Groups:
Sea Pups
Our youngest children learn through their senses, and the skilled teachers in this room provide an environment that supports children's earliest attempts to gain understanding of their world. The teachers also provide warmth and caring; nurturing each child as the individual he or she is.
Otter Creek provides the only program locally in which children can begin as infants and continue on until they enter Kindergarten. This makes for a unique opportunity to create lasting bonds for children parents, and teachers alike.
Otters
In the Otter room we see physical capability, language and communication and developing sense of identity and need for independence emerging. Children are encouraged in this quest for self-awareness and are provided with ample opportunities for exploration and self-expression. Teachers pay close attention to children's ideas in order to support them as they construct their knowledge.
Tigers
Our older toddler group continues to expand self-awareness and to begin to develop relationships with each other. As language becomes more skilled, children learn to negotiate, to plan, to share theories about the how and why of things. Teachers gently guide negotiations and provide opportunities for exploration and expression of ideas. Toilet learning often happens at this time and teachers work together with parents to facilitate successful passage of this developmental phase.
Eagles
Children can spend one or two years in the eagle program where they continue to build on skills begun in the tiger group. They are learning to work as part of a group and developing pre-requisite skills for literacy and math. Children at this age begin to use representation in their art work as a tool for communication. Drawings become elaborate and full of details as they reflect the imagination of the child. Teachers provide children with opportunities to use this skill as a way to find their own answers to questions through interaction, communication and collaboration with each other. These children are creative problem solvers and astound us with their immense capability and enormous potential.