Welcome to Our New Infant-Toddler Center
Infants
Your baby is one of your most precious gifts and Little STEaMers Infant-Toddler center is honored to be a part of their journey from the very beginning. We ensure a smooth transition to communicating milestone achievements; we’re not a daycare, we’re an extension of your home.
Our highly trained infant teachers partner with you to ensure your baby’s developmental needs are met every step along the way. They create predictable routines and nurturing classroom environments that foster social and emotional development.
Through age-appropriate, natural materials inspired by our Reggio Emilia approach, your infant will be introduced to sensory play, art, music, language, and fine/gross motor activities that are documented and shared with you through our daily Procare®.
Toddlers
Your toddler is on the move and becoming more active and independent as they begin exploring the world around them. Our Reggio Emilia-inspired curriculum helps inspire curiosity and imagination in a way that is unique to your toddler’s individual interests.
To do this, our toddler classrooms are designed to encourage purposeful play where our teachers guide your child through age-appropriate learning experiences that prepare them with the knowledge they need to be confident as they grow.
Our toddler teachers work to foster skills like listening, counting, writing, and following simple instructions. They also foster skills like pushing and pulling, sorting objects by color and size and stacking objects.
Food
Our programs provide healthy and freshly cooked meals prepared by a retired chef.
Enrollment
Enrollment in a LS infant-toddler center gives families priority enrollment for available spaces into LS's preschool centers, saving parents from uncertainty for the future and ensuring a continuity of care.
Tuition
Effective August 1, 2022: Infant-Toddler and Preschool Tuition
COVID-19 Protocols
LS adheres to all local, state and federal COVID-19 guidance.
Reggio Emilia-Inspired Infant-Toddler Center
“No way. The hundred is there.”
-Loris Malaguzzi-
The child is made of one hundred.
The child has
a hundred languages
a hundred hands
a hundred thoughts
a hundred ways of thinking of playing, of speaking.
A hundred always a hundred ways of listening,
of marveling, of loving,
A hundred joys
for singing and understanding
A hundred worlds to discover
A hundred worlds to invent
A hundred worlds to dream.
Principles of Reggio Emilio
-
Children are capable of constructing their own learning.
Children are the main initiators of their own learning process and should be treated as active collaborators in their education, as opposed to passive observers.
-
Children are collaborators and learn through interaction within their communities.
Learning is based on relationships across all spectrums of learning. In Reggio Emilia there is a close interaction between teachers, parents, and children.
-
Children are natural communicators and should be encouraged to express themselves however they feel they can.
Children learn through words, movement, drawings, paintings, buildings, sculptures, and more.
-
The classroom environment acts as the third teacher.
-
Children thrive in welcoming, aesthetically pleasing environments that are suited to their interests and developmental stages. The layout of the classroom promotes relationships, communication, collaboration, and exploration through play.
-
Teachers are partners, nurturers, and guides who help facilitate the exploration of children’s interests.
Teachers guide experiences, discovery, and problem solving. A teacher listens and observes the children, as well as questions and looks for opportunities to encourage further exploration of a child’s interests.
-
Documentation is a critical component of communication.
Teachers document the learning process within the classroom and transcribe the verbal language used by children using photos, videos and a portfolio of artwork.
-
Parents are partners in education.
Parental participation in their child’s education as a critical component of the learning philosophy. Parents should always be invited to play an active role in their child’s learning experiences as well as help to ensure the welfare of the children in the community around them.
-
We believe that each child possesses internal resources and talents which need support, time, and quality relationships (with adults and peers) to come to fruition.
-
We believe every child has a "hundred languages," through which he/she can express thought and feelings, questions and doubts, dreams and desires and build knowledge.
-
We believe it is more important to listen than to be heard; more challenging to ask questions than to require answers; more beneficial to scaffold choices than to micro-manage behavior.
-
We believe the child is an explorer and researcher of the world.
-
We believe the teacher's role is that of a fellow investigator and partner-in-learning.
In order to cultivate beneficial lifelong characteristics like pro-active communication, group conflict resolution, intrinsic motivation, healthy risk-taking, and resilience to failure, we are deeply committed to intense interventions in each child’s journey.
Our Core Beliefs
Our Programs
Infants
4 months - 12 Months
Through age-appropriate, natural materials inspired by our Reggio Emilia approach, your infant will be introduced to sensory play, art, music, language, and fine/gross motor activities that are documented and shared with you through our daily Procare®.
Why Little STEaMers Infant-Toddler Center
Safe Sleep/Play Spaces
Health and Safty are always the first priority in our center. We offer a safe, secure, soothing, and comfortable sleep/play area for the infants and toddlers. The nurturing environments support babies' needs, and they have more time to explore and play.
Role of Teachers
The nursery staffs create close, trusting relationships with babies and families. They create predictable routines that adresss babies' needs and nurturing classroom environments that foster social and emotional developments. Staffs are regularly update families about what's happening, ask for their input, andrespect what parents want for their child.
Role of Parents
We will succeed more if we join hands together, we believe that every child can bond stronger with the teachers if they see their parents and teachers are a strong team
Planning of Emergent Curriculum
We plan learning beginning with observations of children in action, then a thoughtful response.
"Child initiated, teacher framed", both have a voice-- therefore curriculum is a collaboration.
The Learning Environment
The environment itself is viewed as a teacher, inviting children into action and guiding them into individual and small group play
Observation and Documentation
We learn best about children by watching them in action and taking note of he learning that they are experiencing.
Daily Routine
Our daily routine helps infants and toddlers feel safe and secure. Children quickly internalize the predictable order of the day and know they will have opportunities to self select activities, participate in large and small group, as well as interact one-on-one with a teacher.
Circle Time / Large Group includes movement, music, pretending games and physical fitness activities. In addition to the joy that comes from shared experiences, children build their ability to listen, express emotions and take turns.
Small Groups Hands-on activities are planned and led by the teacher using research based school readiness curriculum resources that bridge to higher learning standards.
Plan-do-Review We support children’s ability to make plans, carry them out and reflect on them. Our teachers ask children to choose something they would like to do from among the many classroom options and then fully participate with them as they follow through with their ideas. Review follows with a small group discussion of how the plans went, what they discovered and possible next steps.