Kids Co.: Quality Child Care in Seattle

Fall 2006
Kids Co. Early Learning Programs Plant the Seeds of Success
The cat is out of the bag. A wide body of research shows that what happens during a child's earliest years shapes their ability to learn, relate to others and succeed in school. In establishing the Department of Early Learning this past July, the Washington State Legislature recognized that "the quality of caregiving during the early years can signifi cantly impact a child's intellectual, social and emotional development." Policymakers, the corporate community and funders are now acknowledging that while families are children's first teachers, nurturing programs that provide high- quality early care and educational experiences are vital for any young child's development. Currently, a top priority of the United Way of King County is working to ensure that children are safe, healthy and ready to learn. Similarly, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is rolling out a major new strategy to fund early learning, focusing on children who are facing risk factors, like poverty. While a common thread to all Kids Co. centers is providing high- quality out-of-school time care to school-age children, preschool programs also play a major role in defi ning who we are as an organization and how we serve our community. In fact, Kids Co. has provided early learning programs since we began in 1989. The goal of our early learning programs is to build a foundation for each child's path to school readiness and life-skills development. We believe that much of preschool early learning is about acquiring social and life skills that will	not only help children be ready for kindergarten, but also to succeed in their many years of school ahead. Preschool Graduates We base our curriculum on developmentally appropriate practices and the recommendations of the Seattle Public Schools Kindergarten Readiness guidelines that include attention to social-emotional skills, literacy, language, math, science and the arts. Our preschool teachers work directly with the school's kindergarten teachers to determine the areas in which we have the opportunity to help get children ready to enter school. Additionally, children entering kindergarten with the ability to follow directions, work in groups and ask for what they need is helpful to kindergarten teachers because they can spend their time on teaching lessons, not on managing behavior. Just like our school-age programs, our child-centered programming, professional staff and organizational philosophies are geared toward giving individual attention to each child. If you would like to learn more about Kids Co. early learning programs, or schedule a tour, please contact the program director at our Adams, Graham Hill, John Hay or New School locations.