Paterson Family Center Students Visit Museum of Natural History

On Friday, February 27, all of the four year-old students of the Paterson Family Center, located at 32 Spruce Street in Paterson, hopped on yellow school buses with their parents and teachers for a trip to New York City to visit the Museum of Natural History.

Throughout the course of their day, the students visited different areas of the museum where they sketched various displays, listened to their docents (or museum guides), questioned the new things they were seeing and explored every exhibit with curiosity and excitement. In fact, the parents and students explored the exhibits with checklists, completing tasks where they had to locate certain dinosaur bones or other items. This allowed everyone to get the most out of the trip by staying on task and focused.

The students and parents focused on areas relating to dinosaurs and oceans, as these exhibits connected to what the students have been studying back in the classroom at PFC. Visiting the museum made those studies come alive, and the Paterson Family Center is excited to plan more trips in the future to supplement classroom studies. In fact, the students will be visiting the circus soon, and have been studying such topics as incline planes in the classroom to prepare for that trip.

At the Museum of Natural History, the PFC students were clad in matching blue shirts and were models of good behavior while demonstrating their love of learning that PFC teachers and staff have helped to foster. In fact, teachers from other schools, staff of the museum and visitors complimented the behavior of the PFC students and how confident and involved they were throughout their visit.

Enjoy these pictures of the lifelong learners in action!

About PFC: In collaboration with the Paterson School district, NJCDC hosts the Paterson Family Center, an intensive Abbott preschool for three and four year-olds in the city of Paterson. Understanding the importance of establishing a strong and enthusiastic foundation for learning, the Paterson Family Center provides 105 three and four year-old Paterson children with a developmentally appropriate curriculum and qualified staff committed to their growth and education. With a certified teacher, teacher’s assistant and computers in every classroom, each child is guaranteed the individual time and attention they deserve.

Providing more than just preschool, the Paterson Family Center offers support to the entire family through after-school programming that supports working parents, as well as clinical staff to connect families to needed resources. The Paterson Family Center is a living example of the Supreme Court of New Jersey’s hope that “well-planned, high quality” early childhood education “will have a significant and substantial positive impact on academic achievement in both early and later school years.”