The Teddy Bears provides services for children aged between three years and four months to three years and ten months and it is led by two educators.

WELCOME TO THE TEDDY BEARS CLASS!
In order for your child to feel self-reliant, we ask a few things of you, the parent.

• Please encourage your child to dress him/herself both indoor clothing and outdoor clothing.
• Please have your child wear Velcro shoes to daycare.
• A little trick to help your child remember to put their shoes on the right feet, you could put a little star on the inside of each toe.
• For “rest time”, your child will need a small pillow and blanket. We stress small because of the limited storage space.
• Finally, we ask when dropping off or picking up your child and if it is during our planned “circle time” please do not interrupt the educator. If you need your child to come in or go out and you cannot wait, the other educator will gladly assist you.

We look forward to learning and growing with your child. The following page will give you a description of our program and our daily schedule.

Our Goals and Objectives for the Teddy Bear Class:

• Make your child’s school experience a positive one;
• Stimulate each child’s thoughts processes to bring greater understanding, awareness and curiosity;
• Encourage sharing and cooperation;
• Provide opportunities for self-expression for each child through language, dramatics, art, music and play;
• Help child recognize the feelings and property of others;
• Encourage the child to solve problems independently;
• Encourage independence in tending to personal needs;
• Encourage safety practices in daycare and outdoor;
• Promote the child’s free creative and artistic development by providing many different media for creative expression;
• Foster frequent communication between us and parents about your child’s overall development.

Our Bilingual program is a structured program based on teaching, nurturing the “whole” child. We value and foster cognitive, emotional, and social as well as fine and gross motor development. We believe that choice and free play is also very important. Children have a natural impulse to explore and create. We want to empower the children and offer positive learning development through a variety of different “guided” play opportunities. Our bilingual program will provide opportunities to the children where they can:

• develop intellectually: with opportunities to think, to solve problems, to communicate, to discover concepts
• develop socially: with opportunities to cooperate, to negotiate, to initiate interactions with peers, to participate in groups
• develop physically: with opportunities to cut, draw, lace, dress-up, to pour, sift and shake, and to dance, move and stretch
• develop emotionally: with opportunities for self-expression, to choose, to take risks and to be successful
• develop creatively: with opportunities to try (take risks), to make choices, to resolve problems, to accomplish and create.

We strive to help children develop using the follow guidelines:

1. The French component of the program is to immerse the child into the language by gradual introduction through the use of the songs, simple instructions and basic vocabulary (colors, numbers, shapes), using a theme-based curriculum.

   No expectations are placed on a child, as each child’s ability to comprehend and develop is individual.

2. The “circle time” is the stage for introducing new vocabulary and concepts. Each day the children participate in a collective class activity, where each child is involved in a creative form of learning as well social interaction with peers. It is a guided learning time where we encourage each child to use his/her imagination.
3. Most children thrive on a consistent routine. We follow a daily schedule from the child’s arrival until the time he/she is picked up; the children quickly pick up and enjoy this routine. This eases the separation from parents and also helps to prepare the child for the formal school setting.
4. Another important component of our bilingual program is based on the concept of “free play”. There are several opportunities each day for children to make their own choices of activities. However, all learning experienced are carefully planned. The centers are planned so children can be involved in “all” different kinds of play: functional play (i.e. running, pouring, dumping and repetition of movement), constructive play (i.e. art, blocks, building and creating) and dramatic play (i.e. the house corner and role-playing).

We believe that when children make their own choices of activities and are in control of their play that is play becomes more meaningful and experiences become learning ones.

Through play, children have opportunities to look, touch, listen, taste, smell and move. Children then discover more about themselves and learn about their world. They re-create what they have been observing, imitating adult roles, discovering how things work, learning how to manage feelings, how to engage in relationships and learning concepts. It then becomes more important to let the children lead their own play when we understand that children, just like adults, learn by doing.