The Toddler Class at Asbury Preschool is led by two co-teachers. It is suitable for children aged 12 to 24 months – children typically transition to the “twos” around 24 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 children.
Goals for our Toddlers
Our toddler program provides an environment and experiences that encourage toddlers’ natural curiosity and desire for independence. Specific program goals:
- Gain new self-help skills like hand washing, cleaning up after themselves, self-feeding and using a cup
- Learn sounds that animals make
- Recognizing simple shapes
- Increase vocabulary through communicating, singing songs, and reading books
- Objects have labels such as friends, animals, shapes, and transportation vehicles
- Treat one another with kindness by sharing, using gentle hands, and inside voices
Activities*
Our toddlers engage in a variety of indoor and outdoor age-appropriate activities everyday designed to help them develop physically, cognitively, emotionally and socially. We also hold a bi-weekly music class.
Indoor:
- Participating in a daily lesson based on the week’s learning theme
- Listening to stories, and then participating in telling the stories
- Singing, dancing and acting out songs
- Art projects with teachers
- Free-play with friends in the room’s centers including quiet corner, dramatic play, blocks and manipulatives/fine motor
- Resting and looking at books in the cozy corner
- Active play in Asbury Preschool’s large indoor play spaces
Outdoor:
- Playing in the sandbox with shovels, buckets, and sand molds
- Learning how to navigate the play structure independently
- Playing with friends in the playhouses
- Playing with outside toys like trucks and balls
- Going for walks around the block in the Toddler wagon
Example of weekly theme
During “name game” week, our tots might do a variety of activities designed to help them learn their names, their friend’s names and their teacher’s names. This may include, sponge painting the first letter of their names, singing the “Name Game” song, playing with letter blocks, jumping up and down when their names are called, and reading alphabet books.
*Detailed daily schedules are available from Asbury Preschool’s Director upon request.
Parent Communication and Involvement
Daily reports are sent home every day and cover everything from how long your child napped and how much they ate to activities enjoyed, diapers changed, and any other pertinent announcements. At least one of the two co-teachers will be available in the mornings and afternoons to talk with you about your child’s and his/her day.