St Johns Place Family Center Day Care Corporation

Programs: The st. John's place has programs which provide food for children. Monthly nutrition classes that emphasized healthy eating were provided to parents and all children who participated in the program.

sjpfcdcc program service accomplishments include the following: the day care program had continued success in its efforts to enhance the growth and development of all children socially, culturally, emotionally, physically and cognitively. The following summarizes the programs key accomplishments. Education- the program successfully prepared 9 children to transition to grade school. Educational activities included pre-reading activities, math and science exercises and positive social and emotional development. Music and dance- music and movement activities were provided to all children who participated in the program. These classes promoted pro-social, emotional and physical development. They assess the children's ability to follow directions. In addition the children attended several cultural events. These included a performance at carnegie hall where the children were entertained by michael hearst who took them on a musical adventure through the world of unusual creatures with the help of some peculiar instruments. They saw the great african-american dance and drumming performers at hostos center for arts and culture. They witnessed the caribbean dance festival at riverbank state park where the performers wore vibrant costumes and presented a colorful blend of african french and trinidadian dance traditions and songs. Literacy- 29 children visited brooklyn public library kidsmobile from september to june where they enjoyed puppet shows and storytelling activities. This was designed to instill in children a love of books as well as the joy of being read to. Trips in addition to the above mentioned trips other trips included the children going to carnegie hall to see award winning artist elizabeth mitchell who won a grammy in 2013 for best childrens album. Her music features songs from rock, folk and country music; carnegie hall to see the itty biddies; hostos center for the performing arts to see flamenco vivo; city college center for the arts to see the all women dance and drumming latin group as well as the red hawk dancers - a native american group;lius kumble theater for the performing arts to see imani winds rendition of prokofievs musical tale peter and the wolf using only wind instruments. Recreation- recreational activities included block play, sand play and water play, dramatic play and outdoor play which allowed the children to explore the numerous creative ways to use the wonderful blocks that were provided by the creators of imagination playground. Parent involvement- the st. Johns place family center day care program was effective in encouraging parental involvement as evidenced by the formation of a parent advisory committee that met with the day care director on a monthly basis to discuss the educational needs of the program. Parents accompanied kids on trips andvolunteered in the classrooms. Parents also participated in several workshops thatprovided information /strategies on helping their children succeed in pre school. The emphasis of parental involvement/engagement is to highlight the significance ofpartnering with the child care program to effectively develop children that aresocially, emotionally, cognitively and physically ready for future school success.