CCCDC is a great place to Learn. Play. Explore.

Infants

Class Ratio  1:5

The Infant Room provides care for babies from 6 weeks of age to about 6 months.  There are 2 teachers in our infant classroom who share the duties and routines of the classroom amongst themselves throughout the day.  There is also one assistant teacher for the end of day routines.  All teachers in our Infant room have been working in childcare for long periods of time, including one teacher who has been here at CCCDC for over 20 years.  The other teachers have been with us for over three years.

The teachers in the Infant classroom are ready and willing to accommodate the individual schedules and preferences of parents, including any unique feeding and diapering needs parents request.  This level of care helps provide consistency for the infant between the home and the childcare environment.

The Infant classroom is equipped with individual cribs, multiple swings, high chairs, bouncy seats and exer-saucers.  To stimulate growth and development of the infants, teachers will provide and encourage use of developmentally appropriate toys and activities.  The infants will be exposed to books and music, and will be introduced to toys and activities that will promote their curiosity and build their developmental skills, such as balls, stacking toys, instruments and a variety of other age-appropriate manipulatives and toys.

The Infant classroom and toys are cleaned on a regular basis throughout the day to keep the environment clean and free of germs.  Sheets are changed daily, or more often if needed. 

Crawlers

Class Ratio 1:5

The Crawlers classroom provides care for babies from around 6 to 12 months. There are three teachers in our crawlers classroom that share all of the duties including ensuring the safety and nurturing development of each of the children in their care. Each of the teachers have been working in childcare for more than five years, including one who has been with CCCDC for over 10 years.

The crawlers classroom offers the babies a variety of choices which include music, stacking, books, manipulative toys, sensory toys, etc….  All toys are geared towards learning concepts of color, shape, size, order, organization, and making sense of “their senses”.  Babies learn to play alongside of other babies and they become aware of a sense of others (besides themselves).

The Crawlers teachers support all decisions made by the parent and will often help with recommendations as time comes for moving on from bottles to cups, from cereal to food, from sitting up to walking.  The teachers are always respectful and supportive of parents, every step of the way.

The Crawlers classroom and toys are cleaned on a regular basis throughout the day to keep the environment clean and free of germs.  Sheets are changed daily, or more often if needed. 

Tiny Tots

Class Ratio:  1:6

The Tiny Tots classroom provides care for children from 12 months up to 18 months.  The Tiny Tots teachers are experienced caregivers with many years of working in childcare, including one full time teacher with an educational background in Early Childhood Education. 

We have up to twelve children in the Tiny Tots classroom with two full time teachers and one assistant teacher, keeping our ratio at 1:4 during this period of development.  Children in the Tiny Tots classroom are learning and developing at a very rapid rate.  In order to meet the needs of the children at this age, we provide an ever-changing, creative and developmentally appropriate curriculum.  Learning activities and toys are rotated on a regular basis to engage the young child’s curiosity and creativity in their play.

Children at this age learn through their senses, and a large variety of activities offering sensory experiences are offered, including sand, water, painting, music, books, and many more sensory-oriented toys and activities.  The more children at this age can touch, feel, see, hear, taste… the more they learn about the environment around them.

Tiny Tots will on occasion, with parent permission, go out and explore their environment by riding in strollers around the block, generally staying very close to the center and not crossing any major streets.  On these walks, the teachers will point out and talk with the children about what they are seeing, from animals, to plants, water, people, big trucks and community service people, including policemen on horses.  The children very much enjoy riding in the strollers and seeing what’s in their neighborhood.

The children in Tiny Tots also receive daily large motor activity either by going to our playground outside, or going to our gymnasium on days the weather does not permit them to go outside.

Tiny Tots eat lunch in the cafeteria and have periodic snacks throughout the day.  Toys are washed daily to keep the environment clean and germfree.

JR Tots

Class Ratio  1:6

The Junior Tots classroom provides care for children from 16 months up to 26 months.  The full time teacher in our Jr Tots class is an experienced childcare educator who has been with the center for over five years.  The assistant teacher in our Jr Tots classroom is learning and growing in her early childhood career and brings a lot of energy and motivation to the center.

The children in Jr Tots explore through reading, music, art and a variety of sensory activities to promote age appropriate development in their cognitive, social and emotional skills.  Consistent schedules full of fun and enriching activities nurture your child socially, emotionally and developmentally, to promote a happy and healthy child.  

Activities and play become “teacher-directed” where the children will be learning through that which surrounds them in their environment.  The teachers are very careful in their choices of what is added to the learning centers, as everything in the environment is designed to teach and promote the developing skills of the “soon to be ” 2 year old child.  This is an exciting time in development as the 2 year old is ready to soak everything in.  Children at this age are very impressionable;  their language skills begin to develop, their fine and gross motor skills are challenged, and they begin their journey to efficiency and self-reliance.  The teachers in the Jr Tots classroom keep the children busy and engaged, challenging them to create, think and problem-solve.  

On occasion and with permission, the children in the Jr Tots class will go on walks in the neighborhood, around the block, and to the fountains.  They are exposed to large motor play on a daily basis by having time to play on the playground or in the large gymnasium when weather does not permit them to go outside.

Jr Tots eat lunch and snack daily in their room. The classroom and toys are cleaned on a daily basis to keep the environment clean and germ-free.

Busy Bees

Class Ratio  1:10 

The age of children in our Busy Bees classroom generally falls between 21 and 30 months.   The full time Busy Bees teacher has been in childcare for over five years and is an experienced Early Childhood Educator. 

