Garden Gate Child Development Center Inc

Garden Gate is a small non-profit preschool and toddler center, offering full and part-time school-year programs and summer camp. Our program philosophy and goals have been influenced by the approach to early childhood education originating in the infant/toddler centers and preschools in Reggio Emilia, Italy. Loris Malaguzzi, founder of the Reggio approach, based his methods on the principles of respect, responsibility, and community.

Additionally, we serve children from diverse backgrounds, children from low income families, children who are English language learners, bilingual children, children with mental health issues, children in non-traditional families, and children with special needs ranging from speech articulation issues to autism to physical impairments and cognitive disabilities. Our program is based on the Reggio Emilia model which recognizes the competencies and capabilities of every child. Our individual approach ensures that each child is met where they are, given the tools they need to be successful and valued for their contributions to the group. In this model, children are seen as having special "rights" as opposed to special "needs". In as such, each child at Garden Gate has a right to any accommodation that will enable him/her to fulfill their potential. We offer a language rich program with an emphasis on building social competency, where children are provided with "100 languages" through which to understand, communicate and learn. Among these languages are the verbal languages of conversation, storytelling and song; visual languages of writing, drawing, painting and sculpting; and physical languages of drama, movement, construction and play; among many more. In this way we are able to meet the needs of diverse learners who are otherwise limited in their learning and their expression in the classroom.

The Reggio approach has inspired educators from around the world. For more information about this approach, please read Lella Gandini's concise overview here:


For more information about our program or our enrollment procedures please visit our website or email us at gardengatecdc@