Thursday, March 11, 2010 New: Our March 2010 Newsletter is now available online. Please visit our Calendar page to access March's Monthly Calendar & Snack Schedule... it is filled with information about our daily activities and events! Of Interest: The Md State Dept of Education's Division of Early Childhood Development (DECD) publishes a variety of print and online reports concerning early care, education and school readiness.  Now available for download are: • Maryland's Pilot Preschool Programs • Maryland’s Preschool for All Business Plan (December 2009) NEW FOR 2008-2010: Grant funding supports families accepted into the Pre-Kindergarten Program with breakfast and a 40% discount on the weekly tuition!

We warmly welcome you and your child to Greenbelt Children's Center!

At the Greenbelt Children's Center, we encourage parent participation. We believe it is important for parents and teachers to work together, as this benefits the child. We have an open door policy and parents may visit any time.

You are your child’s first teacher! There are many ways you can help your child be ready for school. One way is to help your child with language & literacy. Learning to express needs & wants by talking, understanding others through listening and knowing about reading and writing are examples of language & literacy skills. Learning these skills begins at birth.

Learn more about what it means to be NAEYC Accredited: NAEYC’s Guide for Families: Using NAEYC Standards to Find Quality Programs for Young Children

Here are five important areas: building language skills, learning about books and print, developing comprehension (understanding), learning about letters and learning about sounds in words.

When you support your child in these areas, he/she will be more likely to do well when starting school. Children who easily learn to read and write have had many experiences with books and language before school begins. As a parent, you can help build your child’s language and literacy skills and abilities. We are happy to be your partner in this and will offer parent learning opportunities so that you will become more skilled at being your child’s first teacher.