Little Gators ( 12 to 23 months )

Little Gators (One & Two Year Olds)

The Little Gator classrooms care for children from 12 months to 36 months and include one-year-old and two-year old classrooms of varying age groups.

Little Gator One classrooms focus on transitions from infancy to toddlerhood.  Developmental milestones are supported through play-based, sensory, tactile, and creative activities.  Independence and self-help skills are encouraged through practice and repetition (i.e. eating with utensils, transition from bottle to cup and crib to cot, and widening attention span and focus). Ones develop skills through exposure and experiences.  Teachers create lesson plans that focus on refining acquired skills and learning new skills within each developmental domain.  They promote language development through books, music, self and parallel talk, back-and-forth conversations (beginning with repeating and extending toddlers’ utterances), and using a rich and descriptive vocabulary.

Little Gator Two classrooms emphasize social, emotional, and language development.  Twos are engaged in a variety of activities throughout the day that promote language acquisition, problem-solving, conflict resolution, and perspective taking.  Through play-based curriculum, they are provided with many opportunities to practice these skills with their peers and teachers.  Teachers also focus the curriculum on independence and refinement of self-help skills (mealtime routines, potty training, classroom helpers, dressing/undressing themselves, etc.). Teachers model advanced language and use a variety of vocabulary in throughout the day.  They use children’s home/life experiences, interests, perspectives, and skills when developing lessons and activities.