La Luz ECC provides high quality care and education for infants 6 weeks old through children 5 years old in a facility that is very home-like in nature. The center features a rotational staffing system that keeps children with their caregiver/teacher from the age of 6 weeks to 3 years old. Each teaching team moves up with their group to the next room each year in August, to coincide with a traditional school calendar. When a group of children "graduate" to the 3 - 5 year old preschool program, their infant/toddler teaching team will move back to the infant room and begin with a new group of babies. A birth date of September 1 will be used as a cut-off date for children in each group.
Program Philosophy
Children learn most thoroughly and joyfully through play. The last decade has seen a dramatic increase in our understanding of what constitutes quality early education and care. La Luz Early Childhood Center uses valid scientific studies to inform our practices. Where such data are unavailable, we rely on widely accepted standards of quality, such as those described in the publications of Zero to Three, the ERIC Clearing House and the National Association for the Education of Young Children.
The La Luz Early Childhood Learning Center Implements a program that:
 | Recognizes and supports families as the child’s primary teachers; |
| Emphasizes the importance of relationships as key to the child’s development; |
| Works to provide children with the strong emotional foundation necessary for later academic success; |
| Respects the individuality of each child; |
| Develops each child’s capacity for curiosity, self-control and self-confidence, empathy, and the desire to learn and communicate; |
| Provides opportunities for family involvement; |
| Uses a play-based, child-centered, developmentally
appropriate approach to learning. |
An introduction to each of the individual, age-based programs are included below. Please click the hyperlink to read about details concerning each of the age groups.
- Infants
- Babies from 6 weeks to 12 months old.
- One Year Olds
- Babies and toddlers from 12 months to 24 months old.
- Two Year Olds
- Toddlers from 24 months to 36 months old.
- Three to Five Year Olds
- A classroom with mixed age groups containing children 3 to 5 years old.
Program Hours
La Luz ECC hours of operation are from 7:00am to 6:00pm, Monday through Friday.
Holidays/Closures
La Luz ECC will be closed in observance of the following holidays:
| Labor Day | September 5, 2005 |
| Thanksgiving Holiday | November 24 & November 25, 2005 |
| Winter Break | December 26 through December 30, 2005 |
| New Year's Day | January 1, 2006 |
| President's Day | February 20, 2006 |
| Staff In-Service Day | March 17, 2006 |
| Memorial Day | May 29, 2006 |
| Independence Day | July 4, 2006 |
| Staff In-Service/ Home Visits |
August 17 & 18, 2006 |
Please click here for a link to this year's schedule. f you do not have a .pdf reader on your computer, click here for a free download of Adobe Acrobat Reader.