I don’t want to grow up, I’m a YCP kid
Posted on January 22, 2008
During the week, 3 to 4-year-olds cram into Anthony-Seeger Hall to participate in the Young Children’s Program to learn, make friends, play outside and have fun in an active and safe environment.
The YCP was founded as part of the original campus. The campus school closed down in the 1950s, but the nursery continued and became associated with the YCP when it was founded in 1983.
“We are meeting the needs of the whole child in a safe environment,” said Sue Hutchinson, a former teacher for the YCP.
While the program is designed to help kids, it is also helping supplement the early education and elementary education programs at JMU. Students within these programs are required to work one day a week while in their first semester of the program as part of their licensure requirements.
“It’s an eye opening experience for them as this is usually their first classroom experience,” Hutchinson said.
The students work as assistant teachers, helping the increase the adult to student ratio so that the children can get more one on one attention. The program also allows students to gain valuable classroom time and gain real life experience in the job they hope to pursue.
“They bring a lot of enthusiasm,” Hutchinson said.
There are two classroom teachers in the program, one for each age level. The teachers loop with their kids — teaching 3-year-olds one year and 4-year-olds the next in order to follow the kids through their education. Nancy Guerrier, who obtained her masters degree from JMU, has been in the program as a teacher for the past 20 years along with Kelly Rooney, a 2003 grad of JMU’s early childhood education program. Both teachers support active learning.
“Children are actively involved, but young children are active learners,” Hutchinson said. “We teach children the way they learn best — in active involvement.”
