Frog Class

“Play is the work of children. It’s serious stuff and if it’s properly structured in a developmental program, children can blossom.” – Bob Keeshan a.k.a. “Captain Kangaroo” Children’s TV Show 1955 -1984

This class serves our youngest two year old children.

For a young two year old child the world can seem pretty big and even a little scary.  That is why the teachers assigned to the Frog Class focus on making this program and the environment a very loving and caring one.  Frog Class teachers work to create a low-stress environment capable of promoting positive growth and development. The overall goal of the program is “Readiness”.

COGNITIVE AND LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

In the areas of cognitive and language development, the children are encouraged to develop self-awareness such as being able to recognize themselves in photographs and point to their own name.  Children in the Frog Class focus on verbalizing their needs, following directions, and beginning to do for themselves.  Matching colors and shapes, participation in art and music, learning concepts and sequences are all part of the activities of the program for these two-year-olds.

DEVELOPING POSITIVE RELATIONSHIPS

At this early stage, many children tend to be primarily egocentric. That is they are very much focused on themselves and their “things”. Therefore, hanging on to and protecting toys can become very important. Empathy and concern for others are social skills that need to be learned and reinforced at this young age.  In the Frog Class, our program works on developing positive relationships with others, and the emphasis is placed on reminding the children of the needs of the other children.  The teachers use phrases such as, “May Billy have a turn with the car when you are done?” or “Jayne looks sad, I think that hurt her feelings.”  Stressing the needs of others, promoting parallel play, and beginning to have children learn to play together are very important aspects of our readiness program. Consistency, caring, and patience are the watchwords that drive this part of the curriculum.

LEARNING TO LEARN

Though techniques for teaching children to learn and helping them to develop concepts and social skills are important in the Frog Class, the real secrets to the success of the program are the warm, welcoming atmosphere and the always “open lap” all of the teachers provide.

MOTOR SKILL DEVELOPMENT

Motor skills are also very important at this stage of a child’s development.
Considerable time is spent outside helping the children to develop skills such as throwing and catching, safely jumping forward and backward, climbing, pedaling, etc. Inside activities stress developing fine motor skills such as pouring liquids, using scissors, stringing beads, and yes, even pounding objects with precision.

PROGRAM GOAL

When a child leaves the Frog Room to move along in their preschool experience our goal is for them to have gained the maturity, the basic skills, and the emotional readiness to succeed. Most of all we want them to feel loved and comfortable, because – if children feel loved and comfortable, the learning and the personal development come much easier.