You can teach a child a lesson for a day...but if you teach them to learn by creating curiosity they will continue the learning process as long as they live.
Infant Program (6 weeks- 16 months)
First Step’s high quality safe, nurturing and engaging environment starts in “Baby School.” Our parents and teachers work together to develop the appropriate schedule, including feedings, naps and lesson experiences. Teachers give advice and parents get to express their individuals needs and wants. Continuous communication between the staff and parents ensures your child’s first transition away from home will be successful. We use the Daily Connect App to record each infant’s feeding and napping schedule, along with their activities and developments for that day. Teachers create planned daily experiences to support and scaffold your baby’s social, emotional, cognitive, language, and motor development. Early use of Baby Sign Language during meal times and play increases early development in language. Our teacher’s first priority is to make your new born feel safe, comfortable and happy while mommy and daddy are away at work by promptly meeting each and every individual need.
Toddler Program (16 months-3 years)
Toddlers strive when given boundaries and structure. All meal times, learning stations, outside time, and group times will be on a schedule. This schedule will give your toddler a good sense of what to expect each and every day. Teachers support and scaffold social, emotional, cognitive, language and motor development with daily lesson plans. Each classroom environment is designed to safely encourage and support the independence of your growing and learning toddler. Toddlerhood is also a great time to begin potty training, experienced teachers will support and encourage this training whenever parents desire.
Preschool Program (3-5 years)
The Preschool Program continues to set boundaries while encouraging independence and individuality. While these classrooms continue with learning stations and group times within their day, the topics become more detailed. Teachers encourage turn taking, hand raising and peer respect. Teachers create detailed daily lesson plans as well as plan for individualized support in small groups. By partnering with Rochester Public Schools, our Preschoolers benefit from the reassurance they are meeting Kindergarten readiness standards.
Each program staffs a “Classroom Lead Teacher,” whom creates daily lesson plans to support growth, learning and development. Additionally, each of the program’s 16 classrooms receive bi-monthly visits during learning stations from the Curriculum and Assessment Coordinator (C.A.C). The teachers and C.A.C then meet monthly to discuss achievements and goal setting for the following month. Meaningful, purposeful, high quality interactions through a balance of student directed and teacher directed discovery and exploration is of the highest importance to First Steps Child Care & Preschool. Teachers promise to never miss an opportunity to spark interest, curiousity and wonder in the remarkably growing young minds of our program.
Quarterly assessments are conducted on students of all ages by the Classroom Lead Teacher. Parents are invited to go over student assessments with a Parent-Teacher conference each February and August.
