Curriculum for Infants and Toddlers

Garden of Blessings provides a LEARNING ENVIRONMENT for Infants and Toddlers

SENSE OF SELF

• Expressing Initiative
• Distinguishing Self from Others
• Solving Problems Encountered in Exploration and Play
• Doing Things for One's Self

SOCIAL RELATIONS

• Forming an Attachment to Primary Caregiver
• Building Relationships with Other Adults
• Building Relationships with Peers
• Expressing Emotions
• Showing Empathy toward the Feelings and Needs of Others
• Playing with Others

CREATIVE REPRESENTATION

• Imitating and Pretending
• Exploring Building and Art Materials
• Responding to and Identifying Pictures and Photographs

MOVEMENT

• Moving Parts of the Body (turning head, grasping, kicking)
• Moving the Whole Body (rolling, crawling, cruising, walking, running, balancing)
• Moving with Others
• Feeling and Experiencing Steady Beat

COMMUNICATION AND LANGUAGE

• Listening and Responding
• Communicating Non Verbally
• Participating in Two Way Communication
• Speaking
• Exploring Picture Books and Magazines
• Enjoying Stories, Rhymes, and Songs

EARLY QUANTITY AND NUMBER

• Experiencing "More"
• Experiencing One to One Correspondence
• Experiencing the Number of Things

EXPLORING OBJECTS

• Exploring Objects with One's Hands, Feet, Mouth, Eyes, Ears, and Nose
• Discovering Object Permanence
• Exploring and Noticing How Things are the Same or Different

SPACE

• Exploring and Noticing the Location of Objects
• Observing People and Things from Various Perspectives
• Filling and Emptying, Putting In and Taking Out
• Taking Things Apart and Putting Together

TIME

• Anticipating Familiar Events
• Noticing the Beginning and Ending of Time Intervals
• Repeating an Action to Make Something Happen Again: Experiencing Cause and Effect

MUSIC

• Listening to Music
• Responding to Music
• Exploring and Imitating Sounds
• Exploring Vocal Pitch Sounds

January's Newsletter

Personal Message from Dawn

As most of you know I closed the classroom in August order to take care of the medical needs of our children. I also took the opportunity to go full time at CNM in order to get closer to my goal of getting an AA in Early Education. The time has paid off! Our children are healthier and I finished the semester with three A’s and two B’s. Yea! I am very excited to put into practice what I have learned. Oh how we have missed little ones roaming around the house and look forward to establishing some lasting relationships with the families our Lord provides! 

This Month's Study

As we talk about Community Helpers, and do many play activities, we will learn and practice so many new words that will help us in communicating, reading, and writing throughout our lives. We also will learn a lot about social skills. We will learn that in our community there are people who take care of all the things in our neighborhoods so we can learn, be safe and stay healthy. There are community helpers, such as teachers, doctors, dentists, police officers and firefighters. We will talk about how doctors and dentists help us to stay healthy.  Doctors help us by giving us shots to keep us from getting diseases, or when we feel sick, and they listen to our hears and lungs to make sure they are healthy. Dentists help us by cleaning and fixing our teeth. We will draw about when we went to the doctor or dentist. We will talk about how police officers keep us safe. They can help us find our parents if we are lost. We will learn that if there is an emergency and we need help, we can call the police by dialing “911” on the phone. We will learn that firefighters are who we call if there is a fire. They spray water or chemicals on the fire to put it out. We can call the firefighters by dialing “911” on the phone, just like the police. Firefighters also teach us what to do and how to stay safe if there is a fire. We will learn the mail carriers are community helpers who help us by delivering our mail and bring mail or letters to our homes. Some mail carriers deliver mail in a car while others use a big truck, an airplane or even walk. We will be writing letters to ourselves. We will put our names, addresses and a postage stamp on the envelopes so that it can be mailed. 

Assessments within our Child Care

Garden of Blessings Child Care uses four different assessment tools within their program to insure quality care within its program. One assessment tool is used to evaluate the business administration of the program. Another assessment tool evaluates the environment that the children and their families are exposed to. The other two assessment toolsfocus on the children themselves and the developmental progress each child has made within the program. These tools ensure that Garden of Blessings Child Care upholds excellent standards that have been proven to be successful through research.

The Business Administration Scale for family child care (BAS) by Teri N. Talen and Paula Jorde Bloom is used to evaluate the quality of business and professional practice of Garden of Blessings program. The BAS focuses on better “communication with parents, financial stability, reduced risk in operating a home business, and compliance with legal requirements.” (Talan, T. 2009) It uses a seven point rating scale that allows Garden of Blessings to measure from inadequate to excellent in the overall quality of the administration part of the business. When emphasis is put on high quality administration approaches families can feel secure knowing that their child’s school will be around to help prepare them for kindergarten.

The Family Child Care Environment Rating Scale (FCCERS) by Thelma Harms, Debby Cryer, and Richard M. Clifford is used to evaluate the environment that Garden of Blessings provides for its provider and their families. Just like BAS the FCCERS uses a seven point rating scale that measures quality. The FCCERS focuses on the “environment, including organization of space, interaction, activities, and schedule” (Harms, T. 2007)for the children along with ‘provisions for parents and providers”. A lot of what a person sees and hears when coming into Garden of Blessings’ program comes from this assessment tool.

The two most important tools used by Garden of Blessings Child Care is High/Scope COR (Child Observation Record) for Infants and Toddlers and High/Scope COR for Preschoolers. The High/Scope COR centers on the learning and development of the early childhood years. “In the High/Scope program children learn through active involvement with people, materials, events and ideas.” (High/Scope 2002) The teacher of Garden of Blessings is also able to decide what to teach, how to teach and when to make changes in teaching based on the assessment of a child by using High/Scope COR. Garden of Blessings shares these outcomes of the assessment with each child’s family. Garden of Blessings values this assessment tool because allows a partnership with each child’s guardians. It is set up to share information about the child with the child’s family to ensure that what is working at school can also be used to work at home and visa versa.

