Preschool for infants: EarlyLearn – ACCESS NYC

Asbury Preschool – Day Care, Preschool, Pre-Kindergarten – Durham, North Carolina

The Infant Room at Asbury Preschool is led by two co-teachers. It is suitable for children aged 6 weeks to 15 months. Children typically transition to the toddler room around 12 months. To ensure that your child is properly guided through the program, we maintain the teacher to student ratio at 1:4 with up to 8 infants.

Goals for the Infant Room

Our infant program offers a nurturing and creative environment where their minds and bodies can develop and grow. Specific program goals:

• Provide a clean, safe, nurturing, loving, and responsive environment where infants can develop their own unique ways of reaching milestones.
• Offer an environment that encourages cognitive, emotional, intellectual, social, and physical maturity
• Ensure that children are prepared by the end of 12-15 months to transition smoothly into the next phase of growth by feeding themselves, drinking from a cup, and self-soothing at nap time
• Good communication with families through daily reports, yearly evaluations, conversation, and feedback on a regular basis
• Provide a daily routine while still allowing flexibility on an individual basis
• Create an environment where parents can rest assured that their child is being well cared for every day

Activities*

Our infants engage in a variety of age-appropriate indoor and outdoor activities everyday designed to help them develop physically, cognitively, emotionally and socially. We also hold a bi-weekly music class.

Indoor:

• Being held and rocked
• “Talking” with teachers about the activities and routines they are engaged in
• Listening to stories and songs
• “Dancing” to music
• Art projects with teachers
• Free-play in the room’s centers including the reading corner, “soft toys” and “busy play” areas
• Learning how to hold a bottle and eventually feed themselves
• Practicing sitting-up, crawling, pulling-up and walking

Outdoor:

• Going for walks around the block in the stroller
• Blanket time in the shade
• Developmentally appropriate toys are available for gross motor play.

Diapers are changed every two hours or as needed. Bottles are given according to each child’s feeding schedule, typically about every 3 hours, and older infants transition to a more set schedule by eating school meals when developmentally ready.

*Detailed daily schedules are available from Asbury Preschool’s Director upon request.

Parent Communication and Involvement

Detailed daily reports are sent home every day and cover everything from when and how long your child napped to when and how much they ate, diapers changed, and any other pertinent information about your child’s day. At the beginning and end of the day, one of the co-teachers will be available to talk with you about your child’s day.

Infant Daycare and Infant Child Care Versus Preschool

Childcare centers meet the needs of children of a variety of ages, and must put a great deal of thought and effort into the spaces necessary for infants versus the spaces needed for a preschool classroom. You may find, as you visit daycare centers and as your own children grow from infancy into the preschool years, that their classrooms evolve, and their caregivers have very different approaches depending on the age of the children in their care. Top-notch daycare centers will think about the precise developmental needs of each stage and age, and will tailor their classrooms accordingly.

A quality infant room will be meticulously thought out and adheres to certain standards that keep babies safe and helps them to thrive in a daycare environment.

Features of a quality childcare infant room

Gross and fine motor development

Physical activities are learning opportunities for infants. A high quality daycare center will provide all of the opportunities and resources your baby needs to try new skills and master them. As your baby begins to sit, scoot, crawl, pull up, stand, and walk, your daycare provider should meet them where they are by providing her with safe surfaces to explore on and pull up on, and toys and activities that will incentivize her to move. And a great daycare center knows the value of providing toys that will help your baby develop her fine motor skills as well as her gross motor skills, allowing her to explore with her fingers and find new ways to manipulate toys and objects around her.

Social and emotional development

While infants do not engage in the same types of parallel and interactive play as older toddlers and preschoolers, they are ready to socialize, developing meaningful relationships and attachments to their caregivers and those around them. As your baby develops, he’ll need caregivers to respond to him as he babbles, clap when he achieves certain milestones, and teach him to share by not grabbing from others. Attentive caregivers and ratios that allow these interactions are incredibly important at this age.

Cognitive development

While infancy is not the time to push children to master cognitive skills they may not be ready for, it’s helpful to offer them toys which may stimulate learning as they grow older. A variety of toys presenting them with letters, numbers, shapes, and colors, providing them with early opportunities to recognize simple patterns and designs, will give them a boost as they head into their toddler years.

Language development

Babies take in a tremendous amount of language at a young age. Their understanding of words spoken to them and around them outpaces their ability to verbalize, so talking to them and responding to their non-verbal cues with verbal direction, reassurance, and guidance will help them to develop their language skills as they grow older.

