to allowing children the freedom to explore the world at their leisure and at their direction.

INVOLVEMENT

Parents are encouraged to visit the school whenever they wish. If you have any special talents or skills such as playing an instrument or if you are a police officer or firefighter, etc., then we would welcome you to share those skills with the children. We feel the more involved the parents are in the school, the more positive the children's experiences will be. The Children's Discovery Center offers a complete open door policy and you may stop by at any time of the day to visit. We do, however, encourage the parents to discuss visits with the director, as most older children associate seeing their parents with going home, it might be harder on some children to have to say good-bye to their parents again in the middle of the day.

PROGRAM

The Children's Discovery Center attempts to provide an environment that facilitates the development of:

ENROLLMENT

The Children's Discovery Center offers classes to children 6 weeks old to 5 years old, on a full or part time basis. We have a low child/staff ratio, with a ratio of 4:1 in our infant room, up to 10:1 in our pre-k class Each room has two teachers for the support and team teaching benefits. There are five classes in our school, each spanning approximately 1 year (0 to 1, 1 to 2, etc.). Enrollment in our program is based on available space without regard to race, sex, creed or religion. The enrollment procedure consists of the following steps:

1. An initial interview with the director of the school and a tour of the school.

2. Visiting all the other schools you are interested in.

3. Payment of the deposit. If you decide to enroll here, a deposit will secure your place in line. The deposit consists of 1/2 of one months tuition. One half of this deposit is not refundable because it is the registration and supply fee and the other half is refundable upon thirty days written notice of withdrawal as long as the withdrawal date coincides with a semester break (For example, August 12th, December 20th, and May 22nd were the semester breaks for 1996-1997.)

4. Completion of the enrollment forms at your starting date.

5. Providing the school with current immunization records and a well-child statement. (within 2 weeks of start date if not immediately available)

6. We encourage the parents and child to visit as much as possible before the actual start date to familiarize the child and make the first days of school easier.

TUITION

Tuition depends on the specific program chosen (see tuition page for details). Tuition is due on the first of each month. There is a five day grace period and after the sixth day of the month there will be a $5 late fee plus $1 per day.

HOURS

The school is open Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. till 6:00 p.m.. The school closes promptly at six and the teachers are not paid to work after six. Therefore, a late pick up fee of $2.00 every 5 minutes will be charged and will be paid to the teacher who stays late.

HOLIDAYS

The school will close for the following holidays: Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and the following Friday, the last Friday in August before the semester starts for a teacher work day and December 22rd through January 1st, inclusive (this could be modified by a day or two depending on how the calendar days fall during the week, but will always coincide within AISD's closures). Of the following five holidays, we will close for only three, to be announced every year on September 1st, to coincide with AISD closings, which vary from year to year. The following holidays to be considered are : M.L.K. Day, President's Day, Columbus Day, Veteran's Day, and Good Friday. Tuition is not prorated for holidays. See the Calendar for current holidays.

ATTENDANCE

Every child who is enrolled in the center should attend regularly. We strongly encour­age this to promote the child's development and sense of consistency. If a child is to be absent, we ask you to call the school and let us know so we don't expect them. Each child must be accompanied into the building and presented to the teacher by an adult. Children will only be dismissed to their parent or an authorized adult listed on the application. If any authorized adult listed on your child's application is to pick up your child, please have them to bring a driver's license for identification purposes.

HEALTH

Each child will be given an check upon arrival at school. This is for the child's protec­tion as well as for the other children. Children with contagious symptoms or visible illness will not be allowed to stay at school. Children must be able to take on an active day at school and be able to keep up with the pace of a normal school day. Any child that seems drained or not feeling well should not be at school. We do not have the staffing available for sick child care. Other symptoms that will not be allowed in school are: fever above 100 degrees, vomiting, diarrhea, fatigue or discolored mucous. If a child stays home or is sent home from school, they need to be symp­tom free for at least 24 hours before returning to school. Parents are encouraged to report any contagious diseases to the director for the safety of the rest of the children. Policies regarding exclusion and readmittance are dictated by the regulations of the Health Department.

IMMUNIZATIONS

A written documentation of immunizations for measles, mumps, rubella, polio, diph­theria, whooping cough, tetanus, tuberculosis and Hib must be presented at the time of enroll­ment. A well child statement from the child's doctor must also be presented. The immunization schedule you must follow is attached to the back of this handbook. You must keep the documentation of your child's immunizations current with the director.

NUTRITION

A nutritious snack is served at 9:15 a. m. and 3:15 p. m. every day. Children bring their own lunch and eat at 11:00. We ask that you respect our low sugar/no chocolate policy and pack lunches that are nutritious and sugar free. There is a nutrition suggestion package available from the director on ideas for lunches. Milk is provided with lunch and juices are served with afternoon snack.

