What's Going Down At Kindertown: A Toddler Life

For our toddlers and their families, coming to Kindertown for the first time can be a daunting, and sometimes overwhelming experience. This year, that flooding of emotions has been compounded by the concerns surrounding COVID-19.

Each school year, our KTown educators have a general idea of what the next twelve months will look like. However, this September, we worked collectively to devise a new pedagogical approach that would not only provide our toddlers with a sense of well-being and belonging, but encapsulate the tensions and sentiments happening around us, and turn them into learning opportunities for our little ones.

We decided that our first few months together should focus entirely on a sense of belonging - for children, parents and educators. During this time, all decisions and actions will be measured and approached with small steps - while also working to constantly incorporate the child’s home life into the classroom. By communicating with parents, we strive to work together to help each child reach preliminary milestones. For example, especially during these first few weeks or months, devising a strategy to alleviate tensions at drop-off would be seen as a huge success!

As children gain confidence within the various learning environments, our educators will start to look at ways to help children express themselves. With a focus on communication, regulation, visual cues and physical direction, we attempt to provide the foundational building blocks for a child’s independence. The transition from crawling to walking has been a big hit in our classroom, and a major milestone that we focus on in preparation for our Spring and Summer programming, where exploration is essential.

With children gaining confidence and control over themselves, our educators begin to refine their independence by introducing self-help skills which will begin to ensure their well-being. There is a greater focus on independent hand washing, eating, potty training and putting on one’s coats and boots. Recognizing that each child is at different stages in their development, our educators assess and analyze where their focus needs to be, and how to meet the child where they are.

This process of raw documentation, reflection and implementation evolves over time, and helps to guide the toddler programming. In this space, the end result is not expected, but instead, it is the process that is celebrated.