What Our Program Offers

Our Commitment to Fostering Strong Partnerships with Families

Our team is dedicated to fostering strong partnerships with families and the community. We welcome families to be involved in the program and active participants in their children’s education. Reciprocal communication is foundational for building partnerships with families and for participation in the program; therefore, the program utilizes many methods to facilitate communication with families, including Storypark; an online, collaborative documentation of each child’s individual learning and development, formal parent/teacher meetings, documentation around the classroom, parent workshops, and e-mail updates of program developments and daily conversations. Through ongoing two-way communication with parents and families, we foster their engagement and encourage them to be involved with us, which strengthens the children’s sense of belonging in our program.

Our Curriculum

Each day the curriculum opportunities are thoughtfully planned to build on the children’s curiosity and questions about the world around them. Through the process of exploring inquiries, children and educators are actively involved as co-learners as they explore new ideas, build meaning behind the ideas and construct knowledge together.

Educators design curriculum based on reflection and team discussion surrounding observations of the children. Planned experiences allow children to explore materials and questions of interest to them and build on their existing knowledge. Every experience or encounter is designed with the children’s development in mind. Educators enhance these encounters through responsive interactions. This type of curriculum planning is known as an emergent curriculum approach.

Each thoughtfully planned experience takes into consideration the foundations for learning in the Ministry of Education’s pedagogical document: How Does Learning Happen? Learning experiences offered, incorporate the learning goals and program expectations in the areas of Belonging, Well-Being, Expression and Engagement in the following ways:

To read more about the How Does Learning Happen?  document please visit the ministry website at www.edu.gov.on.ca/childcare/HowLearningHappens.pdf

Belonging

The educators in the toddler program are dedicated to creating an inviting, responsive and inclusive environment that contributes to the children’s overall sense of belonging.

Our orientation process is designed to ensure a smooth, comfortable and secure transition into the toddler program. The intake meeting is the first step to establish a relationship, by getting to know a family’s history, culture, routines and learning about a child’s personality, temperament and interests. Our orientation in the toddler program is a two week process where the parent and child spend time within the program slowly integrating themselves into daily routines and transitions that occur and forming a relationship with the primary educator. Throughout this process our focus is on forming secure attachments to ensure the child feels comfortable and confident in the program.

In the toddler program, educators ensure that each child and their family is represented. This is evident through documentation that represents each child’s ‘voice’ as well as spaces such as our family photo walls which help children feel close to their families even when they are apart. Families are encouraged to spend time in our programs sharing their expertise, family culture and traditions with the children.

Experiences that allow children to connect to the environment and their community are regularly incorporated into the planned curriculum. These opportunities included: buggy walks in the local neighborhood to explore natural environments our community offers, growing produce in the Family Centre’s community garden, visiting the tree farm to explore and collect natural materials, and exploring natural elements (for example, exploring water in the toddler pond, or mud and puddles on a rainy day).

The toddler program has an established relationship with a local library. The librarian visits the toddler program on a regular basis sharing resources that enhance the inquiries currently under investigation in the toddler program.

Each toddler is encouraged to participate within the program in ways that are most comfortable to them. With gentle reassurance and guidance from educators the children are supported while exploring, creating, investigating and connecting with educators, peers, their environments. Each child is seen as an individual requiring support, love, kindness, and encouragement.

Well-Being

The toddler program promotes the emotional, social, physical well-being and overall health and nutrition of children in a variety of ways. The toddler environment is intentionally arranged to provide choice during play including choices for active, physically challenging play as well as quiet, calm and relaxing play.

Emotional development is a focus for all educators as toddlers are developing their sense of self.  Programming emphasizes positive emotional experiences and emotional literacy, allowing children to learn to identify, express and regulate their emotions.

Children’s physical health and well-being is supported through outdoor play opportunities. The toddler program makes use of a variety of outdoor spaces where children are encouraged to explore the natural world around them. Our outdoor environments provide opportunities for children to be physically active and build confidence in their growing abilities. Examples of physically challenging opportunities the outdoor environment provides includes: hills and topography, balance beams, graduated stairs, etc.

Risky play is a natural part of children’s play and it is welcomed and supported. Risky play provides challenge and has many benefits such as building self-confidence, physical ability, setting limits, resiliency, practicing skills and connecting with nature. Risky play is fostered through daily experiences provided by educators and through the use of the natural environment. When exploring our outdoor spaces children are encouraged to run, jump, twirl and climb as they desire. Educators help children to manage risks through open conversations which encourage the development of self-regulation and self-reflection skills.

Our program fosters the development of self-help skills by providing the children with ample learning time during transitions. We use positive reinforcement and role modelling as a strategy to help guide the children through dressing for outdoors, toileting, and hand washing. The children eat lunch with the educators in the dining room. Programs foster a sense of well-being by offering family-style eating. The children are provided with opportunities to practice serving themselves and tidying their own dishes when finished. Children are encouraged to try different foods and conversations about nutrition and healthy food choices are an important element of daily eating experiences.

Engagement

The toddler program fosters engagement by providing open-ended opportunities for children to explore using all of their senses. Loose parts are common materials provided to children in the toddler program to support engagement. A loose part is a material that can be moved, carried, combined, redesigned, lined up, and taken apart and put back together in multiple ways. Observing toddlers engaged with loose parts is one way educators in the program learn what interests the children and what opportunities to provide to extend their learning and experience.

Exploration of the natural world is another way the toddler program fosters children’s engagement. Exploration of the natural outdoor world invites children to follow their natural curiosities and explore using all of their senses.

Educators encourage children explore with curiosity and enthusiasm as they engage in experiences as co-learners. The toddler educators observe children’s intentions and wonders and responsively pose open-ended questions and narration of the child’s actions to encourage deeper thought.

Engagement is additionally supported in the program by providing opportunities for children to engage and explore in experiences in small groups.

Expression

Expression is the ability for children to communicate their thoughts, ideas and understandings about their world. The toddler program provides many different ways for children to explore and perceive their world. Examples of these experiences include: opportunities to explore being high or low, going through or around, exploring music, sounds, dance, art mediums, light, mirrors, etc. In response to these experiences, toddlers express a variety of emotions which communicates to those around them their thinking or perception of an experience.

As toddlers begin to seek out other children to interact with, their expression is seen through smiles, laughter and tears, and that is how they communicate their feelings with each other and educators. Toddlers will often communicate through non-verbal displays, for example, offering toys to a peer as an invitation to engage in play. The toddler educators support all forms of toddler communication and respond as narrators and interpreters to support children’s intentions. Educators offer support by offering words to use and actions to take.