Get A Jump Start on Early Education

When Van-Kim Lin, mother of two, began her search for the right preschool for her eldest, she already had an idea of where to start. As a scientist in early childhood research, Lin knew her decision would need to be research-informed.

“Having studied what high quality early care and education is, there was no way I would choose a preschool that didn’t feel right to me based on what the research says,” Lin explains.

She also knew that waitlists for day care centers and preschools could be long and tuition expensive, so while she was still pregnant, she started assessing daycare and preschool options with a website called Maryland Excels.

Narrowing down the options to a few child care centers, Lin took the time to tour their facilities and meet their teachers, paying attention to the facility’s cleanliness and safety features and asking questions about teacher-child interactions, including how they would handle certain situations. Eventually, this search brought her to the Goddard School, a franchise of early education centers that has locations all across the country. At Goddard, Lin was impressed by how communicative the owners were and how well they cared for their staff, a good thing to see since “staff that are happy to be there will be happy to take care of the kids.”

Most of all, Lin wanted her kids to be in a place that cared. “The owners and all the teachers knew everyone’s names. They even knew the names of kids in other classes. So, I could tell people cared here.”

Kimberly Davidson, school lead at The Baltimore Montessori, agrees on how important it is that teachers care for their students and build intentional relationships. “Children learn in all different styles, and we have to be able to accommodate everyone’s needs,” Davidson says.

Davidson recommends that parents looking for early education centers should pay attention to how the center functions as a community and how the directors and teachers work together. “If you W walk inside and you see people smiling, you know it’s a happy community. Make sure that the school lead has a relationship of mutual respect, trust, and understanding with the teachers.”

After community, Davidson advises making sure that the center or school offers individualized instruction to kids. Each child has their own individual challenges and needs, Davidson says, so a large part of caring for a child is taking the time to figure out their particular behaviors and personality. At The Baltimore Montessori, parents fill out a profile for their child to share details about the child’s preferences, fears, habits, and more.

“This way, when a teacher and child meet for the first time, the teacher has a cheat sheet of sorts to help make that child feel welcome and understood,” Davidson explains.

Angela Peterson, director of the Woodbrook Early Education Center, agrees that parents should find a program that is devoted to meeting the needs of kids. Children often need a variety of hands-on learning opportunities to stimulate their budding interests and curiosities. At Woodbrook, hands-on, “somatic learning” opportunities, involving activities like making crafts and working with plants, are an essential part of helping a child develop a variety of observational and physical skills.

“Let’s say we’re learning about apples,” Peterson says. “We’ll use math techniques like counting the seeds. We’ll sort the apples from small to large. We’ll cut open the apple and look at the parts inside. We’ll read about how apples grow. We want the kids to learn through all avenues.”

By switching from free play time to large group learning to small group time—which Peterson calls “center time”—throughout the day, kids can have the freedom to explore their interests while still benefiting from structured teaching time. A “kinesthetic” style of education is encouraged with the help of a sensory table where kids can sort and touch objects, a science table for completing fun experiments, and playtime outdoors.

“We want children to have as many handson learning opportunities as possible.”

Like Woodbrook, The Baltimore Montessori emphasizes an education that encompasses many different styles and areas of activity. In the morning, children complete their morning work cycles, finishing lessons with materials that they choose from around the room. Work is self-motivated and individualized, teaching everything from home life skills like cleaning up to mathematics, and often involves a variety of materials, textures, and colors. The rest of the day, kids have fun and learn through play-based activities.

“They might go out into nature, go on scavenger hunts, learn to take care of plants in our garden, and just explore the world around them,” Davidson shares.

These hands-on, physical activities are more important than ever, as Peterson has noticed changes in the attention spans of kids, post-COVID, with kids finding it harder to focus and even stay seated for long periods of time.

Despite these challenges, rewarding moments are abundant and make it all worthwhile. Peterson talks about the “light bulb moment” when a child finally connects with the teaching material and understands a new concept. Davidson shares a similar reward of connecting with a child to help them feel understood.

“We want children to feel that they are valued and respected just for who they are,” Davidson says. “Building a child’s self-confidence and selfacceptance from the time they are young will lead them into greatness.”

STARTING YOUR EARLY EDUCATION SEARCH

Parents looking for early education opportunities for their children should start looking early to reduce the hassle of long waitlists. Verify your choices with Maryland’s Quality Rating and Improvement System, and take the time to tour facilities, talk to teachers, and reach out to current parents at the child care center. If you don’t know where to begin, check out this list of selected schools and day care centers in the Baltimore area:

A CHILD’S PLACE, NOTRE DAME OF MARYLAND UNIVERSITY
2404, 4701 N. Charles St., Baltimore, MD 21210.
(410) 532-5399. ndm.edu.

APPLE RIDGE MONTESSORI SCHOOL
1200 Linden Avenue, Arbutus, MD 21227.
(410) 818-2000. appleridgemontessori.org.

THE BALTIMORE MONTESSORI
CANTON: 1001 S. Potomac St., Baltimore, MD 21224.
LOCUST POINT: 1530 E. Fort Ave., Baltimore, MD 21230.
(410) 980-7449. thebaltimoremontessori.com.

BOLTON HILL NURSERY SCHOOL
204 W. Lanvale St., Baltimore, MD 21217.
(410) 728-0003. boltonhillnursery.org.

CALVERT SCHOOL
105 Tuscany Rd., Baltimore, MD 21210.
(410) 243-6054. calvertschoolmd.org.

CEDARCROFT SCHOOL
419 Cedarcroft Road, Baltimore, MD 21212.
(410) 435-0905. cedarcroftschool.com.

CELEBREE SCHOOLS
1306 Bellona Ave., Lutherville, MD 21093 and other locations.
(410) 515-8650. celebree.com.

