Infants - The Jellyfish & Seastar Rooms
The Infant Program is guided by our understanding that the first three years of life are critical for the healthy, full development of a child’s brain and his or her physical and psychological capabilities. At the heart of our approach is respect, nurturing and individual attention for babies and toddlers; and a warm and respectful partnership with families.
The Environment
The Infant Program has two main rooms: the Jellyfish Room for little babies up to the time they are walking well; the SeaStars Room for older babies up to two years old. The Jellyfish Room provides a gently stimulating environment with equipment and educational play materials that encourage babies to safely explore the physical world and what their bodies can do. You will not find restrictive equipment such as walkers, bouncers or playpens in the classrooms. They are not safe or healthy for young children in group care. The SeaStars Room offers more challenging equipment and introduces children to art materials, manipulatives, puzzles, blocks, and more. Both environments feature lots of books, pictures and mobiles. Each is divided into two play rooms so that children will interact in small groups, as is appropriate for their age. Each classroom has two separate sleeping rooms with cribs and, for older infants, sleeping cots. Children are in their cribs for sleeping only, not for play.
Note! Every week the SeaStars have Music and Movement Enrichment Classes in addition to their classroom daily activities.
The Staff
To provide respectful, individualized care that promotes each child’s development, the ratio of infants to caregivers and the group size needs to be low. Just as important are the particular personal qualities of infant teachers, such as receptivity, caring, serenity, emotional maturity, commitment to, and interest in, infant development. Palcare is blessed with a group of wonderful Infant Caregiver/Teachers, as well as several wonderful substitute caregivers. They have specific training in infant development and receive ongoing In-service training to enhance their professionalism. The ratio for the infant program is one Caregiver/Teacher for every four children.
Primary Caregiving
To offer a sense of security and continuity to babies and their parents, Palcare assigns one caregiver to be the primary person for each child and their family. This person will help the baby adjust to the Center, for his or her caregiving routines, and for communicating with the baby’s family. The Infant staff also works as a team, so that in the event that the child’s caregiver is not present, the other team members are well known to the child as well.
We follow a similar style of communication and caregiving. For example, caregivers speak to children in a normal voice, gently and clearly, getting down to their eye level whenever possible. They let a child know what to expect, before it happens. For example, a caregiver will catch a child’s attention, say, “I’m going to pick you up now,” then show the child her outstretched arms, before picking the child up. Caregivers spend time playing with and talking to babies, during and in between caregiving routines. We urge parents to share their thoughts, appreciation, and concerns with their primary caregiver, Lead Teacher or other members of the caregiving team. It’s a partnership!
When a child moves from the Jellyfish Room to the older infant Sea Stars Room, their primary caregiver will likely move with him or her. This continuity of care, for almost 2 years, has many benefits for babies and families.
Schedules
Babies are on their own schedules for eating and sleeping. When you first enroll, we will ask you to write about or dictate your child’s present routine as a starting point for us. As your child develops and becomes comfortable at the Center, his or her schedule will probably change. Older babies tend to move into similar patterns, i.e. lunch about 11:30 A.M. and an afternoon nap. Daily communication and use of the Infant Daily Report form will help us keep attuned to your child’s needs.
Our Influences
Our Infant Program is primarily guided by the accreditation standards for high quality early childhood programs developed by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. Additionally our approach is influenced by two nationally recognized curriculum models; the WestEd Training for Infant Toddler Caregivers and Resources for Infant Educarers.