Infant/Toddler Program

Our program for our infants and toddlers is individualized, and focuses on combining early childhood theory and research. This curriculum takes into consideration each child’s learning style and development, as well as their ages and stages. In addition, because we feel that observation and assessment is a critical component in a child’s learning (no two children are exactly alike and each will reach milestones at different times), activities and strategies are pre-planned based on the needs of each individual child. Our emphasis on children’s learning is the value of the process, rather than the product or end result. It is for this reason that our learning environments are planned and organized to maximize the following:

• Provide a superior place for a childhood.
• Promote all aspects of development, large and small motor skills, perceptual, cognitive, social, emotional, language, expressive and creative.
• Empower each child to become a confident, lifelong learner and a secure and caring person.
• Nurture a positive self-concept, including acceptance of cultural and family background.
• Be free of racial or sex role bias or stereotypes, and to encourage children to accept and enjoy diversity.

Loving and Learning prides itself on providing superior care to each child. Our practices are designed to empower the child and to promote a positive sense of self. Our personalized care includes:

• Assigning each child with a primary care giver.
• Consistency of care practices between home and the center.
• Flexible, individualized schedules.
• Smooth transitions and articulation plans.
• Long-term primary care giving.
• Benefits of mixed-age grouping.

Preschool Program

Our preschool program introduces a balanced interaction of friends in both teacher directed and child-directed experiences. The daily schedule includes group times for creative movement, free choice of time spent in the learning centers, small groups, storytelling, music and dramatization (field trips are also part of the children’s experiences). Age groupings are typically based on the child’s age as of September 1st of each year. Groupings are flexible, and a child may be moved from one group to another to meet their individual needs. Our days are planned so that children will:

• Develop intellectual, social, emotional and physical skills
• Receive individual attention and affection
• Experience success in order to develop a positive self-image
• Learn to respect themselves and others
• Develop satisfying relationships
• Feel special and secure

Our pre-school curriculum is based on early childhood practices, theory and research. The framework is intended for implementing high quality, multiple intelligence centered programs designed to reach every child’s particular learning style. Our teachers do not believe in using “dittos” to teach, as this is not an effective method of education for students. Instead, we focus on fostering a lifelong love of learning. Our curriculum framework is designed to:

• Meet children’s social, emotional, physical, cognitive, and language development needs Use a wide range of teaching strategies that call for different levels of teacher involvement
• Plan meaningful learning experiences for children that build on children’s interests and knowledge
• Establish the structure that has to be in place for teachers to teach and children to learn
• Assess children’s needs, interests and abilities in order to plan appropriately
• Create classroom communities where children learn to work together to solve problems

Our math program is based on the philosophy that children’s learning should develop naturally from their daily lives. Children should be able to build on their own exploration through daily interaction with ideas, people and manipulatives. It also emphasizes the importance of literacy and provides a model for using literature to explore mathematical concepts and skills with preschool children. The curriculum is broken down into the following skills:

• Position and direction
• Shape patterns
• Sorting and classifying
• Number sense
• Measurement
• Geometric solids

Loving and Learning also focuses on the opportunity for children to enter school ready to learn and to be successful readers. We focus on literacy and quality children’s books to enhance the five needed skills to become a successful reader and writer: phonics, fluency, phonemic awareness, vocabulary and comprehension. To do this, our strategies include:

• Print-rich environment
• Classroom library reading and writing infused in all learning centers
• Daily read alouds
• Consistent emphasis on development of language skills and vocabulary
• Introduction to foreign language through beginner Spanish and American Sign Language
• Age appropriate instruction in phonics and phonemic awareness
• Opportunities for whole group, small group and individual learning

Kindergarten/School Age

Our program for Kindergarten and School Age Children is structured to support the child’s learning at their primary elementary school. In the half day Kindergarten program we offer each child the opportunity to practice their new skills with enrichment activities. The children that come to Loving & Learning, after a full day of school, are offered a snack and homework help. The school age children have the opportunity to interact with each other, as well as, the younger children in the mixed age classroom. Daily outdoor play is offered, weather permitting.