What’s Happening with Early Childhood Education Classes at RPA

Sophomore Violet Sarde-Sanfield and Freshman Levi Andeson share stories with students and RPA Learn and Play’s Daycare before lunch.

“The big kids are here!” can be heard each week as students from Tamara Bremont’s Early Childhood Education (ECE) classes enter the Redmond Learn & Play Daycare, a daycare run by the Redmond Proficiency Academy. The excitement about having “big” friends come to play, read, and interact with their “ little buddies” is mutual, according to Bremont.  

“This semester we have 35 high school students who interact with the children at Learn & Play on a weekly basis” said Bremont, “It is fun to watch both ages of students connect with each other.” 

Bremont has been teaching a variety of early Childhood Educations classes at RPA for the past 14 years. When the Learn & Play Daycare, which caters to both staff and community members, opened a few years ago, it made it easier for high school students to have hands-on experiences with young children since the daycare is within the downtown high school campus. 

Students in each of Bremont’s classes spend an hour a week visiting and playing with the daycare kids. Freshman Levi Anderson, currently enrolled in Child Growth and Development, explained, “ I love going to the daycare! It is the highlight of my week and it is what motivates me to come to school on Fridays.” Levi hopes to be one of the RPA students that are hired to work at the daycare once he is 16. For now, he enjoys taking ECE classes and volunteering at the daycare during breaks in his schedule. 

Sophomore Violet Sarde-Sanfield echoed Levi’s thoughts. “Volunteering at the daycare is my favorite part of the week”, shared Violet. “I love learning about how children grow and develop and then seeing what we learn in the classroom come to life when we interact with the little ones at the daycare”. 

During Semester 2 Bremont will teach two sections of Child Family and Community, which is similar to a child psychology class, Learning Through Art, Movement, Music and Play, as well as a section of Children’s Literature.  Any students interested in taking Early Childhood Education Classes at RPA should check in with their advisor and add them to their semester 2 planning sheet.