We like to see older children helping younger ones, and younger children learning naturally from their “big” friends. That’s why we place toddlers and preschoolers together in small, mixed age groups. Younger children need appropriate role models from which to learn, and older children need the chance to be genuinely helpful and caring, and to feel they are the confident and competent “big kids.”
Interested? Complete an online contact form.
According to state regulations, a child changes from a toddler to a preschooler at exactly 33 months of age, but we all know that children don’t necessarily adhere to this schedule!
At 15 months some toddlers are very mobile, running anyplace and everywhere, and other toddlers are still, well, toddling. What a tremendous amount of development happens during the official 18 months of toddlerhood! From crawling to walking to running to climbing; From barely speaking a handful of words to speaking dozens to using sentences to singing entire songs; From being dependent on the adult for everything to getting things for themselves (and getting into everything, too)!
At Discovery Schoolhouse toddlers do most of the same activities as the preschoolers, but they do them at their own level and in their own time. They learn the pace of the day, the routines, and the expectation much as a younger sibling learns these things at home – through watching and imitating the older ones, through the benefit of their helping hands, and through sharing in their play.
Mixed-age groups at Discovery Schoolhouse have a maximum of 5 children, ages 15 months and up. The lead teacher for the group is both Preschool and Infant/Toddler Certified by the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care. The mixed-age group uses the same space in the classroom as preschool groups, plus they also have their own room set up for just for them. Our goal is that preschoolers and toddlers both feel seamlessly integrated into the overall program.
Interested? Complete an online contact form.