CHILDREN’S MAGNET AND CHILDREN’S MANOR MONTESSORI SCHOOLS
7105 Dogwood Rd., Windsor Mill, MD 21244 and other locations.
childrensmagnet.com.

DOWNTOWN BALTIMORE CHILD CARE
237 Arch St., Baltimore, MD 21201.
(410) 659-0515. dbcckids.org.

DULANEY DAY PRESCHOOL
6915 York Rd., Baltimore, MD 21212.
(410) 377-2702. dulaneydayschool.com.

EMMANUEL METHODIST PRESCHOOL
10755 Scaggsville Rd., Laurel, MD 20723.
(301) 725-6600. emmanuelpreschool.com.

FIRST ENGLISH LUTHERAN PRESCHOOL & KINDERGARTEN
3807 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218.
(410) 235-5887. felpkids.com.

GARRISON FOREST SCHOOL
300 Garrison Forest Rd., Owings Mills, MD 21117.
(410) 363-1500. gfs.org.

GILMAN SCHOOL
5407 Roland Ave., Baltimore, MD 21210.
(410) 323-3800. gilman.edu.

THE GODDARD SCHOOL
1000 S. Highland Ave., Baltimore, MD 21224 and other locations.
(443) 842-5300. goddardschool.com.

GOLDSMITH EARLY CHILDHOOD CENTER OF CHIZUK AMUNO CONGREGATION
8100 Stevenson Rd., Baltimore, MD 21208.
(410) 486-8642. chizukamuno.org.

GOOD SHEPHERD SCHOOL
1401 Carrollton Ave., Towson, MD 21204.
(410) 825-7139. school.goodshepherdruxton.org.

GOVANS PRESBYTERIAN PRESCHOOL
5826 York Rd., Baltimore, MD 21212.
(410) 435-8189. govanspres.org.

GRACE PRESCHOOL
5407 N. Charles St., Baltimore, MD 21210.
(410) 532-2235. gracepreschoolbaltimore.com.

GREENSPRING MONTESSORI SCHOOL
10807 Tony Dr., Lutherville-Timonium, MD 21093.
(410) 321-8555. greenspringmontessori.org.

HARFORD DAY SCHOOL
715 Moores Mill Rd., Bel Air, MD 21014.
(410) 838-4848. harfordday.org.

HARRY AND JANETTE WEINBERG EARLY CHILDHOOD CENTER AT THE HENDERSON HOPKINS SCHOOL
2100 Ashland Ave., Baltimore, MD 21205.
(443) 642-4103. ecc.hendersonhopkins.org.

KIDDIE ACADEMY OF LOCUST POINT
1215 East Fort Ave., Baltimore, MD 21230.
(667) 930-3677. kiddieacademy.com.

JEMICY SCHOOL
11 Celadon Rd., Owings Mills, MD 21117.
(410) 653-0189. jemicyschool.org.

LA PETITE ACADEMY OF BALTIMORE
2434A W. Belvedere Ave., Baltimore, MD 21215.
(888) 330-2878. lapetite.com.

THE NATURE PRESCHOOL
Irvine Nature Center, 11201 Garrison Forest Rd., Owing Mills, MD 21117.
(443) 738-9200. explorenature.org.

THE NEW CENTURY SCHOOL
724 South Ann St., Baltimore, MD 21231.
(410) 929-4113. thenewcenturyschool.com.

ODYSSEY SCHOOL
3257 Bridle Rd., Stevenson, MD 21153.
(410) 580-5551. theodysseyschool.org.

THE PARK SCHOOL OF BALTIMORE
2425 Old Court Rd., Baltimore, MD 21208.
(410) 339-7070. parkschool.net.

PAULINE MASH SCHOOL AT BETH EL
8101 Park Heights Ave., Baltimore, MD 21208.
(410) 484-0411. bethelbalto.com.

REDEEMER PARISH DAY SCHOOL
5603 N. Charles St., Baltimore, MD 21210.
(410) 435-9510. redeemerpds.org.

REGGIO & CO.
350 Clubhouse Rd., Suite A, Hunt Valley, MD 21031.
(443) 595-6381. reggioandco.com.

ROCK CHURCH ACADEMY
1607 Cromwell Bridge Rd., Baltimore, MD 21234.
(410) 882-0807. rockchurchacademy.com.

ST. PAUL’S SCHOOLS
11152 Falls Rd., Brooklandville, MD 21093.
(410) 825-4400. stpaulsmd.org.

STEP BY STEP CHILDREN’S LEARNING CENTER
47 Loveton Cir., Sparks, MD 21152.
(410) 771-4151. stepbystepclc.com.

STOLER EARLY LEARNING CENTER OF THE JCC OF GREATER BALTIMORE
3506 Gwynnbrook Ave., Owings Mills, MD 21117.
(410) 559-3554. jcc.org/elc.

TOWSON PRESBYTERIAN PRESCHOOL
400 W. Chesapeake Ave., Towson, MD 21204.
(410) 337-2762. towsonprespreschool.org.

WALDORF SCHOOL
4801 Tamarind Rd., Baltimore, MD 21209.
(410) 367-6808. waldorfschoolofbaltimore.org.

WOODBROOK EARLY EDUCATION CENTER
25 Stevenson Ln., Baltimore, MD 21212.
(410) 377-8919. weecenter.net.

Y OF CENTRAL MARYLAND
CATONSVILLE: 850 South Rolling Rd., Catonsville, MD 21228.
TOWSON: 301 W. ChesapeakeAve., Towson, MD 21204.
UMBC: 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250.
WEINBERG: 900 East 33rd St., Baltimore, MD 21218.
ymarland.org.