Overview - 2's

The Lion Cubs 2's class is designed to help very young children take their first steps down the path of life long learning. The first step for many of our children is learning how to deal with short-term separation from their parents and trusting another adult to meet their needs. Therefor our primary focus is on providing a caring, secure and inclusive environment where young children feel valued and become comfortable enough to begin exploring the world around them.

2's are just beginning to expand their play to include others, sometimes we begin by playing side by side and later we begin to play cooperatively. Cooperative play requires new sets of skills like sharing, communication of ideas, cooperation and compromise. We support their development of these skills as they begin to initiate new relationships with their classmates and the teachers. Developing these early social and emotional skills begins the foundation for learning together and feeling comfortable in expressing our feelings and understanding the feelings of others (empathy).

We also focus on building our relationship with you, communication between our families and teachers is a very important to ensure your child’s smooth transition into the school routine. During our initial meetings please be sure to share any important information that will help us to make you feel welcome and will help us to be supportive of your child as they develop their unique sense of self. We use several forms of communication which include newsletters, emails and information posted near the classroom. If you have any preferences regarding communication please let us know.

Our Teachers are ready to partner with you as your child begins this journey, take time to talk to the teachers after dismissal or call to ask questions or express concerns, or update us on any changes at home that may effect your child’s day. Consider joining us for field trips, helping with parties, sharing a special talent with the class, or coming in to read a favorite story. It’s a great opportunity to share experiences with your children.

A theme-based approach focusing on the development of strong social/emotional skills and the introduction of early literacy and math concepts. In addition to our classroom activities there may be visitors to our school that help make connections between what we learn and our community.

A TYPICAL DAY’S SCHEDULE

Arrival

At Arrival predictable routines help children transition into a new setting. Please help your child put their coat and other personal belongings in their cubby. Visit the bathroom to attempt to potty and wash hands before entering the room. if necessary. Come into the classroom with your child and help them find their name and place it on the attendance board. Next select a manipulative activity to work on. Assist them for a minute or two, this helps them transition into the day. Before you leave be sure to say good-bye and/or I’ll be back soon.

Assisted Manipulative Exploration

Manipulative Play is where your child will be exposed to a variety of materials designed to introduce various concepts such as; sorting, math, investigation, classification, memory, problem solving, color, shape, number & letter recognition, and fine motor skills. These items will change every few weeks. Some will be related to themes and others are used to focus on specific areas of skill development. Items used here include games, puzzles, lacing cards, peg boards, matching sets, sequencing beads and many other types of manipulatives.

Clean-up & Snack

Clean up & Snack Time in order to get ready for snack time we work together to put away our toys and get our room ready for circle time. We then all go together to wash our hands and get ready for snack. Snack time is a social time, we chat together, and have a nutritious snack.

Self Initiated - Creative Play

Creative Play is a special time when the children can explore the various activity centers. Centers include Block Building, Dramatic Play, Science, Expressive Art, Cognitive/Manipulative Play, and Reading Area. Included in these areas of exploration are the Water & Sand tables and the Open Art Easel. Special art projects are introduced to allow us to work on pasting, drawing, cutting, painting and a variety of other fine motor skills. Some projects are freeform such as collage and others are a little more directed so we can work on following directions and understanding processes.

Gym or Outdoor Play

Gym or Outdoor Play will center on large motor growth. Large motor activities are important to the development of every young child. Using a wide variety of equipment we work on catching, throwing, hopping, skipping, balance, hand-eye coordination and other skills. In addition to our outdoor play space we are fortunate to have an indoor gym equipped with climbers, mats, bikes and assorted equipment for year round fun and exercise.

Circle time - Story time

Circle Time/Story Time & Closing Activity is a teacher directed activity time when all the children come together as a group. After gym/outdoor play we all return to our room, learn new songs and finger plays or read a story. We talk about our day or what we’ll do on our next class day. This is when we focus on good listening, and strengthen our verbal expression. Together we are also learning how to be considerate of each other by taking turns and listening to each other’s ideas.

Dismissal

Dismissal we wait for you to arrive and the teacher to call our name. Each child will take their name off the attendance board and put it away until tomorrow. Together you will collect all the important notes and artwork from your child’s cubby. This is a great time to ask about their day!

Throughout the year our teachers are observing the children to determine how their skills are progressing. These individual observations are compiled to create each child’s Developmental Goals Assessment. This is a rating scale that we use to monitor their progress against the standards for their age group. There are many factors to look at during these assessments. It is important to remember that chronological age does not automatically determine social-emotional age or physical development. Every child develops at a different rate in each skill area. It is not uncommon for the same child to be advanced in some skill areas, while other skills are delayed, and the majority of skills are age appropriate.

We generally meet with parents twice during the year to talk about our observations with you and to give you an opportunity to share your observations with us. Together we can work on plans to assist children in areas where there might be evidence of significant delays (more than 6 mos.). We try to hold our second conference in late May. At this conference we will give you some ideas for projects that you and your child can share together over the summer that will reinforce the skills they learned throughout the year.

In addition to our scheduled conferences you may request a conference with the teacher at any time during the school year. If you have any concerns or are looking for information about additional or supplemental activities that you can do we will be happy to assist.

Families & Teachers make a Great Team!