Elephants Room

Child-led learning is our focus in the Elephants Room. This means your child may freely choose and rotate between 3-4 learning stations consisting of fine and gross motor, art, sensory, and movement. They will learn about the alphabet, language, shapes, colors, weather, and the calendar. In addition to intellectual growth, your child will also begin potty training and familiarizing with using cups during mealtimes.

Meal Time

We eat all of our meals in our room and wash our hands before and after eating. A menu can be found via the Daily Connect app and posted in our classroom. We serve breakfast, lunch and an afternoon snack on a schedule. Children start drinking milk using cups with no lids at meal times. For water cups we use cups with lids and straws. Water breaks are given frequently throughout the day.

If you prefer your child isn’t served what is on the menu or if your child has an allergy to what is being served, you are required to bring them an alternative. You can choose to do this daily or bring food for the freezer and we can heat it up on the days needed.

Diapers/Potty Training

We continue potty training in this room and will take them potty at each potty time which is every 2-2 ½ hours. We have attached our potty training policy, please let us know if you have any questions.

Nap Time

Children in this room are given one afternoon nap that is right after lunch. Children sleep on cots and are given their blanket to be covered up with. Nap times are documented in the parent communication app.

Outside Play

We go outside year round in the morning and afternoon weather permitting. This may look like going to play on the playground or going for walks around the neighborhood. Please bring sunscreen that can stay here as we go outside as often as we can in the spring, summer, and fall. In the winter months we try to go outside when the weather is nice. Your child will need a winter coat, hat, waterproof gloves, snow pants, and snow boots. We will communicate a couple of days in advance when the weather looks nice to bring these items. They do not need to be brought in daily.

Education

We follow the FrogStreet Toddler curriculum year-round. We work in small and large groups. Our small groups consist of teacher-led learning and practice centers where children can freely choose their center. Our small groups focus on language, cognitive, social/emotional, and physical development. The practice centers focus on fine motor skills, art, science, sensory, and dramatic play. We also have a circle time where we learn the alphabet, shapes, colors (also in sign language), numbers (0-20, Spanish 1-10), weather, and the calendar (days of the week and counting).

Language development
Frog Street Toddler includes high-interest books, stories, songs, poems, and chants that will amuse and delight toddlers. Vocabulary words are introduced and reinforced weekly through activity integration, colorful photo cards, and sign language to support all learning modalities.

Cognitive development: Frog Street Toddler offers activities that support cause-and-effect relationships and problem-solving to develop foundational skills for lifelong learning. Each week, you will have a range of activity choices that will give little ones plenty of opportunities to express creativity, solve child-sized problems, and develop curiosity.

Physical development
The activity choices in this domain provide toddlers with fun physical challenges, action songs, and games that will build coordination, balance, and muscle strength. Children will develop both gross motor and fine motor skills as they squeeze, tear, roll, toss, catch, hug, hop, twist, run, and much more!

Social/Emotional development
Frog Street Toddler places a special emphasis on social-emotional development because learning best evolves through relationships and responsive caregiving. Toddlers will build confidence, learn impulse control, and develop social skills while caregivers build trusting relationships with children through one-on-one, partner, and small-group interactions.