Infants at the First Path Day Care Center are treated with the best of care. Your child’s physical, emotional, social, and cognitive skills are encouraged and developed in a safe, nurturing and stimulating environment. We recognize and appreciate that EVERY child is unique and our environment is especially conducive to a balanced, happy place for your child to grow. Your baby’s teachers will work with you to determine your child’s specific needs and adjust accordingly. For instance, as schedule changes, new foods or different sleep schedules are warranted, we are ready to adapt to your child’s needs. The teachers will also set weekly goals in conjunction with enriching curriculum activities to foster the growing environment your child needs. Parents are always welcome to come in and visit at their convenience. We want to do everything we can to make sure that you feel you do not miss any of your baby’s growth, especially at such a precious and tender time in you and your child’s life.

The most important thing for a young toddler is to feel safe and secure in their environment. Although the classroom is filled with toys and soft climbing structures, a teacher who can offer nurturance is the most valued aspect of their world. Because the young toddlers are very egocentric at this age, activities are geared less around group time. More time will be allotted for free play and individual attention.

As toddlers become two, the world is theirs. Children begin to socialize more, and enjoy being part of a group. Teachers recognize that two year old wants to try everything themselves. With this age group, the children are able to work on many new skills. These include dressing and undressing, improving on eating, potty training, (when the individual child is ready), and all aspects of self care. Children are able to handle the routine of the classroom, and begin to make choices for themselves. This is a time of exploration.

The pre-school children (young 3’s to young 4’s) take full advantage of the variety of material available to them. In this stage of a child’s life, the world is filled with wonder, and there are many questions to be asked and answered. Teachers challenge the children with continually changing themes and materials within the classroom. Many of the ideas come from the children themselves. The classroom offers activity areas which include blocks, manipulative, water and sand, dramatic play, a quiet book corner and art. Large motor development skills will be challenged on the playground outdoors, . Children this age can now play cooperative, and begin to problem solve on their own. Their attention span is to a point where they can work on more involved projects, and play simple games. All of this together make up the preschool program at The First Path Day Care Center.

The Jr. Kindergarten children (young 4’s through 5) take full advantage of the variety of material available to them. The classroom is divided into activity centers: art area, writing area, math area, book corner, dramatic play, manipulatives and circle time space. Materials are ever-changing in each activity center to generate continuing interest. The theme for the dramatic play area changes frequently from a variety of themes such as a newspaper office, day care center, pizza place, flower cart, grocery store, shoe store, housekeeping, fast food restaurant, and such. At this age, the children will be exposed to pre-reading, math, science and writing skills. They will use big book series of reading materials (which incorporates a whole language approach), involving story prediction, comprehension, rhyming patterns and beginning phonics. Our math program includes the use of manipulatives, Such as rods, counters, scales and patterning blocks. Circle time is different each day, yet we always do calendar, seasons, show and tell, and stories. Children are continually encouraged to write or dictate stories. Our science program is a combination of planned topics, hands-on activities, and cooking projects. The children’s natural curiosity and interests dictate part of the curriculum. Throughout the year we will also be focusing on ways to “save our Earth.” Organized games take place not only to develop skills like classification and letter recognition, but also such social skills as taking turns, sharing, and positive competition.