A calming environment

Infant rooms at high quality daycares are usually orderly, uncluttered, and quiet, so that babies do not become overwhelmed. It is important for caregivers to make sure that the environment is attuned to the unique sensory needs of young babies.

A well-run preschool classroom often has very different physical space, caregiver interactions, and scheduling concerns from an infant room. Older kids have fewer physiological needs to attend to, but their cognitive and social-emotional development is often moving at a very quick pace, requiring a great deal of attention from staff.

Features of a quality preschool classroom

A defined educational philosophy

A childcare center which is truly intentional about its preschool program will have a well-defined educational philosophy and curriculum. Learning activities which are developmentally appropriate for children 3 or 4 years of age will set a positive tone that will encourage children to open their minds to the process of learning.

Communication between teachers and parents

It is important that parents play a role in their children’s early education, and preschool teachers in a high quality program will keep parents informed if a child is struggling, or if a child is excelling and might appreciate a challenge. Feedback is solicited from parents, and lines of communication are open and used consistently.

Teachers with experience and an appropriate educational background

In a preschool program, it’s important for teachers to have experience in child development, educational philosophies, and in running a classroom and engaging children in the process of learning. Teachers with a Child Development Associate credential are equipped to understand approaches that work for a variety of children with an array of learning styles. Staff should be trained in CPR and first aid, as well.

A focus on play in addition to work

The most promising early childhood education environments give children the opportunity to learn through play, whether they’re engaging in arts projects, science experiments, or learning about the natural world. Children at this age should be in a play-based environment where activities are tailored so that kids can learn, but feel engaged in play as well.

Attention to biological needs

This type of care does not end when children emerge from infancy. While the same constant attention to feeding and sleeping is not necessary for preschoolers, nutritious snacks and meals as well as adequate rest time are important. A high quality program will focus on nutrition, nourishing children with healthy, organic meals and snacks, with an emphasis on variety and novelty.

A developmentally appropriate approach to discipline

Preschool age kids are testing boundaries on a daily basis, and a disciplinary plan which acknowledges their emotions, respects their independence, but also helps to set firm limits around safety, respect for others, and age-appropriate behavior is key. If you are inquiring into preschool programs, asking them about their approach to discipline will tell you a great deal about how the staff takes challenges and turns them into opportunities for growth.

A quality childcare program understands the stark differences between infancy and preschool years, and will tailor their approach to a preschool classroom very differently from their infant room. As children move from one developmental stage to the next, their childcare program should reflect the changes they are going through, and a classroom’s design, resources, and philosophy will speak volumes about the center’s knowledge of child development.

How to prepare a child for kindergarten

July 14, 2020

It’s a hot time in children’s clinics – registration in preschool institutions. How to try to avoid many problems and make the process of adaptation in kindergarten less painful was told by pediatrician Yu.A. Panov.

Medical examination and registration of a medical card

It is important to take care in advance (3-6 months) about registering a child in a preschool institution.

It’s worth starting with a visit to the local pediatrician, who will tell you which specialists you need to go through, help you sign up for them, write out referrals for blood, urine, feces tests, tell you what vaccinations should be done before visiting kindergarten, write down on the ECG and ultrasound of internal organs .

By the age of three, a child should be vaccinated against tuberculosis, whooping cough, diphtheria, tetanus (four times), hepatitis B (three times), measles, mumps, rubella, polio (five times), and also by this age children can be vaccinated against pneumococcal and hemophilic infections, a Mantoux test is performed annually. nine0003

Some children, for health reasons, are vaccinated according to an individual schedule, in which case the local pediatrician will plan vaccinations specifically for this child before attending kindergarten.

The child is examined by such specialists as a neurologist, ophthalmologist, otolaryngologist, surgeon, psychiatrist, pediatric gynecologist, urologist. If deviations in the state of health are detected, doctors will give recommendations for the prevention and treatment of diseases.

Children with chronic diseases or congenital malformations are sent to kindergarten by decision of the Medical and Pedagogical Commission in each case individually. There are correctional kindergartens with speech therapy groups to correct speech defects, kindergartens with diseases of the organs of vision, the musculoskeletal system, the nervous system, and others. In some kindergartens, according to a special program, they work with children who often get sick. nine0003

After examination by specialists, the pediatrician fills out a card for kindergarten (form 026/y), writes an epicrisis and recommendations, individual for each child.

