infants
INFANTS LEARN TO:
- achieve key milestones and build healthy bodies
- language development and sign language
- foundations of problem-solving and cognitive ability
- the beginning of an active imagination
- to build a positive self-image and trust
- empathy, self-competence and resilience
INFANT Program
Meeting babies’ individualized needs, encouraging active exploration, and creating a strong partnership with parents
Active exploration
Children develop and learn faster as babies than they do at any other period in their lives, reaching new milestones almost daily. Infants grow best in a safe and predictable environment full of engaging opportunities to actively explore with all their senses. They also learn from responsive interactions and a world full of language—being read to, spoken to, and sung to, by nurturing caregivers who listen attentively and respond to their every coo, cry, and word.
Individualized care
A predictable schedule helps infants develop a sense of trust and security. Each infant’s diapering, feeding, and sleeping schedule is personalized to their needs and your family’s routine. Each baby is assigned a primary care giver for one-on-one caring, play and communication with your family.
Safe and inviting learning environment
Our infant classrooms offer a safe and secure environment from which babies can explore their world. There are quiet areas with comforting rocking chairs and swings for calm and relaxing moments, and individual cribs for napping. Open shelves are full of inviting, multi-sensory play materials to stimulate babies’ cognitive development. To ensure each baby’s security, our educators are vigilant about safety and cleanliness practices.
LEARNING ACTIVITIES TAILORED TO THEIR NEEDS
To foster social-emotional and creative growth, pictures of babies and their families, safety mirrors, and artwork are hung at child eye level. With a schedule and learning activities tailored to their needs, temperament, and development, each baby in our care grows securely and happily.
Responsive and loving teachers
Throughout the day, babies are held, played with, talked and sung to by our caring infant teachers. Developing strong, loving relationships with trusted adults give infants a secure base from which they can explore their world.
BUILDING TRUSTING AND INTIMATE BONDS
In addition to lots of cuddling, love, and individual attention, the teachers personalize learning experiences to fit each baby’s unique learning style and goals, and interests, which builds trusting and intimate bonds between caregiver and baby. Teachers also form strong partnerships with families and share in the delight of infants’ accomplishments as they reach each new milestone.
a peek at my day
INFANT curriculum
Curriculum is the heart and soul of any learning program. Our unique curriculum, Connecting My World, encompasses all of the care and teaching that happens in our program. Connecting My World teaches children the critical knowledge, skills, and concepts important for school readiness.
AREAS OF LEARNING
me and you
Even the youngest babies are beginning to develop trusting relationships and enjoy diverse experiences that shape their developing perceptions, values and concepts of self. To develop emotional skills, teachers help infants build trust and attachment by responding to their needs with affection and respect. Infants develop early friendships by playing near their friends in the toy area. By responding immediately to children’s needs, providing encouragement and attention, and showing affection with hugs and snuggles, our infant teachers help babies develop a strong sense of self, build trusting relationships with caregivers and friends, and begin to develop empathy.
brain power
Infants are born with curiosity – the innate ability to experiment, investigate and discover. Their memory is attuned to learning as their brains take in new information with every experience. Brain Power helps infants work on their thinking, reasoning and memory skills, long before they understand the scientific and mathematical concepts with their minds. To build their cognitive skills, infants explore different textured materials, play peek-a-boo, and interact with toys that help them figure out how things work. In a classroom rich with sensory experiences, babies experiment with volume by filling buckets, play with toys that need to be figured out, and repeat actions with an interesting effect, building problem-solving, attention and reasoning skills and a scientific and mathematical foundation.
imagine that
Infants learn about the world and themselves through their bodies and their senses. Even in infancy, children’s imaginations are developing, helping them cultivate creativity and a sense of self. Imagine That guides infants through engaging artistic experiences that nurture their creative development by stimulating and exploring all their senses. By using rattles and musical instruments, reading colorful picture books and finger painting, babies are developing their creative side.
healthy me
A baby’s first year is full of physical milestones. Infants are working on gross motor skills like sitting up, crawling and walking, and gaining the fine motor skills needed to eat and hold small items. Healthy Me offers infants the opportunity to develop both big and small muscles, and helps make even the tiniest learners aware of their physical needs. To help fine motor skill development like pincer grasp, teachers put small pieces of food in their hands so they can feed themselves. To develop gross motor skills like rolling over, crawling and pulling themselves up, each baby is provided plenty of tummy time and opportunities for safe exploration. By encouraging movement, helping infants use utensils, and placing small items for babies to pick up, teachers help babies build a foundation for healthy bodies.
word smart
Infants start communicating the day they are born. As their cries develop into coos and then into gestures and babbling, infants are learning at an astonishing rate to connect with the world and express their needs and wants. WordSmart ensures your baby has plenty of opportunities to lay the foundation for language. To foster language skills, teachers narrate activities, read books and poems, and sing songs. By speaking and singing to babies throughout the day, exploring picture books and naming objects with words and sign language, teachers encourage the development of babies’ language skills and help them express their thoughts and needs.
CHARACTER EDUCATION
sense of self
self-competence
Playing “patty-cake” in front of a mirror develops self-competence
resilience
Covering and uncovering objects in a game of Hide and Seek develops resilience
self-management
“Counting down” with numbers before activities develops self-management
relationships
integrity
Choosing which toy to play with develops personal integrity
respect
Practicing “soft touches” on animal puppets nurtures respect
compassion
Looking at baby pictures and mimicking facial develops compassion
citizenship
community
Playing with community helpers puppets, dolls and toys develops a sense of community
mindfulness
Rocking with an infant and singing soothingly helps develop mindfulness
helpfulness
Singing while washing baby’s hands encourages helpfulness
leadership
courage
Playing “pop the bubble” with babies develops courage
positive attitude
Learning that shaking a toy creates a sound that makes them giggle develops positive attitude
responsibility
Singing songs and learning finger plays with infants develops responsibility
learn more about our curriculum
CURRICULUM OVERVIEW
AREAS OF LEARNING
CHARACTER EDUCATION