Director, Ruth Rushing
Administrative Assistant, Leslie Williams
Phone: (912) 234-1653, Ext. 550
E-mail: daycare@savcps.com

• Overview
• Class size
• Monthly Units
• Program Goals
    ...Infants
    ...Toddlers
    ...2 and 3 year olds

• Home and Family
• Pets
• All about me (self concept)
• Colors
• Shapes
• Safety
• Neighborhood and School
• Helper for the month is the policeman

October

• Fall (leaves changing colors) Teaching shapes and colors
• Songs, poems and finger-play help in teaching this unit
• Plants and animals
• Fire Safety
• Columbus
• Farm & Farm Animals
• Helper for the month is the fireman

November

• Harvest (Grain, fruits and vegetables, try to make bread and butter)
• Thanksgiving (First Thanksgiving and Thanksgiving today)
• Native Americans (This is a big unit filled with excellent learning experiences)
• Pilgrims (Dramatizations, songs, poems and finger-play)
• Positional Concepts (High-low, top-bottom, up-down, over-under, left-right)

December

• Story of Christmas (Emphasizing the birth of Christ)
• Family Traditions
• Helper for the month is the mailman

January

• Wintertime
• Machines (Begin with the six simple machines – wheel and axle, pulley, lever, inclined planes, wedge and screw)
• Birds – Migration – Recognize the different features, species, and colors
• Hibernation of animals
• Animals that live in the cold
• Artic and Antarctica
• Eskimos
• Helper of the month is the doctor and the nurse

February

• Georgia Day (Story and dramatization of the founding of Savannah by James Oglethorpe)
• Presidents and our country (Abraham Lincoln and George Washington)
• LOVE (How we show love)
• Valentine’s Day – Heart (Learning about our heart and how it works)
• Nutrition
• Helper of the month is the dentist

March

• Transportation (Old and new ways of travel)
• Wind
• St. Patrick’s Day
• Springtime
• Easter

April

• Begin unit on God’s world of wonder
• Begin looking for signs of spring
• Birds building nest
• Budding of trees, grass and flowers
• Turtles and Frogs
• Butterflies

May

• God’s World
• Review the year

We use the Pinnacle Curriculum. This program is a faith=based curriculum and is very strong in phonics, math and language. Music is a very important part of our program. Children learn and grow through this exciting and fun time.
 

1. To promote emotional growth
   • To build self-confidence and a sense of self-worth by allowing choices within limits and to build on successful experiences.
   • To provide a warm accepting environment for the children to work and play in.
   • To encourage curiosity and a sense of wonder with emphasis on self-motivation.
2. To promote social growth
   • To promote and instill a sense of caring for, and sensitivity towards others.
   • By recognition of group needs verses individual differences.
3. To promote intellectual growth
   • To instill a sense of curiosity
   • To provide an atmosphere where children discover and explore - to teach independence through teaching how and where to find solutions
   • To provide a wide variety of activities within a routine where cooperative play is encouraged. Curriculum areas of art, math, science, cooking, music and movement, large muscle, practical life, dramatic plays, language arts and fine motor activities. Through these activities, children are learning to be able to trust their own feelings about what they learn, hear, see and do and to begin sharing these experiences with others.
4. To promote physical/motor development
   • For children to use their bodies in a variety of active ways by participating in fine and large motor activities both indoors and outdoors.

1. To care for infants in a warm, affectionate way that lets each child know that he is a special person, including the physical affection and cuddling that is so important at this stage of development.
2. To meet each child's physical needs completely.
3. To implement strict sanitation procedures that are adhered to faithfully.
4. To provide opportunities for exploring, learning and social interaction through a good variety of daily activities.
5. To prepare activities to stimulate the senses recognizing that infants learn through the use of their eyes, ears, fingers, sense of taste, and smell.
6. To care for children in small groups; to prevent over-stimulation and disorder; and to provide opportunities for one to one interaction between children and staff.
7. To provide opportunity for the use of large and small motor skills and outdoor activity.
8. To establish awareness among staff that always provides for a safe environment.
9. To provide a consistency between Daycare and home Care practices that will be most beneficial to the infant and will offer the parents an opportunity to influence the kind of care their child receives.
10. To establish an observation system in which notes on children are kept.
11. To be supportive of parents encouraging involvement, encouraging open and honest communication while using tact and discretion.
12. To develop staff potential through proper supervision by making expectations clear, following through to see that expectations are met, and utilizing staff input and their abilities.

1. To provide a loving, caring atmosphere where physical affection is freely given. To instill in each child a feeling of autonomy and a positive self-concept.
2. To provide a joyful, enthusiastic and spontaneous approach with the children.
3. To meet each child's physical needs.
4. To establish the foundations for respect of equipment.
5. To establish the foundations for respect of others -- Social Development.
6. To provide for the language development that is so important at this stage of development.
7. To make available a good variety and quantity of materials on the shelves at the child's level (manipulative, dramatic play, pull-toys, Fisher-Price . . .).
8. To provide ample opportunity for use of gross motor skills.
9. To provide a variety of activities that begin to introduce the curriculum areas of: art, science, cooking, social studies, dramatic play, manipulative activities, language, large motor, music and movement.
10. To be supportive of parents, encouraging involvement, encouraging open and honest communication, while using tact and discretion.
11. To develop staff potential through proper supervision by making expectations clear, following through to see that expectations are met, and utilizing staff input and their abilities.
12. To develop self-help skills in order to create a feeling of independence and confidence in the child (this can be accomplished by toilet training, encouraging them to try to help dress themselves and letting them help dish out food at meals).
13. To provide care in smaller sub-groups, in order to give each child more personal attention, to prevent under and over stimulation, to allow more freedom of choices and to maintain a more relaxed atmosphere.

1. To provide a wide variety of age appropriate activities, within a routine, that draws from the curriculum areas of: art, math, science, cooking, music and movement, large muscle, practical life, social studies, dramatic play, language arts, and manipulative activities.
2. To provide a nurturing, flexible, and calm atmosphere where physical affection is freely given, self-concept is enhanced, independence is encouraged and expectations are made clear.
3. To develop staff potential through proper supervision by making expectations clear, following through to see that expectations are met, and utilizing staff input and their abilities.
4. To be supportive of parents encouraging involvement, encouraging open and honest communication while using tact and discretion.
5. To establish room awareness among staff so that a safe environment is always present both indoors and out.
6. To meet each child's physical needs while setting the stage for future independence in self-care.
7. To provide ample opportunity for the use of large motor skills and outdoor activity.
8. To provide an atmosphere where the foundations of respect for others is established.
9. To encourage social development through cooperative play.
10. To establish respect for the equipment and materials.
11. To establish an observation system in which notes on children are kept.