Day full of activity begins early at Child Development Center

By 7:30 a.m., teacher Sarah Downing was almost finished setting up the University of Rhode Island's Child Development Center's activities for the day. The texture table resembled a sandbox with corn kernels, while the science table consisted of branches, rocks and rubber lizards. The only task left was to fill containers with colored paints for the art area.

The center has an integrated approach to learning and these separate centers are part of that approach. Children are free to choose which area they want to play in and how they prefer to interact with the materials.

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At 7:50 a.m. the first child, Noah, arrived and took a walk around the room to see what new things occupied the tables. His eyes and hands couldn't resist the science table, but he soon began drawing and picking stickers in the art area with Downing.

Noah was greeted by a playmate at 8 a.m. In only three minutes, Noah and Michael were busy finding "baby lizards" hidden in the branches on the science table.

Sue Warford, director of the center, explained that the center's approach with every material used is unique, thoughtful and creative.

Each activity has the goal of having potential learning encounters, said Warford, who recently was announced as the winner of the URI Foundation's Administrative Excellence Award.

I looked up and commented on a beautifully constructed mobile.

"That was to develop fine motor skills," Warford said. "They were tying, twisting, bending, looping, stringing, wrapping and lacing."

The materials were simple: empty toilet paper rolls, string, beads, Popsicle sticks, twisty ties, yogurt lids, ribbon, corks, pipe cleaners, clothes pins and really strong ties that lock.

"You look at the pictures we took while they were making the mobile and they are all happy," Warford remembered. "They each contributed to the final project that we display in the room and they are proud of that."

About 8:30 a.m., Downing was busy drawing and energetically interacting with the children as more arrived.

"I've taken it full circle," Downing described when I asked her if she was a URI graduate.

Downing studied in the URI Human Development and Family Studies Department, as many URI students still do. HDF 203 and HDF 303 are classes that allow students to earn credits while working with the children at the center.

"You'll see people coming in and out of here all day," Downing said. "There are a lot of URI students that are here daily."

Five teachers supervise the student assistants : Susan Keefe, Sharon Greenwood, Sarah Downing, Ann Twomey and Jessica MacLeod.

By 8:40 a.m. 12 children were in attendance and the day would soon be under way.

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3:30 p.m. -- The preschoolers woke up from their nap as the kindergarteners returned from a trip to Peckham Farm and the URI library.

The kids picked books and sat down for independent reading before they escaped outside to enjoy the beautiful weather.

At 4 p.m., parents started to pick up their kids (there are 34 children currently enrolled). Of those parents, approximately 65 percent are affiliated with URI.

The center has been a part of URI since 1958. It was designed by Russell Cook Smart, who was chairman of the Department of Child Development and Family Relations at URI from 1953 to 1976.

Smart designed the building and was its first director. Like the current director, Smart was dedicated to the center's innovative and unique teaching environment.

I jokingly told Twomey that I envisioned my future son or daughter learning this way. She informed me that the entry list is long.

If you want your child to be a part of the Child Development Center, then you must put your child on the list immediately, Twomey said.

"Once that baby is delivered, you call and have us put his or her name on our list," Twomey said. "We've gotten numerous calls from the delivery room."