'Memories and Traditions' Workshop by Bev Bos, Expert on Child Development

El Cerrito Preschool Cooperative (ECPC), a nonprofit co-op since 1940, will host a workshop by early childhood development expert Bev Bos on "Memories and Traditions” at El Cerrito Community Center, 7007 Moeser Lane on Wednesday, October 3rd, from 7-9 pm.

This workshop is open to the public. We invite all interested parents, teachers, babysitters, and community members! This event is made possible by ECPC’s dedicated families who have been sponsoring this annual workshop for two decades.  Admission is $10/person this year.  (Unlike in recent years, we were unable to secure a First Five grant due to the tight budget times we are all living under now. Excellent group discounts are offered to groups of ten or more; contact Marketing@ecpckids.com for details.) Early Childhood Education continuing education certificates will be available. Participants should come early to get a good seat and enjoy complimentary refreshments. Adults only but babes-in-arms welcome too. Doors open at 6:30 pm.

Bev Bos’ philosophy on play is one the teachers and parents embrace at El Cerrito Preschool Co-op (ECPC), a co-operative preschool of over 60 diverse families of young children, located at 7200 Moeser Lane just across the street from El Cerrito Community Center. We were founded by 22 mothers during the Great Depression – with funding from the Work Projects Administration (WPA) and are recognizing our 72^nd anniversary this year!

In this world where “No Child Left Behind” has injected even our kindergartens and preschools with the ethos of racing to get ahead, Bev Bos reminds us that we should observe our children in awe and recognize what is right for a child right now is not the same as what is right for her next year.  As Bev’s well-loved 2005 book (with Jenny Chapman) Tumbling over the Edge: A Rant for Children’s Play puts it: “This minute, this second—that’s what’s important” (p. 123).  Let us appreciate each moment in our children’s development and let them thrive at the stage where they are—embracing and celebrating their uninhibited eagerness to learn about the world.  Bev Bos urges us to infuse the early childhood environment at home and school with basic, natural materials that foster each child’s sense of wonder—facilitating healthy intrapersonal, interpersonal, emotional, cognitive, and physical development.

At ECPC we believe “play is a child’s work.” Teachers provide the environment where children pursue their natural curiosity, exploring the world through their senses, spurred by creativity and motion—individually and together with peers ages 3 to 5. Teachers (2 at all times) and parents (6-7 on duty at all times) allow children to be free to be children, within a supportive environment where adults intervene only when children need help: solving conflicts, preventing injury, getting a band-aid, or turning on the hose for water play.

ECPC clearly celebrates play! We likewise foster traditions in so many ways: the mystery box each child has a turn to take home and bring back with a hidden object inside—giving clues till classmates guess what it is; the birthday book where each preschooler draws a picture for the birthday child, a book that is then “read” aloud during group time and taken home by the birthday child; Baby Monkey who is taken home by one child each day who then keeps a journal of goings-on with Baby Monkey in tow—from drawings and photos to dictated stories, all brought back the next day to share at group time; the annual Make-a-Plate fundraiser and potluck—recently themed with a Thanksgiving menu; and the annual overnight campout on school grounds—complete with roasting marshmallows, singing around the campfire, and running under the stars with glow sticks.  Yes, we build our own traditions at ECPC – giving all of our member families and children a sense of belonging to this unique community.

At ECPC we also foster traditions by inviting parents to come in and share their cultural heritage—recently we have enjoyed Polish, Caribbean, and Ghanaian presentations.  At ECPC parents and teachers have also shared their cultural ties by celebrating holidays with the children such as Persian New Year and the Swedish Santa Lucia Day.  We have even started a tradition in recent years of sponsoring a young Haitian child to attend school in an especially poor neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, a child whose family would otherwise not be able to afford school.  In this way, our preschoolers learn a little about Haiti—and widen their view of the world.

In this way, ECPC recognizes the essential role both free play and community traditions play in establishing a healthy environment where children “play, learn, grow” – our motto at ECPC.  Likewise, in the workshop this Wednesday, where we expect over 200 people to attend, Bev Bos, along with her son-in-law and co-presenter Michael Leeman, will bring to life the importance of traditions, as they weave in their stories of teaching preschool and share the songs that hold special memories for them—while grounding it all in a coherent philosophy of child development.

Please join us for this “rant for children’s play” and enthusiastic plug for fostering traditions and forging long-lasting memories with our own children and those we teach.  Please join us on Wednesday, October 3rd from 7-9 pm at the El Cerrito Community Center. Email marketing@ecpckids.com for more information or to reserve tickets today.