Dear Parents:

Thank you so much for your interest in ABC Daycare & Preschool. Choosing the right school is an important decision that will most likely be based upon a great deal of information and careful evaluation. The administration would like to assist you in any way that we can. Central to your child’s Early Childhood experience is our educational philosophy, which is put into practice each day by the faculty and staff.

Our teachers take great care to ensure each child loves learning. High expectations for each child’s are accompanied by strategies to ensure our students reach their goals. The result can be seen in the students’ progress, confidence, and pride in their work.

Children are our main priority, and children entering our program will leave confidence, as well as academic and social skills. They will know and appreciate their uniqueness, capabilities, and creativeness. In addition, they will have acquired the tools necessary to explore their world, know their role, and succeed at any endeavor they undertake. Your child’s future and the realization of his or her full potential is our focus. Please do not hesitate to contact our office if we can be of further assistance. We look forward to helping you with one of the most important decisions you can make as a parent, your child’s education.

Sincerely,

Serafin Blanco

At ABC Daycare & Preschool children are our main priority. It is our goal for the children who enter our program to leave with the knowledge that they are unique, capable, and creative individuals and to have acquired the tools necessary to explore their world and their role in it. Or professional, certified staff will teach them how to identify their strengths and weaknesses to help them overcome any challenges the future will bring.

Our philosophy is based on the belief that children learn best in an early childhood program that provides developmentally appropriate educational experiences in an integrated setting. Here at ABC Daycare and Preschool, our program is designed to provide a stimulating learning environment that supports the social, emotional, cognitive and physical development of every child. Teacher’s guide, support, and when needed, directly teach our children developmentally appropriate play and social skills. Our aim is to build a community of learners by providing children with enriching experiences to develop self-confidence, independence and strong cognitive and social skills. We respect the dignity, worth and individuality of each child and are committed to helping children achieve their full potential.

Our goal is to help all children grow up confident in their own identity and respectful of other people. ABC Daycare & Preschool recognizes the significant relationship among teachers, students, parents, and families and encourages continuous collaboration in a climate of mutual respect, cooperation and shared responsibility.

Our purpose is to provide a safe, wholesome environment based on developmentally appropriate guidelines and solid growth and development knowledge, thereby encouraging the social, emotional, physical, and intellectual growth and development of each child.

ABC Daycare & Preschool welcomes parents to visit during school hours. We encourage parents to visit our facility at any time. Open Door Policy does not mean the doors will be unlocked. For the safety and protection of the children, external doors will be kept locked at all times. There are many opportunities during the year in which we will inform parents/guardians to volunteer and help in our facility.

Our program will not discriminate against anyone (adult or child, staff or parent) on the basis of sex, age, religion, national origin, color, race, family structure, sexual orientation, marital status, physical or mental disability, or veteran status.

The American with Disabilities Act Prohibits discrimination against qualified individuals with disabilities in the job application procedures, hiring, firing, advancement, compensation fringe benefits, job training and other terms, conditions and privileges of employment. We provide includes children with special needs and accommodations as required by the Americans with Disabilities Act.

ABC Daycare & Preschool offers child care services Monday through Friday from

6:30 AM – 6:00 PM. The academic day begins at 9:00 A.M. for our preschoolers and 8:30 am for kindergarten & 1st grade. Please make sure your child arrives to school on time to avoid interruptions to the learning environment. The academic day will end at 2:30 p.m. After this time students will be involved in activities to further reinforce concepts and skills in a fun way.

1. Complete registration packet
2. Complete U.S.D.A meal form
3. Copy of Birth Certificate
4. Complete Physical and Immunization forms signed by physician
5. Signed Tuition agreement
6. Signed Acknowledgement Parent Handbook

Our center adheres to the same calendar holidays as Miami Dade county public

schools. We observe & are closed on the following holidays: Independence Day, Labor Day, Veteran’s Day, Thanksgiving Day & the day after, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, President’s Day, Good Friday & Memorial Day.

We use The Creative Curriculum, a comprehensive early childhood educational system that has been shown to promote the Cognitive, Language, Social/Emotional, and Physical development of young children.

Our curriculum used promotes the social values of sharing, cooperation and friendship. All children are helped to develop positive self-concepts and to develop tolerance and understanding for others with Special Needs, and different backgrounds.

Our developmentally appropriate curriculum is planned within the framework of our philosophy and purpose. It will include hands-on creative art, math and science activities. It will also include songs, finger-plays, dramatic play, and large and small muscle activities. Children will have exposure to shapes, colors, numbers, letters, science experiments, and nature activities, along with celebrations of birthdays and holidays. In addition to this the administration has also incorporated a monthly curriculum that introduces objectives to be met by our staff that is tied to the sunshine state standards.

The administration and staff of our center beliefs strongly that child will learn through guidance as well as experiences with the environment around them. Therefore, we have created a learning environment which fosters independence and creativity in areas of children’s interest. The following are the learning centers offered in our classrooms for development of the whole child, their cognitive, physical, emotional, social, and creative abilities are brought forth through the materials in these areas.

