Early Childhood Center (Rockville)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am very happy at ECC. I moved my child to ECC in January of this year from a more mixed play/academic curriculum. Compared to our previous pick-ups where she couldn't remember much about her day, now she is sharing details with excitement. When we do riddles, numbers or letters at home, she is no longer trying to guess what the "right" answer is. She is using her own abilities, talents, knowledge and skills, and is confident in them. ECC knows how children learn and are bulidng a passion for learning in children and nurturing confidence in their own abilities to interact with the world. Smaller class sizes there are really helpful for the learning process with an emphasis on respect for others, kindness and sharing in learning. Every teacher has their own style, but they each engage the children in a way that invites them to feel comfortable. Despite having only been at ECC for a relatively short time, my child asks to stay for aftercare! Aftercare is a very useful service- you can even sign up the day of, no problem. Great for those days that a meeting is set up with short notice and I need to be on a call, and for when I need a bit of time for me. The parent enrichment opportunities are great too- just attended a great one on kindergarten readiness with 3 teachers from 2 schools in the neighborhood area. I am happy ECC is in my community.

Is it just me, or does this sound like someone who works at the school wrote it?

Not just you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am very happy at ECC. I moved my child to ECC in January of this year from a more mixed play/academic curriculum. Compared to our previous pick-ups where she couldn't remember much about her day, now she is sharing details with excitement. When we do riddles, numbers or letters at home, she is no longer trying to guess what the "right" answer is. She is using her own abilities, talents, knowledge and skills, and is confident in them. ECC knows how children learn and are bulidng a passion for learning in children and nurturing confidence in their own abilities to interact with the world. Smaller class sizes there are really helpful for the learning process with an emphasis on respect for others, kindness and sharing in learning. Every teacher has their own style, but they each engage the children in a way that invites them to feel comfortable. Despite having only been at ECC for a relatively short time, my child asks to stay for aftercare! Aftercare is a very useful service- you can even sign up the day of, no problem. Great for those days that a meeting is set up with short notice and I need to be on a call, and for when I need a bit of time for me. The parent enrichment opportunities are great too- just attended a great one on kindergarten readiness with 3 teachers from 2 schools in the neighborhood area. I am happy ECC is in my community.

The neighboring preschool was the presenter for the Kindergarten discussion.

Yes, Rockville Community Nursery School put together the Kindergarten readiness workshop, and invited ECC parents too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Yes, Rockville Community Nursery School put together the Kindergarten readiness workshop, and invited ECC parents too.

... despite the fact that ECC called it "our workshop" on facebook. That's a little weird. I'm a Rockville Communtiy Nursery School parent, and a friend of mine, a fellow RCNS parent, completely orgnized it, contacted the Kindergarten teachers who presented, reserved the space, sent out invitations to RCNS parents and invited ECC parents and teachers. Which was friendly & generous. And it's kind of galling that they'd then turn around and claim it was their workshop.

But it was a good workshop! Nice to hear directly from current Beall and Woodley Gardens K teachers (two of whom are parents of RCNS alumni, one recent and one long ago) about what they "really need to know."

[Anonymous]

Yes, there have apparently been some changes in staff over the past couple of years. There will always be those who cling to the past and dislike change. Maybe it was an amazing school with incredible teachers before and it's gone way downhill, I have no idea. All I know is that we started in September 2012, after touring ~ 15 Rockville-area preschools. Many of the teachers I observed at the other schools seemed dead inside, like they had lost all joy in their occupations. But the teachers at ECC were warm and loving, and really seemed to be having fun with their students. I knew immediately that ECC was where my daughter belonged.

It is not an academic preschool. That's true. And maybe it is a little weird that they took credit for the workshop, which apparently they didn't organize. But what they do is provide a creative atmosphere, where they teach children how to respectfully play together. I love that my daughter spends her mornings at ECC doing art and playing, since she has the rest of her life for academics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, there have apparently been some changes in staff over the past couple of years. There will always be those who cling to the past and dislike change. Maybe it was an amazing school with incredible teachers before and it's gone way downhill, I have no idea. All I know is that we started in September 2012, after touring ~ 15 Rockville-area preschools. Many of the teachers I observed at the other schools seemed dead inside, like they had lost all joy in their occupations. But the teachers at ECC were warm and loving, and really seemed to be having fun with their students. I knew immediately that ECC was where my daughter belonged.

It is not an academic preschool. That's true. And maybe it is a little weird that they took credit for the workshop, which apparently they didn't organize. But what they do is provide a creative atmosphere, where they teach children how to respectfully play together. I love that my daughter spends her mornings at ECC doing art and playing, since she has the rest of her life for academics.

Question for you, all of the teachers that are currently at ECC were not there when you toured in Summer 2012. Those Summer 2012 teachers have all left and gone to other preschools. Tell me about the current, replacement teachers.

[Anonymous]

Poster from 5/11 here. To be honest, I can't remember which teachers I observed when I toured the school in December 2011 (yes, I started looking early!), but I'm pretty sure one of them was Miss Vicky, the teacher for the Voyagers (aftercare) class. I saw her (or someone?) playing with some children in the leaves outside, making a big pile of leaves for them to jump in, and the kids practicing raking. All involved were having a great time, which was in sharp contrast to many of the other schools that I toured which looked like a constant struggle to manage chaos. I saw two head teachers in their classrooms, but I have no idea who they were - perhaps they are the teachers who left - my memory is terrible. But I am very happy with the quality of the teachers at the school currently, as is my daughter. Admittedly, there were some difficult transitions at the beginning of the year (09/2012) with a new hire becoming ill and ultimately (I think?) not working out, but overall, we are happy with ECC.

[Anonymous]

I toured this last fall- 2012- and teachers were disheveled and tired looking. One had tattoos all over her arms. I'm fine with tattoos etc believe me but when the preschool 'teacher' looks like a 40 yr old biker chick, that's not the environment I want for my daughter for preschool.

[Anonymous]

We got accepted for the 2016-2017 school year. Anyone have any updated opinions or info about the ECC that would help me decide what to do...? Thank you kindly

[Anonymous]

I'm a current ECC parent. Just a quick note, this message thread reflects a lot of history about the school that isn't really relevant anymore. After a few years of turmoil, the current director has been in place for several years and is respected and appreciated by both teachers and parents.

My child has been at ECC for 2 years and it has been tremendously beneficial for him. His teachers are caring and attentive and they have helped him learn to engage with new friends and even drawn him into activities which he never would have touched before. I love that everything is play based--and that even in a non "academic" setting, my son is learning basic math skills and practicing writing frequently. I feel confident that at this rate he will be extremely well prepared for kindergarten. His teachers have taught him to use his own words to navigate difficult social situations where I would have thought the only option was to intervene. The community is friendly and I am always amazed at how willing other moms are to help each other out. Playdates are common and the board does a lot to organize additional community building events for both the kids and families. I would not hesitate to send your kidsto ECC!

[Anonymous]

I spotted mention of ECC in another thread. Are there any other current parents of children in this school on here who might share some experiences? I would be enrolling my child into the program for 2-year-old children. Thanks in advance!

[Anonymous]

As a former RCNS parent, I urge you to check out both schools. I agree that ECC went through a bit of turmoil several years ago but out friends that have sent their kids there in the past couple years have been happy.

Having said that, RCNS was a better fit for our family and we had a great experience there.