Wonders Child Care believes children develop and learn through guided play in a nurturing and diverse community. We are a nonprofit provider of accredited early childhood education, before/after school, and summer camp with flexible programs, for children ages two months through sixth grade with nine locations in Washington, DC and Maryland.

Annual Giving 2011-2012

“Thank you so much- this is wonderful news- I am so thankful, so there are no words to describe. This is a great help- Please THANK everyone for me. “

The above words of thanks came from a Wonders parent upon learning that she and her family would be receiving assistance through the Wonders Financial Assistance Fund.  The Financial Assistance Fund makes a difference. Your tax deductible donation makes a difference.

Wonders Annual Fund Giving

Safest Carseats, Safest Cars for Children: Highway Safety Study 2011 Data

It seems families are always on the go.  Keeping children safe while on the road is essential.  The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety offers a variety of resources for families.

The Institute just released their  TopSafetyPicksfor2012.   This is a list of cars best able to protect occupants in a crash.

While safe cars are great, how your child is secured in the car is essential to safey.

This f0ur minute video provides an overview of how to keep children safe while on the go.


Compass Awards Wonders Strategic Planning Services

Compass provides pro-bono consulting services to nonprofits whose work benefits the Greater Washington community. Wonders seeks the expertise of Compass to explore services that help families afford child care.

Wonders was chosen by Compass using rigorous selection criteria, including:
• proven stability
• sound mission
• the commitment of the executive director and Board members to be active participants in the strategic planning process
• the organizational capacity to implement the recommendations that come out of the plan

Wonders thanks Compass for supporting the Wonders mission.

News

Join us for the 11th Annual Wonders Book Fair at Politics and Prose, February 11, 2012.  The fair will run all day, Wonders teachers will read their favorite stories from 10:30 am to 11:30 pm.  20% of purchases made with the Wonders coupon will be donated to the Wonders Financial Assistance Fund.

“Nothing is more important than getting our babies off to a good start,” Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Friday at the White House.

Joanne Hurt, Wonders Executive Director and Shatabdi Das, Program Director of Wonders Leland Children’s Center were invited to the White House for the announcement of the nine winners of the national Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge.  The nine states—California, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island and Washington—will receive grant awards from the $500 million Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge fund, a competitive grant program jointly administered by the U.S. Departments of Education and Health and Human Services.

The panel of speakers included Domestic Policy Council Director Melody Barnes, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, Barbara Bowman of the Erikson Institute and James J. Heckman, (pictured with Shatabdi) Henry Schultz Distinguished Service Professor of Economics, University of Chicago and Nobel Laureate in Economics.

....................................................................................................

TEACHER SPOTLIGHT

Tia Marshall

Tia started at Wonders as a group leader in the after school program at Somerset. Now at Leland Children's Center, she enjoys identifying and building upon children's interests to help them make connections in their learning. She especially enjoys introducing science experiments to the two year olds, and watching them discover and explore new ideas. She has seemingly boundless energy, excels in working as part of a team and finds inspiration in learning from her colleagues. Tia recently achieved her Child Development Associate credential (CDA).