"Prime Times"

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The Infant and Toddler Program for learning is based on the book Prime Times: A handbook for Excellence in Infant and Toddler Programs, by Jim Greenman and Anne Stonehouse.

The Program Includes:

Personal Care plans:  Parents and the Primary Caregiver (Michelle) establish a personal care plan that is continually updated to ensure that care routines are personalized "Prime Times" that fit the child and family.

Snuggle Care:  Very young babies spend ample time each day "Heart to Heart" with their primary caregiver.  Every sound and movement of the baby is met with a warm response: a word, a smile, a touch that signals, "You are Special".

Let's read:  Long before they understand the words and pictures, infants benefit from the joy of sharing a book in the arms of a caring adult.  Reading begins with young babies and gains momentum as the children mature.  On laps, on the floor, and as they drift off to sleep, infants and toddlers experience the magic and wonder of books.

My place to grow:  Infants and toddlers are sensory motor beings.  They explore the world  with their senses and their developing motor skills.  Long before they understand a concept like "under" or "far" with their minds, their bodies are learning to navigate the up and down, over and under of the physical world.

Large and small motor experiences:  For younger babies: reaching, grasping, kicking, holding, pulling, and standing, creeping and crawling, in and out, over and under 

For Toddlers: gripping, throwing, manipulating, walking, climbing, pushing, pulling etc.

Sensory experiences:  Explorations of texture, color, patterns, size and shape, smell, taste, weight

Cognitive Experiences: Object permanence, spatial relationships, classifying, collecting and dumping, cause and effect experiences, problem solving.

Language and Music: Adult-child conversations, reading and language play, explorations in music, rhyming and sound explorations

Personal Expression: Art, movement, imitaion and beginning dramatic play, doll and stuffed animal play.

Parents Prime times: the teacher understands that the parent-child relationship is primary, and parents are encouraged  to call at any time with ideas, questions or concerns.