As the Busy Bees are quite busy, the curriculum offers much in the areas of fine and gross motor skills. A main focus in this class includes learning communication skills, with teachers continually reminding the children to “use their words”.  As this is the room where we begin potty training, self-help skills also become a primary focus in Busy Bees. The teachers in Busy Bees provide  developmentally appropriate activities during structured learning times to engage the curious mind of the 2 year old.  As the classroom name implies, there is much going on in Busy Bees and structured learning time will be integrated into the daily routine of growing their self-help and communication skills.  By the time the children are ready to move to the Preschool classroom, they will be almost potty-trained, have communication skills mastered to where they can communicate effectively with their teachers and their peers and will be ready to begin their journey into the Preschool curriculum.  It is not a requirement that children in this class be fully potty-trained prior to moving to Preschool, however, we expect most of them will transition into their “underwear” after they move to the Preschool class.

This class takes occasional walks around the block and may, with parent’s permission, take a field trip to one of the favorite downtown destinations.  Busy Bees also have access to an outside playground where they will have two scheduled play times per day.  When weather does not allow for outside play, the children will go to the large indoor gymnasium where they learn independent play, run off excess energy and learn to follow directions in structured play. 

During meal time, the children are introduced to foods from all food groups, where they will become familiar with healthy foods which will help them to develop life-long healthy eating habits.

Preschool

Class Ratio 1:10

The Preschool classroom is an instructional classroom that accepts children between the ages of 30-42 months, depending on the time of year the child enters the classroom.  The Preschool classroom teacher has over 3 years of experience working in childcare with children ages 2 to 5 years.  

All learning in the Preschool room occurs through play, with a balance between free choice and teacher directed activities.  The curriculum in the Preschool classroom uses a variety of activities to integrate learning across the different learning domains. A variety of themes are introduced and support a cooperative and creative learning environment that emphasizes thinking, speaking, reading, writing and problem solving.    The teachers in Preschool continue to focus on and promote development of communication and self-help skills.  Potty training skills are continuing to develop and children will have mastered this skill prior to leaving Preschool.  Teachers also work to foster relationships in an effort to teach positive social/emotional behavior among the children.  The children continue to learn about and experience healthy food choices to build an early foundation to healthy living.  Teachers will explore making healthy choices through class discussion and thematic units which revolve around making good decisions.  Once a week, the children will have music class with an experienced musician who has been teaching music to our children at CCCDC for over five years.

Preschool has two scheduled outdoor play times per day.  If the weather does not permit outdoor play, there is a large gymnasium the children have access to during their scheduled large motor playtime where they will be learning about independent play as well as to follow direction in structured play. The Preschool class will take occasional walks around the block in exploration of their environment.  They will also, on occasion and with parent permission, visit the Children’s Theater, Children’s Museum, and other areas of interest that are close to our downtown location.  The Library is close by and during months of good weather, the children will walk there for a story time with the Children’s Librarian.

PreK1

Class Ratio 1:12

The instruction in Pre-K1 revolves around the Whole Language approach to learning, where all areas of development are integrated and learning occurs across all learning domains (reading, writing, math, science, and language arts).  

Children learn to work in a cooperative and creative environment to accomplish the following goals:

  1. To develop social skills that allow children to handle confrontations in a manner that shows concern for the welfare of others.

  2. To provide situations where children learn to work both cooperatively and independently on various tasks.

  3. To supply opportunities for children to make successful choices throughout the day

  4. To prepare hands-on learning experiences that enable the child to reach his/her potential.

  5. To provide children with a safe and stimulating environment in which they can explore and develop socially, emotionally, physically and intellectually.

Through thematic units, the children in Pre-K1 will experience a diverse curriculum that teaches the children to increase their knowledge in subject areas, including that of health and wellness, language arts, social studies, art and geography.

Pre-K1 has two scheduled outdoor play times per day. If the weather does not permit outdoor play, there is a large gymnasium the children have access to during their scheduled large motor playtime where they will be learning independent play, following directions in structured play and be able to run off excess energy.  On occasion, the Pre-K1 class will take walks and visit areas of interest in the downtown area.  The Pre-K1 class will walk to the Library for story time on occasion, and will take field trips with parental help and permission.  These children love exploring and learning about their community.

PreK2

Class Ratio   1:14

Our Pre-K2 classroom provides instruction to children who will be attending Kindergarten at the end of the current instructional year.   The curriculum in this classroom is advanced, and children will head to Kindergarten with the skills necessary to begin their life-long love of reading, writing and problem solving.  This class offers a great foundation for everything that is yet to come once the children graduate and move on to elementary school.  Our Pre-K2 teacher has her degree in Elementary Education and has taught in public schools.  The assistant teacher in Pre-K2 is currently training to be a teacher.  She has several years experience working with young children and will continue her pursuit of a teaching certificate.

The curriculum in Pre-K2 is designed to prepare children for Kindergarten and will focus on math, science, language, reading, writing, art and social studies, along with geography lessons and lessons on health and wellness.  The theme of the curriculum is Learning and Growing from A to Z.  We use the Houghton-Mifflin Calendar Math program, providing multiple activities to meet the developing minds of the 4-5 year olds.  Children will learn to work independently on tasks, and the teacher will be able to provide more one-on-one instruction, a skill they will find quite useful in Kindergarten.  The children will be directed through many developmentally challenging activities which will adequately prepare them for a successful Kindergarten year upon graduation from CCCCC.  

Children will have music once a week with a musician that has been teaching music classes at CCCDC for over five years.  Pre-K2 will have two performances during the year, one at the Christmas Holiday program and a culminating event at the end of the school year, their Graduation Program.  

The Pre-K2 class has two scheduled outdoor play times per day.  The children will go outside every day as long as the weather permits.  If the weather does not permit outdoor play, there is a large gymnasium they will use for play.  During this playtime, the children will learn independent play and the teachers will promote positive social and emotional interaction, as well as teach following directions during occasional structured large motor playtime.  The children will go for walks and will occasionally, with permission, go on a field trip.