Welcome to Messiah Child Care!!! Welcome to  Messiah Lutheran Child Care Center!! Messiah Lutheran Child Care Center is located on the north side of Park Ridge, near Lutheran General Hospital and Maine East High School, in the education building of Messiah Lutheran Church.  Our Playground We have a large outdoor play area with plenty of playground equipment and space to run and play. Our playground Our playground has been expanded with the generosity of Messiah families.  Monies have been raised through school fund raisers and the playgrounds have been installed with parent volunteers.  Computers Each classroom is equipped with computers for the children's daily use. Art Projects Each day, the children have the opportunity to create art projects at the classroom's open art table, in addition to doing the day's art project. Spanish Class The children learn Spanish vocabulary and play games in Spanish when Miss Duvia visits each classroom once a week. The children have learned how to count as well as name their colors, numbers, pieces of clothing, parts of the body, seasonal words and much more. Classroom visits from our pastor Messiah Lutheran Church's pastor visits the children in their classrooms each week.  The classroom visits include stories, singing and prayer. Throughout Messiah's curriculum, the children learn about God's love for them.  We share prayers at our class openings, at snack and at lunch. Weekly chapel service Our pastor lead chapel service each week for the children. Our chapel services include music, prayer and stories.  The children bring canned or boxed food as an offering.  The food is donated to the Maine Township Food Pantry. Dance/movement class with Miss Pat Miss Pat leads a dance/movement class on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays.  The class is available as an extra curricular activity (additional charge) and includes beginning dance and movement activities.  It is popular with boys and girls alike.  The children hold two performances during the year.  At Christmas, they perfom 'The Peanutcracker' and in May they conclude their class with a program.  Parents and classmates are invited to view both shows. Lunch at Messiah Hot lunch is served at noon. Our lunches are catered from Quality Catering and include a wide variety of delicious, child-friendly food.  Children also have a snack in the morning and full day students enjoy an afternoon snack, as well.  Messiah is a peanut-free school. Story Time In all classes, the children enjoy their daily story time.  Teachers read books related to the weekly curriculum themes.  Additionally, the 4 year old classes study an author  of children's books each month.  The children learn the biography of the author and are read books, throughout the monthy, written by that author. Music with Mr. Kurtis Once a week, either Monday or Tuesday, Mr. Kurtis joins our classes in the church to engage in lively music with a Christian emphasis.  Each week, Mr. Kurtis plays his guitar and sings with the children. Additionally, he has introduced them to other musical instrument families-brass, reeds, percussion, strings-giving the children a chance to hear and learn about the music they produce.