Arriving
- Warm, leisurely greeting from our educators assure children and their parents that the care setting is a safe and friendly home-away-from-home.
- How and where the “goodbyes” occur depends on the needs and preferences of the child and parent.
- The teachers acknowledge the child’s and the parent’s feelings about separation and reunion.
- Parents can also let the educators know what the child did at home.
- Seeing parents at this time provides an opportunity for educators to exchange information about their child’s day.
- Educators inform parents about their child’s actions and communications of the day.
- Our mealtimes go beyond fulfilling a basic need for nourishing food.
- The younger infant is bottle fed in the comfort of the caregivers’ arms; older infants are encouraged to sit in the high chair or at the low table in a small group.
- Infants are encouraged to eat as well as explore new tastes, smells and textures and encouraged to self-feed with fingers, spoon or a cup.
- Often children sit unassisted allowing them to have greater control of their arms and hands to easily put food in their mouths.
- This area includes equipment that encourages movement, objects that flutter in the wind, a variety of crawling surfaces, water play materials and items that are visually stimulating.
- The educators provide loose materials for children’s comfort and play. They ensure a variety of experiences for non-mobile infants.
- Nature is observed with the children.
- The infants are given an opportunity to investigate and explore materials and actions and interact with their educators and peers.
- Each child chooses what to engage in based on personal interests, inclinations and level of development.
- This time provides children with a virtually uninterrupted period of exploration and play.
- The educators create experiences that are specific to beginning language and literacy. A variety of props are utilized to create interest and participation (books, puppets, flannel stories).
- The classroom environments have designated areas where your child can participate in pretend play and interactions with peers and educators.
- A variety of art mediums are introduced to the children in a small group setting. Specific art materials are explored to encourage the children’s development of their five senses.
- This time is a daily opportunity for children and educators to group together and introduce materials or activities.
- The children are the doers and choice makers, actively shaping what happens as the group time unfolds.
- Singing and moving with children at group time provides them opportunities to explore movement, to build a common repertoire of songs and rhymes and to experience a steady beat.
- This time occurs either on demand when the infants are tired or at a scheduled time in our day.
- Each child has their own individual crib in a separate sleep room, which protects the sleeping child and consistently provides each child with a personal, familiar sleeping place.