Little Daniel Negrete entertained himself with a white plastic dinosaur egg shell among the 15 or so energetic children in the sibling care room.

Flicking his lips with his forefinger, he fixed his brown eyes at a visitor. Daniel, along with the other children in the spacious, colorfully decorated, child-friendly room, spend two hours every morning playing while their mothers learn English as part of the Early Childhood Family Education (ECFE) Program at Woodson School.

"The program started with a group of people at Southgate elementary some 20 years ago. Now, we are here at Woodson and have grown to be almost half of the building," said Pat Lorenz, outreach facilitator of the program.

ECFE, which is sponsored by school district #492 Community Education, is designed to provide a series of learning experiences for parents and their children from birth to five years.

"We been coming here since Bethany was 18 months old

and now I bring my 3-year-old Shannon, who started when she was two," Stacy Rowbal said.

Rowbal said the program is a good resource for parents to have and a great place to get information to help them raise children.

Funded by a combination of state and local levies as well as users fee, the program prides itself for not turning away anyone who cannot afford the fees.

"If someone can't afford it, we help out so they can be in the program, like giving out scholarships. We do not turn anyone down," Lorenz said.

During parent and children interaction times, the parents spend time with their child playing and learning new activities they can do together. The Children's Program, which is the time when the parents are in the discussion group and the child spends time with other children, teacher and paraprofessionals doing various activities.

During parent discussion time, the parent join other parents in an informal group setting led by a ECFE Parent Educator.

Each quarter of the program runs for nine weeks, providing a variety of classes, depending on the age of the child. The schedule of classes is arranged to meet the needs of working parents. Classes are offered throughout the day, morning, afternoon and evening running for 45 minutes to two hours twice a week, depending on the class.

"This is the room they like to come to, because it's all play," paraprofessional Sheryl Jensen said as little Daniel hid behind her. Jensen works in the sibling care room, where parents can leave their children while they take classes, are in the discussion group or do activities with their other child. The classroom is divided for babies, toddlers and 2 to 5 years. The fee for the Sibling Care is $20 per quarter per family or $3 per class time.

Sarah Simerson and early childhood teachers have been working with the program for two years. "I think it emphasizes the importance of parenting and the parent and child interaction. It is a good place for young families to be," Simerson said. With four children of her own, Simerson said that she feels good to be part of program that supports parents and their children.

For information on winter registration call 433-4422, extension 7110.

Roxana Orellana can be reached at 434-2214 or by e-mail at roxana.orellana@austindailyherald.com