Inclusion Corner – Children & Company

Inclusivity Statement

Children & Company Cooperative Preschool believes that it is never too early to start learning about diversity, equity, and fairness. Our school commits to teaching our children to acknowledge, honor, and celebrate our differences and to speak up for what is right.

We welcome all of our members to be part of the conversation so we can help each other and our school to continue to improve and grow.

One demonstration of Children & Company’s dedication to diversity is holding an Executive Board position for an Inclusivity Coordinator. The Inclusivity Coordinator helps update current structures within our school foundation to support inclusive learning and uphold social change in accordance with our Inclusivity Statement and beyond. With guidance from our teachers, the Inclusivity Coordinator works to infuse diversity and inclusivity in classroom literature, play props, puzzles, costumes, music, among other areas. They will also create opportunities for growth for our adult community members through workshops, presentations and various forms of resource sharing. This Board member will annually survey our preschool community to gather ideas on how to increase representation of our unique backgrounds and identities.

We believe that by raising our children to be inclusive of all human variances today it will allow them to grow into adults who will contribute to a more equitable tomorrow.

Featured Family

Each month our school newsletter features a family within our community. That family shares some of the things that make them unique and often they even share a family-favorite recipe, books and stories they love, or even a wonderful playlist!

Previously Featured Families

The Aronovich Family

What is your Family name(s) (surname)? Introduce us to the members of your household!

Aronovich – Felix, Alicia, Ethan (7) and Elliot (3)

What is one favorite activity your family enjoys together?
We prefer warmer weather that allows us to play on the boat or beach. The kids love spending summers at grandma and poppy’s house learning to tube and water ski. They also enjoy crabbing and spending their days on the beach – any beach will do even in the dead of winter. We often take the boat to Hart Miller Island on the weekends to let the kids run around in the sand and collect shells. Last year we were fortunate enough to travel to Kauai, Israel, and Cape Henlopen. This means the kids got to swim in the Pacific Ocean, Red Sea, Dead Sea, Mediterranean Sea, Atlantic Ocean, and Chesapeake Bay.

What is one favorite meal or food that your family enjoys? Can you share the recipe with us?
Elliot’s grandfather is local to Baltimore and used to be a professional crabber in his youth and his mother would find all sorts of recipes to use for crabs, but one of her best recipes is her crab cakes – see Elliot’s great-grandmother’s recipe below.

Thelma Kroat’s Crab Cakes
Ingredients:
1lb lump crab meat (cooked),
1 egg,
4 Tbsp Mayo,
14 Ritz crackers, crushed,
1 tsp sugar,
¼ tsp Old Bay,
¼ tsp parsley (dried),
⅛ tsp ground black pepper,
1 tsp Dijon mustard

Directions:
1. Combine all ingredients except crab meat.
2. Fold in crab meat.
3. Shape crab cakes about ¾ inches thick and place on a plate.
4. Cover with Plastic wrap andrefrigerate for 1 hour before cooking.
5. Bake or pan fry until golden brown and cooked through

What is one of your child’s favorite activities during class at Children & Company?
“Playing toys, playing play-doh, and playing kitchen with all of my friends.”

Tell us about a favorite holiday or family tradition. How is it important to you?
Alicia grew up Catholic and converted to Judaism prior to getting married to Felix. We are not very religious and do not keep kosher, but do participate in both Catholic and Jewish holidays mostly from a historical and cultural perspective. We use any chance to travel or try new foods to learn about new cultures and new religions. Ethan has become quite the walking encyclopedia of random facts about different countries. We are convinced he will be on Jeopardy one day.

Where is one place (in the world) your family hopes to visit together someday? There does not seem to be a general consensus on 1 place to visit. Felix would like to live in London and vacation to Japan. Alicia vetoed London as it rains too much and would like to vacation in the Amazon rainforest. Ethan would like to be the first person to travel around the world at the speed of light and see every country and Elliot would like to go anywhere that has a beach.

Tell us something about your child or family that you would like our community to know? Or something that might surprise us?
Felix competed for Israel in the London 2012 Olympics for gymnastics. Ethan and Elliot are both following in dad’s footsteps and started taking gymnastics classes at age 1yo. Elliot received his first official leotard at the age of 3yo and often has to be enticed to take it off to wash it. These days you are likely to find Elliot practicing his handstands by walking his feet up my kitchen cabinets, doing cartwheels around the living room, or forward rolls on the couch.

The Aschard-Mazoyer Family

Bonjour! We are the Aschard-Mazoyer! We are a french family of 5 : Rose (in the 4’s class), Octave (2yo), Élise, Justin and Gustave (our cat ).

We arrived 1.5 years ago from France, more precisely from Burgundy (a region very famous for its good wine ). We have had the incredible chance to discover American life from the inside and to see what it is like in the movies. For Rose and Octave it’s also the opportunity to learn English and open up to another culture. We love living in the area, so whenever we can, we take the opportunity to discover the parks around here, or to go and see the museums, especially in Washington DC, which has wonderful collections. February 2nd is the « Chandeleur » (Candlemas in english), originally a pagan celebration (later taken over by the Christians) but in France it means especially the festival of crêpes!

