Parents & Programs:
General Information
We are happy to welcome you and your child into our Children’s Choice family.
If you have questions, please call us at
(505) 296-2880.
Hours of Operation:
• Before-School Program (where applicable):
7AM - until school begins.
• After-School Program:
school dismissal - until 6 PM.
• Full-Day Program:
7AM - 6PM.
Full-Day Programs will be offered at select schools during the winter, spring and summer vacations, conference weeks, teacher in-service days, Martin Luther King Day, and Presidents Day.
We are closed: January 1, Memorial Day, July 4, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, the day after Thanksgiving, Christmas and Christmas Eve (when these days fall on a weekend, we will observe the holiday on the same day as the federal government).
Snow Days/Emergency Closing: Children’s Choice will follow the decision and schedule of APS on snow days. When school is delayed or canceled because of snow or other emergency, Children’s Choice school-age care is not available.
Ways to Get Involved:
Parents are welcome to drop by the program at any time.
Quality Improvement Team:
Parents meet on an as needed basis to discuss the policies and practices of the program and plan special events. They conduct program observations, collect and tally evaluations, and build an action plans for improvement.
Fund Raising:
We always need people to help with fundraising to help us offer high-quality care and enrichment programs at the lowest possible tuition rates.
Programming:
Interested parents can facilitate arts & crafts projects, teach enrichment classes, or lead activities projects. Some parents host field trips to their place of work. Some parents help chaperone field trips.
Scavenging:
Are you willing to save some throw away items for our projects such as toilet paper rolls, milk cartons, magazines, etc.? Are you willing to ask businesses to donate items for raffles, prizes, etc.
Philosophy Statement:
Growth, Development, and Learning: We are school-age care professionals who understand and appreciate elementary childhood as a dynamic period of growth and development. We champion the interaction of school-age children with their peers and adults alike in a safe environment. We recognize, value, and promote the unique opportunities children encounter in school-age care.
Childhood is characterized by many early stages of intellectual, emotional, physical, and social growth. We enhance classroom learning by providing children with opportunities to practice skills they have learned in the classroom and apply them in real-life situations that have personal meaning. We offer safe activities and environments staffed by caring, authoritative, competent adults and are a result of collaborative efforts between families, schools and the larger community. A unique opportunity lies in our flexibility to focus on the entire breadth of developmental needs of children. In this way, we are uniquely positioned to facilitate the positive development of a wide variety of competencies
Role of the Caregiver:
The purpose of our program is to be not only a safe and fun place for children to, but also a place for growth, nurturance, and development of life skills. The role of the adult working in this program is to be a facilitator of the positive development of children through healthy interactions. We work to establish and encourage realistic boundaries and high expectations for children.
High expectations provide children with the appropriate challenges and feedback necessary for brain enrichment. We plan for interactions with fun, caring, authoritative and mature adults, who are experts in child development. We plan for interactions between children of different ages who model responsible behavior and share a sense of community.
Environment:
The school-age care environment sends important cues to children about the way they should behave and feel, so we provide an environment that encourages desirable behavior. We first provide an environment, which meets the basic biological needs of children such as safety, nutrition and water.
Then we create a variety of areas where children can involve themselves in diverse ways: art, construction (fine motor skills), quiet conversation, food, science, strategy games, dramatic play, and outdoor play. We provide novelty and enrich the environment through new colors, posters, child’s art, and music. The program environment is a warm, nurturing and encouraging climate, a place where children are challenged in a non-threatening way.
Missison Statement
Children's Choice Child Care Services, Inc. is dedicated to facilitating the positive development of children by developing and maintaining school-age care programs that are a model of quality care -- programs where children play, learn, grow, and make friends -- programs where children are nurtured and develop life skills. We will use these programs as a source of training and technical assistance for the larger community of school-age care practitioners.