1:3 Teacher to Infant Ratio
Our goal is to help Young Infants adjust and bond with caretakers and to challenge them in a comfortable supportive environment. Babies are spoken to (verbally and with signs) and are treated as active participants in their day. Young infants determine their own sleep, wake, and eat schedule. We say that we do activities with babies and not to them.
Older Infants are on a more set schedule with feeding times and nap times happening at fairly consistent times throughout the day. We play with babies during wake times and continue to verbally communicate and sign with them. There are open ended play materials in this room for older infants to engage with. As these babies get older they will start napping once a day on a cot instead of in a crib.
Young toddlers are children that are starting to walk, are usually napping once a day, have transitioned to a sippy cup, and are ready to transition to a more group scheduled daytime routine. In this room we work on independent eating, identifying body parts, receptive and spoken language, taking turns, singing songs, jumping, standing on one foot, clapping in rhythm, etc.
Older toddlers are able to sit at a chair for meals, are starting to use two or three word sentences, are running, jumping, are playing side by side and ready for a more multi-sensory learning experience.
In these rooms we spend a lot of time working together on different activities and play including group projects to help develop self-control, cooperation, and communication skills. Much emphasis is placed on stopping frustration prior to a child becoming emotionally overwhelmed and asking them to communicate needs verbally. Cognitive skills like color recognition, counting, and recitation of simple songs and ABC’s. Gross motor skills are worked on through stretches, skipping, rolling, tumbling and swinging independently as this core development promotes oral language and fine motor skills like beading, puzzles, and crayon holding. Some older toddlers are ready to potty train.
26-36 Months of Age
Older toddlers are ready for this room when they are ready to sit at a chair for meals, are starting to use two or three word sentences, are running, jumping, playing socially and ready for a more multi-sensory learning experience. Much emphasis is placed on stopping frustration prior to a child becoming emotionally overwhelmed and asking them to communicate needs verbally. Cognitive skills like color recognition, counting, and recitation of simple songs and ABC’s.
Children 3 to 4 years of Age
Young children are ready to transition to this room when they are close to toilet trained, can communicate their needs and frustrations verbally most of the time, are able to stay in a line, and are able to sit and participate in circle time for ten minutes or more. In this room, we focus on cognitive skills like written name recognition, upper and lower case letter recognition and sound, number recognition and using them as units, simple addition and subtraction and beginning to learn writing and using letters to complete words with pictorial prompts.
Bright Minds is on a waitlist for all classrooms, however we are opening three new classrooms summer 2023! At this time we will have additional space for all agres!
