Encouraging Your 1-Year-Old’s Curiosity
Our Day Early Learning program for 1-year-olds provides fun learning experiences that encourage your young toddler to explore their environment and interact with peers and teachers. Children in the 1-year-old classroom are introduced to different types of learning experiences based on their individual developmental needs and interests.
Curriculum
All Day Early Learning toddler classrooms utilize The Creative Curriculum, a research-based early child care and education curriculum. Children between the ages of 1 and 2-years-old learn at a rapid rate. So, as your child grows, the curriculum does too.
Each classroom has an individualized lesson plan posted every week. Each activity on the lesson plan is purposefully-planned intentionally for each child in that classroom.
To help develop language skills, teachers:
- Share songs and finger-plays with rhyme and repetition.
- Use self-talk throughout the day to boost vocabulary and model language skills. For example, “I’m going to wash my hands. I’ll be right back.”
- Read books and tell stories about pictures throughout the day, as well as create opportunities for children to explore books independently.
- Provide opportunities for children to explore drawing, writing and painting as a way of communicating.
To introduce early math concepts, teachers:
- Provide experiences that allow children to begin to understand the concepts of more and less.
- Create opportunities for children to match simple shapes with real objects. For example, “Yes, a bagel is a circle. Do you see anything else around the room that is a circle?”
- Provide a consistent daily schedule, which allows children to know what comes next.
To introduce science concepts, teachers:
- Provide opportunities to explore their environment, both inside and out, and model using the tools necessary for exploration.
- Create opportunities for children to investigate and experience nature and different types of weather.
- Provide labels to different living things children see, including animals as well as children’s own body parts, helping children learn the vocabulary for each of these.
To introduce science concepts, teachers:
- Create opportunities for children to experiment with different approaches to solve simple problems and conflicts by providing them with the words to say
- Model comforting behaviors, and labeling children’s emotions for all to hear. For example, “Susie is crying she must be feeling sad, so I’m going to go ask if she would like a hug.”
- Provide peer experiences where children have many opportunities to interact with one another throughout the day.
To boost physical growth, teachers:
- Create opportunities both inside the classroom and outside for children to practice movement skills.
- Provide experiences that allow children to further develop coordination and balance.
- Encourage fine motor development by encouraging children to use their hands and fingers in classroom activities, as well as during meal times.
Learning Environments
Children spend most of the day in our learning centers, which are stations set up in each classroom. In centers, children choose activities from purposely-planned play experiences. Teachers intentionally create environments and provide appropriate learning materials to allow your child to explore and learn on their own, as well as provide support in learning new skills. In our two-year-old classrooms you will see several different learning centers such as art, science, dramatic play, library, blocks, puzzles and more.
Your Child's Teacher
The foundation to a child’s lifelong love of learning begins with a nurturing relationship with their teachers. Infant teachers are trained in responsive caregiving and focus on building a trusting relationship with each child, providing individualized care and developing partnerships with families.
Day Early Learning teachers are education professionals with either an associate or bachelor’s degree in early childhood education or a related field or a Child Development Associate (CDA) credential. Because lifelong learning is central to our work, teachers continue their education through regular trainings. Additionally, Day Early Learning Quality Coaches work with each teacher to enhance their teaching skills. All teachers undergo a screening and background check prior to employment.
Assessing Development
At Day Early Learning, we believe in the importance of regularly assessing each child’s growth and development in order to tailor our lessons and activities to the needs of each individual child. All Day Early Learning centers use several methods to assess each child’s growth and development including:
Each week, you will receive written observations of your child’s development on LifeCubby. These observations are used to help teachers create meaningful lesson plans that will ignite curiosity in your child and help us monitor your child’s growth and learning on a daily basis.
When parents enroll in our program and each time your child transitions to a new classroom, teachers and parents complete the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ). This tool allows us to help you track your child’s progress in language, problem solving, fine and gross motor, and social-emotional development. It also helps us ensure the right materials and supports are being used to help your child reach the next stage of their development.
In addition to measuring children’s growth, our learning environments and teaching staff are regularly assessed using classroom observation tools to ensure the highest level of teacher-child interactions. This is important because high-quality environments and teacher-child interactions encourage and promote children’s language, math, vocabulary and social skills.