A Typical Day
A typical day begins with a gentle transition from home to school. Parents bring children to school at 8:30 and may remain until 9:30 am to help ease them into the school experience. At this time, you might find teachers and parents seated on the floor near children or with children on their laps, reading books, interacting with materials with children or catching up on child-related news. We want your child to experience his/her connection to school as starting with the parents(s)’ connection to school. We adhere to children’s schedules from home, at school as much as possible, but we plan on a day going like this:
We begin with playtime. Playing with infants might happen on our mats, on a foam climbing structure, by enjoying a fuzzy bear mat to lie on, a teacher’s lap, or with tummy time and a mirror. Sleeping happens as children need it. Our goal is to have children sleeping on his/her own in a crib, but we know that might take time. We always employ a caring approach to changes in a baby’s life.
Then it could be time to eat! Parents send snacks and mealtimes foods from home each day for their child only. Families may also leave a variety of non-perishable snacks in a child’s cubby as back up. Since our students in this room are so young, we do not provide food, as everyone is learning about what type of food a baby tolerates and enjoys. It is safest if that comes from home. We welcome breastfeeding Moms to nurse at school.
We want children to get as much fresh air as is good for them. So, weather permitting, we try to take children out each day. We might go on a walk with carriers and a stroller, or simply go to our rooftop playground, and watch the older children in our school, at play. As our infants become ambulatory, we explore more area playgrounds.
