Our Philosophy

Privately owned and operated, Sunny Day Care & Montessori offers an environment for children which encourages growth and learning at his or her own pace. With warmth and understanding, we build a strong foundation for each child to be independent, self-confident, socially and cognitively ready for the future. Our loving, dedicated staff makes Sunny Day Care & Montessori a home away from home.

Our program is designed to:

• maintain quality care in a child's life through consistent caregiving.
• advise of potential problems in physical, intellectual or emotional development of their child.
• promote effective communication between the Center, staff and parents.
• encourage parental involvement through observation, visitation and participation in the program.
• provide parental orientation in policies, procedures, and philosophy of the Center.
• provide a healthy, happy and loving atmosphere for each and every child in its care.

Our commitment to your child:

• to provide opportunities for being with other children in a setting conducive to the development of wholesome social relationships.
• to provide appropriate play experiences that contribute to the developmental needs of your child.
• to provide opportunities for meaningful play that is based on your child's individual needs, interests, and abilities, and that will build important foundations for future reading skills and other academic pursuits.
• to provide a happy and loving environment where your child will feel comfortable and at home.
• to guide your child through the traumatic separation period from you.
• to interact with respect and affection, talking at your child's eye level.
• to encourage development of appropriate independence.
• to be available and responsive to your child, listening, encouraging, and sharing experiences.
• to provide positive role modeling and identification that guides and directs children.
• to set reasonable and consistent limits.
• to be a resource for recommendations about concerns with your child's growth and development.
• to treat your child as an individual.
• to provide opportunity for sibling interaction.

Our commitment to you (the parent):

• to provide care for your child while you pursue your own work or other interests.
• to provide peace of mind for you knowing your child is happy.
• to provide you with a report on your child's progress and activities.
• to make you feel welcome to visit anytime because the Center is the your child's "home away from home".

Co-owners

Our co-owners bring a unique and special blend of education and experience to Sunny Day Care & Montessori. They have 3 children between them who began at Sunny Day Care & Montessori. Theresa and Sue have been friends since the '70s and decided to pursue a business together in the early '90s. Following is a brief sketch of their backgrounds:

Theresa Powers

Prior to co-founding Sunny Day Care with Sue Casey in 1992, Theresa spent fifteen years in various professional positions as a Registered Occupational Therapist working with children. OT, as it is ofetn referrred to, is the use of meaningful occupation (activities) to assist in achieving a healthy and balanced development. Her formal training includes Child Care Development courses at Schoolcraft College, a Bachelors Degree from Eastern Michigan University, and Master Degree courses at Wayne State University. Theresa has taken the Para-Professional Montessori training and uses this to program daily activities for the two-year olds.

Sue Casey

Sue has had many lives in the business world. She began in Accounting and Tax Preparation while attending college. Sue then switched schooling to study computer programming. She worked as a System's Analyst for Ford Motor Credit Company for ten years until she had her second child. Theresa and Sue then founded Sunny Day Care. Sue took training from the Michigan Montessori Teacher Education Center. When she became a certified Early Childhood Montessori teacher, they were able to add "& Montessori" to their name.

We are blessed with a wonderful, loving staff whose average time working with with Sunny Day Care children is now over eight years. And, it is also a major reason why over sixty families have entrusted their children to Sunny Day from their early, infant years through our Montessori program. Families of one, two, three and even four children have been with Sunny Day from the oldest being born until the youngest goes off to first grade. Families are what we are all about!