
Our toddler care program is two fold. We have a toddler one year old program for children who are over the ages of one and who are walking well. We also have a toddler two year old program for children who are over the age of two years old.
Our toddler one year old class follows a 1 teacher to 5 students or 2 staff to 11 students ratio. The state ratio for toddler one year old care is 1 teacher to 6 students or 2 staff to 13 students. The lower ratio allows for better individualized care of the toddlers in our program. The maximum number of students in our one year old class is 10. We will eventually be open a second one year old class and will be able to accommodate an additional 9 children.
In both of our toddler one year old care classes students will receive group instruction as well as one on one activity time. Typically story time and songs occur as a group (for those children interested in joining), and other activities occur in smaller groups or one on one. For this age we are following the Adventures for Toddlers Curriculum that focuses on teacher children all about the world around them through hands on experiences, stories and songs. Children will love their time in our toddler one year old classes.
Our toddler two year old care class follows a 1 teacher to 7 students ratio. The state ratio for two year old toddler care is 1 teacher to 8 students. The maximum number of students for the two year old classroom that we will originally be opening will be 13. As our program expands our two year old classes will be moved from our nursery wing to our children’s wing. At this time our two year old class capacity will be 18. We will also eventually open an additionally open a second two year old classroom that will allow for the care of an additional 17 two year olds.
Our two year old toddler care program will focus on teaching the children about their bodies, their needs and developing self-care skills like toileting and self-feeding. While the main focus is learning about our needs, students will also learn colors, shapes, counting and begin to learn about letters and numbers during circle time and other activities. We will be using the Adventures in Learning Curriculum in our two year old toddler care classes.
The health and safety of the toddlers in our care is of the utmost importance to us. Some of our campus security features include access to classrooms only via key card, and cameras in each classroom, hallways and entry points fed directly to the director’s office. We complete a safety checklist each day to ensure a safe environment for the toddlers visiting Blessed Beginning. We practice fire drills and lock down drills on a monthly basis. Since Toddlers learn through their sense (meaning often their mouth), everything in the infant care room is disinfected and sanitized each week to ensure cleans surfaces for exploration. Toys that have been in children’s mouths are removed from play as soon as the child is done playing with it and is either immediately disinfected or is placed in a “yuck bucket” to be disinfected prior to returning to the area of play.
If you would like more information on our toddler care program or if you would like to schedule a tour, please contact our school office at (520)214-1200 or email our director at cbaker@bbov.org.