Parents can sign their children up for the Little North Stars preschool program at DGN. The child development and early childhood care classes walk the kids up the stairs to the second floor, down the hallway to 212 for an hour and 40 minutes of themed activities and learning.

These classes run a self funded preschool where the two classes take care of and teach kids, infants to five-year-olds, until their parents come back to pick them up at the end of the class. Students get a chance to work with children and have hands on experience in the classroom to teach and learn how the kids act in different scenarios while the children get a chance to socialize and work with new skills.

“I learned a lot teaching wise and planning lessons so it was a really good experience and it was a happy environment going to the class everyday and seeing the kids,” junior Anna Main said.

The sessions are Monday’s and Thursday’s, Tuesday’s and Friday’s or parents can choose to send their children all four days for the first two periods. These times depend on how many high school students sign up for the two classes.

“I think there is a lot of emphasis on having the best GPA, with these classes I guarantee probably 80-90 percent of everyone in this building will be a parent and having that experience working with children is invaluable,” Little North Stars director Christy Tajak said.

Students plan lessons and activities for the kids and themes that are set for each day. Going to a two day session or all four days is dependent on the parents, they will not learn the same things two days in a row.

“I put Dimitri in the 2 day a week session due to him having other activities and play groups the other mornings in the week. The program helped him interact with other children his age and he was able to do fun crafts and play,” parent of Little North Stars participant Samantha Lozano said.

Originally the early childhood care classes was run first, second and third period for infants up to three-year-olds while sixth and seventh period was ran by child development for three to five-year olds. This school year it is combined, infants to five-year-olds, with the two classes. Tajak hopes to return to these times in the next few years.

“We need high school students to sign up, I think a lot of people don’t know about it. I ask the kids in the class to tell others about it, it’s really just word of mouth. I think this program teaches a valuable tool, you can have the highest GPA out there but if you have a child and you don’t know what to do with it it’s a big big responsibility,” Tajak said.