School Spotlight: Arbor View Early Childhood Center
Arbor View Childhood Center in Maple Grove is an early childhood family education or ECFE school that gives children the foundation they need to grow, while giving moms and dads the tools they need to help them parent.
“It just keeps me sane,” said parent Mona Parmar.
Parmar attends classes with her 4-year-old daughter Kahana. Mona says the classes boost her parenting confidence.
“Sometimes I’m at home and I think ‘this can’t be normal,’ and then I go to the parent class, I listen to the other parents, I ask my parent educator what to do and they just tell me—this is normal.”
Infant Program
Infants and their parents can also join in on the learning and fun. The babies wander around to different toys exploring and experimenting. Christine LeVahn is a parent educator. She says although the children are playing, their fine and gross motor skills are also being shaped.
“Even play from birth, they are problem solving and often times, I encourage parents to sit back and observe how their child’s wheels are turning,” explained Levahn.
Once the parent-child activities are done, parents separate and go into another room where they have a parent education discussion. Topics vary from lack of sleep, fussy eaters, to tantrums.
Special Education
Arbor view also offers an early childhood special education program. Any child in the district can get services. More than 500 students in the Osseo district benefit from ECSE. Learning also takes place outside of the classroom.
“Our special education program is awesome,” said coordinator Sally Nault-Maurer. “So there would be occupational therapy that would be available, overall development support, speech and language.”
The district also offers early childhood education at its Willow Lane Early Education Center in Brooklyn Center.