How to choose a kindergarten

If you have the opportunity to choose a kindergarten from several preschool institutions, be sure to use it. Walk around, have a look, chat with the staff and parents who are already taking their children to these gardens. This will allow you to choose the best garden and give you some confidence that you are doing everything right. Some mothers have doubts: how the baby will be without relatives, without the usual environment, in a completely new environment for himself. nine0003

But in this situation, it is the mother herself who needs the right attitude. Children are very sensitive to your mood, if you worry, your anxiety will be transferred to the child, and adaptation to the kindergarten will be stressful.

Let’s get ready

After you have chosen a kindergarten, start walking around with your baby day after day during the hours when children are walking on the playground. Pay the child’s attention to how fun the guys are, how good it is together, so that the baby has an idea where he will go and what awaits him there. nine0003

An important moment in preparing a child for kindergarten may be visiting various developmental children’s centers, where only children and a teacher are present at the classes. Usually such classes last no more than an hour – this is how the child gets used to being in a team without a mother.

The child should not be afraid to be in the company of strangers. Walk with him on playgrounds, go to visit, leave him with grandmothers overnight. The kid will get used to communication, he will have more skills of being in society. nine0003

Try to form a positive attitude, a desire to go to kindergarten. Give him emotional support: caress him more often, say that you love him, take him in your arms, hug him. The calmer and more confident the parents will be about this important event, the less painful the adaptation process will be. Do not discuss your kindergarten fears in front of your child.

Let’s establish a regimen

The child’s home regimen must be brought closer in advance to the regimen of the group of the children’s institution, which the child will attend. If you plan to start going to the garden in the fall, then in the summer the child’s life schedule should be built so that he easily wakes up an hour and a half before the time you plan to leave the house (no later than eight in the morning). If your baby does not sleep during the day, then you need to teach him to lie quietly in bed. nine0003

Feed the baby at the same time. Also try to teach your child to go to the toilet not when he is no longer able to endure, but in advance: before a walk, before leaving the house, before going to bed, otherwise he may develop complexes in the future in kindergarten. In the morning, be sure to leave the child a margin of time so that he can safely sit on the potty.

If bowel movements are difficult, offer your child a glass of cold water with one or two teaspoons of jam or sugar before breakfast (if the child is not allergic to these foods). Cold water stimulates the bowels. The following products have the same property: cabbage, carrots, pumpkin, beets, spinach, zucchini, apples, peaches, melon, prunes, dried black bread. Daily intake of one and a half to two liters of fluid will also help to avoid constipation. The following products should be excluded: chocolate, cocoa, strong tea, pomegranate, semolina. Introduce pears, white bread, pies, pasta, thick soups, rice, blueberries into the diet less often. nine0003

Do not feed your baby between meals. Familiarize yourself with the menu in kindergarten and introduce new dishes into the baby’s diet that he has not yet eaten, but they are present in the kindergarten menu.

It is desirable that the child master the necessary skills of self-care: he could ask for a potty, wash himself, wash his hands, dry them; dress and undress; independently use a spoon while eating. In the evening, put the child to bed no later than 21 hours.

Examine the baby’s wardrobe. Clothing should be comfortable and comfortable, it is better if it is without complicated fasteners and laces, so that the baby can take it off and put it on himself. nine0003

Tempering

Tempering procedures are recommended for all children going to kindergarten. They will strengthen the immune system and prepare the baby for the attack of viruses and bacteria in the children’s team. The basic principles of all hardening procedures are their gradualness, as well as regularity. You can start hardening a child in the warm season only if the child is completely healthy.

The following procedures can be carried out:

-Walk twice a day in the fresh air. nine0003

-Sleep outdoors.

– Take air baths.

– Walk barefoot at home, and later on the street on the ground and grass.

– Wash your face with a gradual decrease in water temperature to +16o C +19o C.

– Stay in direct sunlight twice or thrice a day for up to 10 minutes in summer.

– Set the temperature in the room where the child is located at +16o C +18o C.

– Douse your feet with water before going to bed with a gradual decrease in temperature from +28o C to +18o C.

– Bathe twice a week before going to bed at a temperature of +36o C, pouring water after the procedure 1-2 degrees lower.

Kindergarten is an integral part of most children’s lives. And it depends only on the parents how to go through this difficult path of adaptation to the garden.

Remember: everything takes time, and it can take up to six months for a child to get used to kindergarten, so be patient, carefully work through every detail, learn new things together with the baby, open the door to a new world for him gradually, calculate your strengths , opportunities, plans. Prepare your child for kindergarten and go there with pleasure! nine0003

Procedure for admission of children in a preschool educational institution

9000 9000 9000 respectful parents!

We are excited that you are considering bringing your little one to our preschool!

We invite you to familiarize yourself with the procedure for admitting children to a preschool educational institution. nine0008