Creative Experience Center: Children may choose among a variety of materials and use them to create from their vast imagination. Easels, paint, markers, crayons, paste and other assorted raft items allows children to express themselves as well as learning to manipulate these items. The act of creating is important not the end product.

Block center: Blocks are designed in mathematical units so that children develop a concrete understanding of concepts essential to logical thinking. They learn about size, shapes, numbers, order, area, length and weight as they select, build and clean up. They solve problems and learn to cooperate with and respect the work of others.

Manipulative Center: Some of the manipulative materials are self-corrective while others are opening ended. A child knows when a puzzle is correctly put together while Legos can build a variety of things. These table and floor toys offer a rich means of working on physical, social, emotional and cognitive skills. Eye/hand coordination, matching, and completing a task are also part of the experience. The center also develops math skills, though math takes place in many ways. Children investigate math, group, and sequence, seriate, sort, classify, and count as they arrange items as part of their experiences.

Discovery Center: children have an opportunity to observe nature and get involved. This area has plants, rocks, shells, magnifying glasses, magnets etc. it sets the stage of wonder that will continue through life.

Language/ Writing/ Library Center: A quite cozy area where children will explore all types of books. They will have opportunities to practice their experimental writing skills with chalk, chalkboards, magnets letters, magnet boards, pencils, markers, crayons, as well as create their own stories with flannel boards and story accessories.

Dramatic Center: This area gives child the opportunity to act out and relive experiences. They will learn about themselves, their families and the society around them. They will learn skills to cooperate with others as they negotiate roles and play out scenes.

We ask that all children be brought into the building by parent and that the child is signed in upon arrival. Staff members will receive each child from parent and speak for a few moments with the parents. Parents designated family member or friends picking up any child must also sign the child out at the end of the day. You may use this opportunity to speak briefly to staff members about the child’s day. All family members and friends and sometimes parents will be asked for photograph identification such as a driver’s license. This is done to ensure the safety of your child there will be no exceptions to this policy. Our program will not release any child if the name of the person picking up the child is not on the enrollment form.

A higher standard of dress encourages greater respect for individual students and others and results in a higher standard of behavior. Our dress code guidelines indicate appropriate school dress for normal school days. ABC Daycare & Preschool reserves the right to interpret these guidelines and/or make changes during the school year. Students are expected to follow these guidelines with support from their parents/guardians. All students shall wear a school uniform daily. Hair must be neat, clean, and away from the face. No hats or bandanas are permitted.

JEWELRY:

Girls may wear simple earrings (no hoops permitted for safety reasons). Make-up, tattoos, colored nail polish, or glitter will not be permitted.

TOPS:

• Shirts must be purchased directly from the school and have the school logo.
• Shirts must be tucked in at all times
• School t-shirts can be worn ONLY on field trip days or casual Fridays.

BOTTOMS:

• Pants & shorts must be worn at the waist
• Bottoms are dark blue or khaki

SHOES:

• Both Girls and boys may wear sneakers with VELCRO closure. NO LACES
• Girls may wear Mary Jane shoes.
• No skate sneakers (Heelys), slip on sneakers, or sneakers with lights will be permitted, except on casual Fridays.
• No sandals, “ballerinas,” open toe, or platform shoes will be permitted.

COLD WEATHER DAYS:

Navy Blue or red jackets, sweaters and sweat pants are allowed during cold days. School Sweaters are for sale at school office.

An extra set should be kept in your child’s backpack.

The center will provide children with three nutritious USDA approved menu meals daily. The menus are posted on our school bulletin board so that you may see our weekly meal plan. These three meals include breakfast and one hot lunch from home please provides a nutritious lunch in a lunchbox or sturdy paper bag with your child’s name written outside. We ask that you inform us of any food allergies that child may have.

Discipline is an important part of our program and we teach it based on equality and mutual respect, which considers the child’s rights at all times. We set clear, consistent and appropriate limits to behavior. We support children’s attempts to express their feelings in words and encourage non- confrontational ways of solving problems. We will be appropriate, respectful, not tied to food or toileting and within appropriate developmental expectations. The policy must state that corporal punishment is not permitted.

No form of physical punishment will be employed or tolerated.

In any case where the behavior of child is a hazard to the welfare of staff member or to another child the center Director will call for a conference with the parents. All avenues for a positive plan will be set in place. A probationary period will be allowed to see effectiveness of plan. Dismissal from the program will be carried out if the child’s actions cannot be corrected

The following are reasons for termination of enrollment

1) Non-payment of school tuition.

2) Falsification of information given on school forms.

3) Discipline Policy termination

4) Parents should be respectful and follow the rules of the school.

5) Any other reason the center implements at any time, including the Director’s observations concerning meeting any needs a child may have that cannot be met by administration and staff