University Children's Learning Center
University Children's Learning Center (UCLC) is dual licensed by ND Health and Human Services as a child care center and preschool for children ages 18 months to 5 years old. Additionally, UCLC is part of Bright and Early ND, a 4-step, tiered quality rating program and holds a step-4 rating. The Learning Center is open year-round Monday through Friday from 7:00 am until 5:30 pm UCLC offers three full-days options for children's enrollment:
- Monday through Friday
- Monday/Wednesday/Friday
- Tuesday and Thursday
No part-day child care is offered.
Child Care in Grand Forks
UCLC provides quality care and early education for children of UND students, faculty, and staff as well as families from the Greater Grand Forks Community. The Learning Center welcomes children from a variety of ethnic, cultural, social-economic, and educational backgrounds, and is committed to integrating children with special needs.
Learn Through Play
UCLC isn't your typical child care program. The Learning Center's teachers (most with a minimum of a Bachelors of Science/Arts degree) take pride in providing a progressive learning environment for all enrolled children regardless of their abilities.
Quality care and early education is achieved by:
- Enrolling children into a "family", which provides a sense of familiarity, safety and security, and a sense of belonging to a community.
- Having classrooms staffed by a minimum of one teacher with an early childhood education background as well as student caregivers who have received training in the practices of developmentally appropriate early childhood education.
- Encouraging children to learn through active exploration of their environment.
- Encouraging children to build social skills through group activities that encourage cooperation and collaboration.
- Providing high-quality, USDA approved breakfast, lunch, and snack menus developed by a registered dietitian and prepared using safe and health practices, which are served family-style.
- Purposefully planning learning experiences based on teacher's observations of the children as they play.