Week of the Young Child™ Being Celebrated April 6-12

A group downward dogging at a yoga session, legislators reading to preschoolers, parents munching on bagels, baskets filled with chocolates for teachers, little feet walking through hallways: all these seemingly disparate things are connected the week of April 6-12 when child care centers throughout the Lehigh Valley celebrate Week of the Young Child™.

This week is an annual celebration sponsored by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), which is the world’s largest early childhood education association, with nearly 80,000 members and a network of over 300 local, state and regional affiliates.  The local chapter in the Lehigh Valley is the Lehigh and Northampton Association for the Education of Young Children (www.facebook.com/lanaeyc).

According to NAEYC, the week focuses “public attention on the needs of young children and their families, and to recognize the early childhood programs and services that meet those needs. High-quality pre-k programs include developmentally appropriate curriculum, knowledgeable and well-trained program staff and educators, and comprehensive services that support children’s overall development.”

Rhian Evans Allvin, Executive Director of NAEYC is “…proud to share with you the launch of NAEYC’s 2014 Week of the Young Child™. This year, with our theme ‘Early Years are the Learning Years,’ we draw attention to how a high-quality early childhood experience and the professionals that help to create that experience set a child’s path for success in school and beyond.”

 NAEYC even has a page on their website dedicated to families, with tips for parents of children age birth to eight on child development, along with reading, writing, math and featured musicians singing children’s songs (families.naeyc.org). 

The Cuddle Zone Learning Center in Allentown is tying Week of the Young Child™ into the center’s participation in the Highmark Walk for a Health Community being held in May. 

“Our theme ‘Walking Our Way through Early Learning’ is important because it not only reflects our goal for healthy children and families, but also the importance of early learning from birth,” says Michele McEllroy, Owner/Director of The Cuddle Zone Learning Center.  The center is encouraging parents to write down on paper “feet” the importance of early childhood education.  The center will send these “feet” to legislators while their children’s little feet will be walking in a mini-version fundraising walk at the center.

“We will be walking our legislators through the process of incorporating math, science, social emotional and the arts into the early childhood classroom,” says McEllroy who operates a Keystone STARS 4 site.  The stars designation rates child care program on a scale of quality by meeting certain standards and at four stars. The Cuddle Zone Learning Center has the highest number of stars a center can receive.

As mentioned above, other sites throughout Lehigh and Northampton counties will be having special programs for children, parents and teachers throughout the week at their centers.   These programs will feature yoga sessions, art classes, breakfast for parents, and legislators reading to children.