French people love crêpes and we don’t only eat them at Candlemas, there are even restaurants where only crêpes are served! Morning, noon or evening, crêpes are eaten at any time! You can make a whole meal with crêpes since they can be eaten both salty and sweet. Let your imagination run wild! Our favorites :

– The classic: ham, cheese, cream, salt and pepper
– Scandinavian: salmon, cream, herbs

For dessert: plain, sugar, jam, chocolate, chestnut cream, caramel. We love to melt butter and dark chocolate in the crêpes in the pan: it’s a treat! Otherwise you can always make a Chocolate hazelnut spread Chantilly. Don’t hesitate to add fruits (bananas, strawberries, kiwis…)Originally, the crêpes were prepared, once the sowing was finished, with the surplus flour of the previous year. Moreover, their shape and color remind of the sun (and the lengthening of the days). To ensure abundance and prosperity in the home, it is customary to sauté the
crêpes in the pan with the right hand, while holding a gold louis, or by extension a coin, in the left hand. I’ll let you try it, it’s not so easy!

When you don’t know what to do or when you have people to eat at the last minute: crêpes are always a hit with the kids (and adults), who don’t even wait until you put something inside to eat!

Crêpes are easy to cook and much better than the ones from the supermarket! Here is the recipe for the pancakes:
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
For 4 persons :
– 250g flour
– 4 eggs
– 1/2 L of milk
– 1 pinch of salt
– 50g of melted butter
1. Put the flour in a bowl with the salt
2. Make a well in the middle and pour in the eggs.
3. Start mixing gently. When the mixture becomes thick, add the cold milk little by little. Until the dough has no more lumps.
4. When all the milk is mixed, the dough should be quite fluid. If it seems too thick, add a little more milk. Then add the melted butter and mix
well.
5. Cook the pancakes in a hot pan (lightly oiled if your pancake pan is not non-stick). Pour a small ladleful of batter into the pan, swirl it
around to spread the batter over the surface. Put on the heat and when the pancake’s edges turn light red, it’s time to flip it.
6. Let it cook for about a minute on this side and then the pancake is ready.
7. Finally: Repeat until the batter is used up.

Bon appétit !

P.S.: We would like to thank Ms. Wendy, Ms. Traci, & Ms. Tricia for their patience with Rose who did not speak a word of English when she arrived! And a special thanks to all the moms in the class who are a great group!

The Holden Family

Hello! We are the Holden Family! Chris, Megan, Isla, and Elliot (Ellie).

Ellie is in the 2’s class at Children & Company and her older sister, Isla, is in Kindergarten at Bellows Spring Elementary School. Isla attended Children and Company for the 3s and 4s. We have loved our experience here and are so grateful to the C&Co teachers who have helped our children develop and grow. Isla and Ellie both love pretend play. They like to play Bluey, babies, animals, zoo, and Barbies. Ellie especially enjoys baby dolls, specifically feeding, bathing, and changing them. Recently, she has shown a vested interest in My Little Ponies. Isla loves animals-particularly dogs. She can name most any dog breed and can’t wait to have her own dog someday soon. Isla is quite the creative builder and is content to use most functional items in any way she can-it’s not uncommon for her to manipulate empty packages and boxes to create her own imaginative play area.

Chris and Megan met while attending the University of Maryland, College Park. Both are avid sports fans and attended many (at the time) AAC Maryland Basketball games. Fun fact: Megan and Chris even held their wedding at M&T Bank Stadium! Chris grew up in Columbia and is a graduate of Long Reach High School. Megan grew up in Harford County. Chris is a data scientist at ICF, and Megan is a Speech Language Pathologist for Howard County Public Schools working primarily with the early childhood population.

Chris grew up in an Italian Catholic family and Megan grew up in an Irish Catholic family. In short, Ellie has a large family, and it can get LOUD. Ellie’s grandparents all live close by are a huge part of her life. Her Pops &Mom-Mom, and Mimi & Hampry are quite the caretaking Team. In the summers we spend a lot of time in Ocean City, MD with our extended family. We lounge in the sand, jump in the waves, and walk-in our own personal 4th of July parade down 140th street.

In addition to 4th of July, Christmas is one of our favorite holidays. Ellie and Isla get to spend lots of time with their cousins-Harper and Penelope. We wear matching pajamas, drink hot chocolate (and mimosas), and open gifts one at a time-it’s quite the process. During the Christmas season, Ellie also likes to help her Mimi bake tons of Christmas cookies from daisy bells to peanut butter to snicker doodles, each one is so delicious.

The Schmidt Family

Hi, we’re the Schmidt Family! Our son Desmond is in the 4s class and we are new to C&C and to Columbia.

Robin and Josh (Mom and Dad) met in Japanese class at the University of Virginia, and we have spent the past 10 years moving up and down the east coast for Josh’s job in the Navy. We have lived in 5 different cities and Desmond has lived in 4 different houses. This year, Josh got out of the Navy and now works for the Forest Service in DC. We knew we wanted to settle in an area with lots of things to do and many other families, so we decided to buy a house in Columbia. We are happy to be staying in one place for many years to come!

Something that we value as a family is trying and learning new things. Every time we would move, we would have to learn our way around a new place, make new friends, and try out new activities to make it feel like home. Each place had different things to offer and sometimes required us to go outside our comfort zone. In Southern Maryland, we lived in a rural area on one acre of land, so we grew a vegetable garden and kept backyard chickens. In Florida, Robin explored Zumba and advanced dog training while Josh learned about breadmaking and how to fly a helicopter and land it on a ship. Lately, the three of us are learning a lot about home improvement and native plants for our yard.

One of our favorite websites for learning about new things as a family is called The Kid Should See This (thekidshouldseethis.com). It is a collection of thousands of kid-friendly videos about STEAM, history, and culture with an intentional focus on amplifying content from women and people of color who work in STEAM fields. Take a look when you have a chance!

For membership inquiries, please contact membership@childrenandcompany.org