At 2.5 years, children have fully emerged from solitary to parallel play. Children begin to self-manage their own activities and child care programs become child-initiated and teacher-directed. Child care programs can help your kids to grow in multiple ways!
To match these adaptive changes, the curriculum for the juniors child care program is refined and prepares children for our master’s curriculum used in preschool classes for older children.
Child Care Programs for 2.5 to 3-Year-Olds
In this stage, your child is not a baby anymore! Instead of depending on multiple senses to identify an object or activity, they are beginning to recognize more and more of the world around them. And, they are starting to form relationships with peers.
Our teachers are skilled at aiding the children through communication and conflict resolutions that may result from these developing peer relationships. This is an important life skill that allows children to reason and comprise that will set them up with the skills to have successful relationships in the future.
Along with nurturing new relationships, children will actively practice developing speech and communicating feelings wants, and needs with words.
Tracking Your Child with Our Junior Program Curriculum
We know that you’ll want to be kept in the loop with your child’s academic progress. So, we’ve come up with a way to track your child’s activities and development throughout his or her time in the Juniors 2.5-3 year learning program.
Your child will be assessed based on communication skills, social development, and the approach to learning.
Tracking Your Child’s Social Development
Social development is crucial for a child of this age. So, we want to make sure each child is hitting social marks in development. We will assess if each child:
Begins to show empathy when someone is hurt or upset
Participates in loosely structured group games
Asks simple questions
Notices differences
Shows pride in achievements/accomplishments
Makes choices
Names emotions
Tracking Your Child’s Approach to Learning
I big part of schooling for children of this age is to make sure they begin to get excited about learning. It’s important to get children prepared and excited for learning so that they can have the best chance for a successful future. So, we track whether a child:
Shows interest in new and others’ activities
Tries new ways of doing things and begins to take some risks
Proposes an idea for an activity
Completes simple projects
Listens and participates in story time
Invents new uses for everyday materials
Displays understanding of how objects work together
Uses imagination during play
Carries toys or objects when walking
Walks backward
Jumps in place
Walks in a straight line
Runs with balance
Scribbles with crayons and begins to imitate marks
Unscrews small lids
Stacks, sorts, and strings items
Exhibits eye-hand coordination
Plays with materials of different textures
Indicates wet or soiled diaper
Tracking Your Child’s Communication Development
Undoubtedly, another major key to learning at this stage of life is to continue developing speech and other ways of communication. So, during our child care programs, we track that children:
Follow simple verbal direction
Recall words from simple songs
Identify at least three body parts
Use mostly two and three syllable words
Answer simple questions
Follow two-step directions
Can recount an event
Listen to short and simple stories
Begin to demonstrate turn-taking in conversation
Use manners
Begin to identify letters in own name
Know the right side of a book
Use words for pictures
Can recite familiar words in a book when read to
Tracking Your Child’s Cognitive Development
Finally, we want to make sure all of the children in our child care programs are on track with cognitive development. So, we track if your child:
Notices and describes how items are the same or different
Makes choices when given options
Connects objects and ideas
Uses active exploration and trial and error to solve problems
Communicates to request assistance
Provides a simple description of a person or object that is not present
In this stage, your child is not a baby anymore! Instead of depending on multiple senses to identify an object or activity, they are beginning to recognize more and more of the world around them. And, they are starting to form relationships with peers.
Undoubtedly, another major key to learning at this stage of life is to continue developing speech and other ways of communication. So, during our child care programs, we track that children: