I have been a classroom volunteer at the IWSE in the Baby-Toddler Nursery for almost a year. I LOVE volunteering here. It is just plain FUN working with these wonderful children. The teachers are very caring. Every day they come up with special activities for the children that exercise their brains and their bodies. The Program Manager visits the classroom often and clearly loves the children. The classroom itself is full of wonderful toys for the children to play with creatively by themselves or interacting with the teachers-- not just more buttons to push. When the weather is good, the children play outside in a protected courtyard with lots of toddler vehicles or the teachers take them on walks to places like the nearby Pet Smart. What fun the toddlers had watching all the animals!
A wonderful bonus for the children is that my classroom has 3 teachers to 7 chlldren. Often when I am volunteering (adding a fourth adult in the classroom!), a language specialist or college students studying early childhood development visit. There are always plenty of caring adults to interact with the children!
I also enjoy seeing parents when they drop off their children. It's especially nice that often fathers and grandfathers are the ones to do so!
My son started here at 1.5 years when we relocated to Evanston. It was his first time in full-time day care and he loved it from day one. The teachers at ISWE Baby Toddler Nursery are WONDERFUL, the classes are small, there's lots of outside space and creative play, everyone knows my son's name, all the teachers and staff greet us with warmth and treat the children with love. They also encourage friendships between the children and connections between their parents, which is a great way to start building a new community here. We are very happy with the care our little guy receives and would recommend ISWE to any parent looking for care in Evanston.
My daughter has been attedning the Infant Welfare Society of Evanston (Baby Toddler Nursery) for almost one year. Initially, I was apprehensive about having her in daycare, but those feelings soon went away. I could tell immediately that the teachers truly cared for the infants and their well being. The main teacher in my daughter's room has been there for over 25 years, which says a lot. With low turnover and educated teachers, I have been very pleased about my experience here. They also do a lot for the Evanston community by educating teen mothers and low income populations.