A Typical Day at Southminster Child Care Center

In The Infant Classroom You Can Expect To See:

Up to 6 infants, from 6 weeks of age to approximately 14 months of age. Children can be full or part-time depending on the families' needs. A full-time Head Teacher and two part-time Assistant Teachers work with the children in the Infant Room. Teachers' schedules vary depending on children's needs and ratios.

The following list is to be used as a guideline in helping you to observe the Infant Room at Southminster Child Care Center. You may see some or all of these things in addition to other types of interactions. Please note that short observations give a "snapshot" of a typical day in this classroom and more lengthy observations help an observer to better understand the consistent programming in the classroom.

Interactions:

• Teachers greeting each child and family when arriving in the classroom.
• Teachers and families engaged in daily conversation.
• Teachers and families developing relationships that will enable the teachers to provide the best care possible for the children.
• Teachers documenting children's daily activity on Infant Log Sheets (including feedings, diapering, naps, etc.).
• Teachers helping children to separate from their families in the morning and helping them to reunite at the end of the day.
• Children and teachers engaged in warm, responsive, and genuine nurturing physical interactions.
• Children engaged in rich conversations and positive interactions with teachers during diapering and meals and other routine times of the day.
• Children held while being bottle fed, and sitting at small tables to eat meals with teachers.
• Children being encouraged to become involved in activities, either individually or with other children or teachers.
• Teachers supporting and facilitating children's play.
• Teachers using lots of rich, descriptive language with children, giving them words for their actions and feelings and labeling the objects and materials that children see or use.
• Teachers giving children time to solve their own problems and figure things out on their own, stepping in at the right time to guide, facilitate or help children as they need it.
• Teachers respecting and supporting each child's individual needs and interests.
• Teachers providing care for children based on individual developmental levels.
• Children following their own individual schedules with regards to napping, feeding, etc. when younger and loosely following the flexible classroom schedule when older.
• Teachers interacting with children with gentle, appropriate physical gestures, picking children up under the arms, supporting small babies heads and backs, helping children by moving them gently and slowly and talking to small babies while looking directly into faces and eyes.
• Children who may push, take toys from other children, hit or bite are responded to by the teachers with gentle words, empathy and understandings when these situations happen.
• Children and teachers communicating through both verbal and nonverbal methods
• Teachers' body language reflects their understanding and support of infants' development.
• Teachers are aware of individual children's activity as well as the activity of the whole group.
• Teachers observing children so that they can understand and better provide for them.

• Children being encouraged to investigate, explore and discover their environment and the materials in it on their own, with other children or with the teachers.
• Teachers and children engaged in music, singing and reading to encourage language development.
• Older children interacting with younger children learning to "touch gently", "speak softly", etc.
• An environment that is set up for specific group of children that interacts in it. The environment is arranged and developed with much forethought from the teachers in the room.
• Teachers altering the physical environment as children's abilities change
• Spaces for children's belongings, small appropriate sized furniture, a changing area, cribs, mats, rocking chair, soft spaces, climbing equipments, toys and materials that encourage language, develop small and large motor skills and speak to the senses.