Kids instruct NE students on fine points of childcare
by Diana DeLeon, feature editor

    When visitors to NE Campus see playground equipment, hear the laughter of children or see 3-year-olds listening outside a music classroom, they may wonder if college students are getting younger.

   These children, however, participate in the early childhood daycare program, available to students and the community.

   Opened in 1974, the Tarrant County College Children’s Center combines public service with education.

   The center provides both a teaching program for preschool children and an academic laboratory for child development, early childhood education and any other class district-wide that touches on child development, Sherry Carson, 22-year veteran and center administrator, said.

   “I have been out there, and this is better quality childcare,” she said.

   All three classrooms have lesson plans to keep up with what the children are interested in, and things change every week, Barbara Smith, master teacher, said.

   “We do a balance of different activities to meet the needs of the children,” she said.

   Smith, a 24-year veteran of the center, is responsible for teacher training among other duties.

   “I stay current on the latest research so I can share the information with teachers and the college students,” she said.

   Smith said that the center does not follow one particular curriculum but, instead, tries different approaches to teaching, with different departments on campus helping with lesson plans.

   A call to the geology department, for example, might bring someone with a collection of rocks for the children to touch and learn about.

   “We believe in hands on—the children are involved,” Carson said. “We have a rule that says, ‘if it is on the children’s level, they can touch it.’ This practice includes items in the hallways.”

   The children walk the campus and can listen to music classes and watch drama students rehearse plays.

   “The center is open to any department who wants to observe and learn child development,” Patty Cates, director of the center and coordinator of child development, said.

   The rooms are divided into three different classrooms: the Honeybees, 2 and 3 year olds; the Rising Stars, 3 and 4 year olds, and the Stepping Stones, 4 and 5 year olds.

   All teachers, including the part-timers, have degrees, and many of them have been working at the children’s center for years, Carson said.

   “One woman who came to the children’s center as a child is now a teacher,” she said.

   Located in the Fine Arts Building, the center includes rooms for each class, a kitchen, library, observation rooms and two playgrounds.

   The center operates during the fall and spring semesters from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. All children attend full time.

   Accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children, the center is recognized throughout Tarrant County for quality childcare, Carson said.

   Students from area schools and individuals who wish to operate their own childcare facility visit the NE Campus to observe the center’s staff in action.

   “We have a reputation as a quality school,” she said. “There are a lot of avenues we use to help us be better.”

   Innovative programs such as a recent problem-solving exercise in the Honeybee class help the center receive accreditation every year and make the community take interest, Carson said.

   For the exercise, the Honeybees were given ribbons to hang from the ceiling, and they had to determine how to do so. The students started by standing on a box and eventually thought of a ladder. With the help of teachers and assistants, they achieved their goal and hung their ribbons, Carson said.

   “We want the children to do for themselves as much as possible,” she said.

   According to Cates, “The center is a very important part of the child development program.”

   The students in child development talk about a concept in class, see it at the participate.

   “We want our students to experiment and learn,” she said.

   All three classrooms at the center have observation rooms, so students and visitors can watch children during activities.

   Students in the child development program serve as teacher assistants in the classroom, providing the center with anywhere from three to six adults in a classroom at any given time.

   Parents are welcome to visit, party, walk and have lunch with their children.

   Lunch is eaten family style with adults at the same table, but the children are encouraged to do as much for themselves as possible, Cates said.

   “It’s a cool place,” she said.

   Financial help is available to student and community parents who qualify through Childcare Management Services.