SCHOOL LUNCH

To give parents a mid-week break, we offer a Wednesday lunch plan. The plan offers 4 pizza days per month at a cost of $7.00 per month. If a month has five Wednesdays, parents will be charged $1.75 for the additional lunch. Most parents are signed up for this plan and is added to tuition.

CLOTHING

Clothing should be comfortable, washable and suitable for preschool activities and not something that can't get dirty. Children learn by doing and during the course of doing they are going to get dirty, therefore, you can count on your child being happy and healthy at the end of the day, but not necessarily clean and free of stains. There is no way of keeping children spotless for 6 to 8 hours of school. Please don't send your child to school in their good clothes and always keep at least two complete sets of clothing in your child's cubby. You never know when accidents will happen or the weather might change. All children will be expected to have clothing suitable for that days weather. We spend a good deal of time outdoors as long as it's not raining. All cloth­ing should be marked with your child's initials with a permanent marker.

DISCIPLINE

One of the main objectives of the Children’s Discovery Center is to help children develop self discipline over their actions. To encourage this, we use a disciple approach that:

COMMUNICATION

All children have mailboxes located in their room. That is where newsletters, notes, menus, tuition statements and art work can be found on a daily basis.

CONFERENCES

Parents and teachers are encouraged to ask for a conference at any point in time. A particularly good time is when there is a concern that has not been fully addressed. Conferences will be held at a time that is convenient for both the teacher and the parent. Typically, teachers try and schedule a conference during their weekly planning periods, between 1 and 3 p.m.. It is important for the parent and teacher to connect without distractions. Problems should not be addressed in front of children. When the teachers are in the class, or on the playground, they are responsible for many children. Teachers will not be able to carry on lengthy conversations during those times, but we want to know how the parents feel so we want you to call a conference and not be worried that it be taken negatively, because we do realize that many topics need to be discussed, and cannot be during class time. It is our firm belief that communication is vital to our success and encourage all comments and suggestions. We want you to know that we welcome your ideas and that we will always treat your child with respect and love

PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT AT CHILDREN’S DISCOVERY CENTER

Welcome to the Children’s Discovery Center! We want to welcome you to our school community. This is an outline of parental involvement at our school that will help acclimate you and your family to our annual school traditions.

We have a very active parent body at Children’s Discovery Center. Our Parent’s Group meets every fourth Tuesday or Wednesday of the month from 5-6 p.m. Watch for signs on the gate! We strongly encourage everyone to attend and children may stay in care until the meeting is over. We usually discuss upcoming school wide events and any other topics parents would like to bring up.

Our Scholastic Book Fair is a big event for us every November. The Book Fair enables us to get many new books for our school library. We believe that children should have access to books at all times, but this can result in books getting torn or lost, so we need to replace books frequently. We have raised over $1,000.00 each year in free books. The Book Fair is a great place to purchase holiday gifts and to get your book for Holiday Book Exchange (detailed below).

We have several traditions that the majority of our parents participate in. We have a huge Halloween carnival every year. Parents sign up to run different children’s activities booths like ring toss and fishing for worms. There are about fifteen different booths, as well as a Moon Bouncer. Parents help set up the carnival, so we really need a lot of parental involvement. We post a sign up sheet on the parent’s bulletin board the week before Halloween.

We also have an annual Discovery Fair in the Spring usually around spring break time sometime in March or April which is our major fund-raiser for the year. The Discovery Fair is an Arts and Crafts Festival with food and drinks, live music, children’s activities, and vendors selling items such as jewelry, clothing, art, and various children’s items. Businesses donate items for our silent auction as well. The money from the Discovery Fair goes into a special parent account and the parents make the decisions on how the money is spent in conjunction with the teachers. This fair is a major event that takes a lot of planning, preparation, and participation.

For the holidays, we have an annual book exchange. Each child brings a wrapped book on the last day before the Holiday break. The book should not cost more than ten dollars, and should be labeled as to whom the book is from. This is the way for all of us to share in the holiday spirit.

The other holiday tradition we have is an annual teacher bonus program. All parents are asked to participate by donating ten or twenty dollars, so that all the teachers can receive a cash bonus before the holiday break. In year past, full time teachers have each received around a hundred dollar bonus.

We have parent/teacher workdays four times a year. On these days, we spend a Saturday doing a project for the school. We organize classrooms, clean toys, and in years past, we have built decks, playscapes, and done major remodeling. It is a great bonding experience for all of us to work together.

Parents are not required to participate in any of these events if they do not wish, but we have found that most want to be a part of a least a few of these events! We feel that parental involvement is the one of the key ingredients to a satisfying school experience for both your child and your family.