Kate Cozzani started The Giving Tree as a daycare out of her Oak Park home in 1999. She was on maternity leave with her second son when she decided to get a license for a group home daycare to help look after other peoples’ children.
“I had done the first year of home daycare and found it challenging,” Cozzani said. She returned to her career as an elementary teacher in the Chicago Public School system before enrolling to get her master’s degree in early childhood education at Concordia University in 2002.
For her thesis, Cozzani wrote a business plan to move her previous home daycare to a commercial site, which she launched in 2004 with around 30 children.
This year, The Giving Tree Early Learning Center is celebrating 20 years at 7510 West Randolph Street and serving more than 600 children, ages six weeks to six years.
On March 15, the day of The Giving Tree Early Learning Center’s 20-year anniversary, the school will celebrate with students and teachers by eating cake and doing crafts — the most relevant of which will be making invitations for a celebration on June 8. The summer party will include teachers setting up stations with children’s activities, based on individual learning goals. Past, present and future Giving Tree families are invited.
“I want to thank Forest Park,” Cozzani said. “Looking back at all the people that have had an impact on our lives, from individuals to organizations. . . it’s been a nice trip down memory lane to think of all the people that have touched our lives, that have touched The Giving Tree.”
The daycare, which offers full-day services while D91 only offers half-day preschool, is named after the Shel Silverstein book.
“Everyone’s growing and learning, but we all know that we’re here for each other, and I think that’s the essence of the book,” Cozzani said. “I call it The Giving Tree family community because it’s not only the children, but their parents, my staff, we are a community. We are a family. And it doesn’t just end when the kids graduate or when parents move.”
Cozzani is still in touch with teachers who go on to educate in other schools, and even one of the first children who were enrolled in The Giving Tree when it was operating out of her home.
“When we look at students we’ve had, and even our own kids as they grow, we know the impact that we’ve had on these kids and how they’ve grown into great people,” Cozzani said.
In order to teach these kids how to develop to that point, Cozzani gives the 14 teachers at The Giving Tree Early Learning Center lots of flexibility.
“I was always given a lot of freedom by my principal to plan my activities and create my learning space how I saw fit,” Cozzani said. “While we have a backbone of things we want to accomplish developmentally or based on the Illinois Early Learning and Development Standards, my teachers are able to plan their lessons and activities based on their knowledge of the kids.”
“If the teachers are excited about learning, then the kids are too,” she added.