Mission Statement:

Our mission is to be the ear and heart for children, families, and staff impacted by violence, poverty, and fear. We are committed to providing quality education with comprehensive support to promote lifelong success.

Our Philosophy:

FranDelJA is a child development program that addresses the needs of the whole child. This includes his or her social and emotional well-being, physical and cognitive development, and cultural and ethnic self-expression. Our desire is to see every child grow his or her skills to be ready for success in school. We recognize the need to respect each child as an individual and want to work with families to understand each child’s needs.

Young children learn through play. They learn by doing, touching, and moving. We try to view children’s physical energy and their need to see and touch as their way of learning, and not as misbehavior. For this reason, we use positive problem solving, not punishment. This means that when children push, hit or fight, we help to involve them in different areas or activities. We involve children in the problem-solving process as we strive to meet the needs of the child who is frustrated or unhappy, rather than giving “time out”. We make sure that the classroom environment minimizes conflicts among the children as much as possible. They need a well-planned environment that offers many choices of activities, including gross motor (crawling, rocking, running, jumping, swinging), fine motor (grasping toys, using scissors, drawing, puzzles, threading), and others such as sand and water play, playdough, finger painting and messy play, which stimulate their sense of touch and expression.

Having fun is essential to learning. Research confirms that when children are happy, actively engaged in play, and exploring new materials and environments with interest, their brains are growing and taking in more information. Play increases children’s ability to learn.

When children engage in imaginative, or pretend, play, they are trying on different roles and attempting to understand how the world works. We do not allow sex role stereotyping, such as “boys shouldn’t play with dolls,” or “girls can’t use trucks.” At FranDelJA, all children have access to all materials and activities we provide. The ability to play creatively and imaginatively is not limited because of gender and role expectations.

It is important to remember that not all children develop or learn at the same rate. At FranDelJA we try to meet all children at their own developmental stage and provide activities appropriate for them. We encourage children to develop their full potential. We believe that all children want to learn. In our Infant, Toddler, and Preschool Programs, we support learning through the development of strong relationships and quality environments. The trusting and loving relationships that the children form with their teachers and caregivers provide the foundation for future learning and development. The teacher’s role is to help the children learn and discover how the world works by supporting the children’s ideas. This most often happens in play. As children’s ideas are supported, they build on their own knowledge which lays a foundation for lifelong learning. Teachers also help the children to work cooperatively with their friends, to take turns, and work together in a group.

FranDelJA offers activities that provide for the development of pre-writing, pre-reading, and pre-math skills. In order for us to provide the most appropriate curriculum, we observe the children’s interests and assess what they are working on developmentally. The information gathered from our observations, along with the goals for each classroom; helps us to develop the activities we focus on with a particular group of children. Equally important, we concentrate on developing children’s social skills, and teach them how to work with other children and adults, cope with routines, deal with group situations, follow instructions and become more independent. These are skills that they can use after they leave FranDelJA, into kindergarten and beyond.

FranDelJA is a childcare center with a variety of cultures, beliefs and languages represented by both the staff and the families. We request that individuals never impose their personal values and beliefs on others, but rather acknowledge these opinions as personal and recognize that others’ opinions exist and are valid. At FranDelJA we strive to respect and understand the value systems of others, so long as those beliefs are not inconsistent with our commitment to civil and human rights for everyone and do not compromise the philosophies and practices of our program.