KINDER-GARDEN LEARNING CENTER - Key Persons

Hello! My name is Maria Neubauer and I grew up in Wallingford, CT. My husband and I have been married for 31 years and have three wonderful adult children. I have also been blessed with twin granddaughters, a grandson and another granchild on the way. I graduated from Southern Connecticut State University and earned my Masters Degree in Early Childhood Education with a concentration in Special Education. I have my reading endorsement as well as my ESOL endorsement (educating students of other languages). I have been a NAEYC validator and have built this childcare center on the foundations of these practices to nurture and develop children to achieve success. I opened this center 28 years ago and continue to provide children with experiential learning. Maria D'Angelo Neubauer began working with children at a young age. She volunteered as a tutor and taught religious education while in high school and went on to graduate from Southern Connecticut State University in 1989 with a Bachelor's Degree in Early Childhood Education. Shortly after graduation, she became and director of a successful daycare until the birth of her first child. During her maternity leave she was contacted by dozens of parents wanting to know if she would be returning to her former employer because the place was not the same without her at the helm. She then decided to start her own childcare business in the form of a state licensed home daycare. Her program included manipulatives, whole language, art, music and hands-on approach to learning along with an array of learning techniques to better prepare her students for the transition to the public school systems. In 1994, she was receiving calls from dozens of referrals and decided along with her family to open a child care center. With the financial assistance of her father and uncle, she purchased the property on South Broad Terrace which was previously a craft store. Family friends (Gary, Paul, Rob, Jim, Terry, Tom & many others) helped her husband and father renovate the building to meet the many codes for a childcare center in Meriden, CT. Over the years, the building has been renovated and space added as Maria labored to devise a system that combines the warmth of a family home with the regimented programs of larger daycares.