Garden of Blessings strives to be an excellent program as a child care business for its children and their families. Any assessment tool is only as good as the authority behind it that makes sure it is put into practice. With this said Garden of Blessings has allowed itself to participate in the AIM High Program. The AIM High Program comes in annually to evaluate Garden of Blessings program and grades it with a scale of one to five stars. Garden of Blessings also welcomes any inquires from current family or possible future families that they serve.

References
Harms, T. , Cyer, D. , Clifford, R. (2007) Family child care environment rating scales
revised edition. New York, NY; Teachers College Press.

High/Scope Education Research Foundation (2002) Parent guide to the infant-toddler cor.
Ypsilanti, MI: High/Scope Press.

Talan, T. , Bloom, P. (2009) . Business administration scale for family child care. New York,
NY: Teachers College Press.

Arts & Crafts

This is what the kids did throughout this unit.

Jungle Snake
Oragami Tree Frog
Oragami Butterfly

Oragami Butterfly

Bat

Oragami Tree FrogThere's a Jungle in our Classroom!

A Jungle in our Classroom!

Oragami Red Pariot in the Branches of a Tree.

Oragami Red Flower on a Leaf

Oragami Butterfly

Blue Oragami Butterfly

Red Oragami Butterfly.

Oragami Lizard on a leaf

The Jungle

Books about the Jungle.

Stuffed Jungle Animals The Campfire Glow Lantern works two ways. First, light up the base camp with the bright white luminance from the upper dome. Then, flip a switch to activate the warm flickering campfire glow built in the lantern's base. No flames. No heat. Just a comforting illusion - and an excue to gather 'round the old campfire to sing campy songs or tell tales. http://www.backyardsafari.com/ Pick, brush, or probe. Whether gathering samples of excavating that dig site, up close or in hard to reach spaces, these sturdy tools will handle hundresds of fields tasks. Clipped to the Cargo Vest they stay within reach to snap off - and back on - with single-handed ease. Tough, yet safe, nylon plastic won't wear out. And when your child discover that intersting find, they can signal the rest of the field crew with the hight audible field safety whistle. http://www.backyardsafari.com/

The Backyard Safari FIELD UTILITY BELT is Essential Field Gear for every purpose. There's a large Velcro pouch for storage. A sturdy tool holder supports a rock pick hammer or ther solid tools. Two adjustabel d-rings let you clip-on any varity of Essential Field Gear from the Backyard Safari collection. Two Collection bottles let you gather specimens in the field. http://www.backyardsafari.com/

There are Thousands of crawling, flying, buzzing bugs in your backyard- catch them live with the Lazer Light Bug Vac! Look at bugs up-close with the built-in magnifying lens.

The 3-IN-1 Compast Tool has features that lead to adventure no matter which way you're headed. http://www.backyardsafari.com/

It's rugged, and tough enought for all your outdoor adventures. Pleanty of cargo pockets means lots of space to lead up. Six D-Rings and tow shoulder epaulets let the clip and hang more essential gear. A large zipper pocket stores the trusty binoculars and clear-view chest pocket store the Pop-up Filed Guides. The back of the vest features a one-size fits-all adjustable strap and two extral mesh pockets for storing extra gear. http://www.backyardsafari.com/

Arts & Crafts

The water color fish was painted by our 2 year old.

The water color Sea Horse was painted by our 5 year old.

This is our Octupus. I cut out the legs and head and had all kids paint it and then glue Fruit Loops onto the legs.

Fun in the Sun

FUN IN THE SUN!

This unit will cover basic scientific information about one of the most important things int eh natural world - the Sun. Children learn why the sun in important to all, how we must sometimes protect ourselves from its rays, and its important to life on Earth. In addition, there are fun experiences with recognizing letters and numbers, hearing phonetic sounds and making simple graphs. Talking and learning about the natural world is interesting to children. It builds science knowledge while providing a meaningful context for increasing vocabulary and for learning reading, writing, and math skills. We will be discovering that the sun gives us light and warmth. We will be talking about how we can see the sun in the sky when we go outside. Sometimes the sun is hidden from us by the clouds or trees. We will also be learning that the sun is our daytime star. It is the only star that we can see in the day. We eill be learning about protecting ourselves from the sun by waring sunscreen and hats and by drinking lots of water when we play outside. the sun can be so hot and bright that it can burn us or make us too hot. There will be the discovery that plants need the light form the sun to grow. During the summer the sun spends a long time in the sky and we have long days and short nights. During the winter, the days are short and the nights are long. We will also be talking aobut how the sun moves across the sky, moving from east to west and hiding from us at night.

Our Nemo hanging in the classroom.

Our Sperm Whale hanging in the classroom.

Our Dolphin hanging in the classroom.
Our Star Fish hanging in the classroom.
Our Shark hanging in the classroom.

Sand Toys for our sand pile outside. Books about the sun and what it does for us.More books about the sun and what it does for us.
What our classroom looks like. Our beach bags.
Beach Ball.
Let's go Fishing!
Floor puzzles showing the sun in each season.
Bright flashlights to use with the globe. We help children pretend the flashlight is shining on the earth as the Sun does.
The summer would not be complete without a good BBQ!
We show how to hold the prism in sunlight to create a rainbow.
Stuffed Sea Animals
Real Sea Fossils!
Sea Shells Let's not forget the sunscreen. This bottle it empty and put in the dramtic play so the kids can pretend to put some on.
Sunglasses to shade our eyes.