Our Programs
Bright Start Child Care’s educational programs provide unlimited opportunities for the development of the whole child. A unique curriculum for each age level is centered on developmentally appropriate and fun activities that help children develop physically, intellectually, emotionally and socially.
We have programs for each age level, including infants, explorers, toddlers, preschoolers, and junior kindergartners. Every activity is designed to support the development and well being of your child.
Birth to 12 months
Our Infant Room has been specially designed to create a warm and secure environment for your child. Each child’s crib, decorated with images and personal touches from home, provides a cozy and familiar place for sleeping. By offering a quiet area out of the flow of traffic, we encourage these younger infants to develop at their own pace.
Children respond best to warm, face-to-face interactions, so our teachers always interact at their level. Teachers sing songs and read stories with a focus on repetition to encourage language acquisition. They play games to develop motor skills, and spend lots of time cuddling and talking to babies to instill trust and provide comfort.
Teachers and parents work together to set their child’s schedule and ensure consistency. Each infant receives individual attention with a focus on next step skills, whether they be sitting, crawling, standing, walking, or even feeding themselves.
12 to 18 months
As infants become more mobile, their needs change. An extension of the infant room, the Explorer Room is a separate play area full of stimulating toys to support the mobile infants’ development of motor and exploratory skills.
We’ve nicknamed our older, more mobile infants, “Explorers” because their development is encouraged through more physical activities, such as walking and climbing, and through music and movement games.
During this stage, we encourage self-help and social skills, including self-feeding and getting along in a group, as part of the daily routine. Teachers respond to each child's language development by describing actions, expanding vocabulary, engaging in conversations about every day experiences and by reading stories and singing songs.
18 months to 2 years
Toddlers experience the world in exciting new ways as they begin walking, talking, exploring on their own, and playing together.
Our Younger Toddlers’ curriculum is tailored to meet each child's growing interests. Language development is encouraged through our Music Enrichment Program, finger plays, and stories. Fine motor skills (holding a spoon or crayons, and turning pages in a book), large motor skills (jumping, running, and climbing), and cognitive skills (understanding how things work) are developed through games and activities. This includes concrete experiences (art projects, block building, short nature walks, and group games), imaginary play, individual creativity, and alone time.
Repetition and routine foster the childrens' ability to exert their independence and make choices at this age. Younger Toddlers also acquire social and self-help skills that foster independence and a basic trust of others in the group.
The combination of an enriched learning environment and personalized care helps toddlers learn and grow with confidence, by building self-esteem to support successful learning in the years ahead.
2 years to 2 years, 9 months
Toddlers experience the world in exciting new ways as they begin walking, talking, exploring on their own, and playing together.
With Older Toddlers, we emphasize socialization and the acquisition of self-help skills, particularly potty training. While all children potty-train at their own pace, our teachers work together with parents to provide the best environment for success. In addition, toddlers practice hand washing, putting on their coats, picking up their toys, and sharing with friends.
Dramatic play activities - such as pretending, dress-up clothes, trucks and cars - are introduced. Sharing, caring and helping others are encouraged. Our language-based curriculum includes reading and telling stories, poems, finger plays, alphabet and number counting, and opportunities for children to talk about all of the things that they like to do.
The combination of an enriched learning environment and personalized care helps toddlers learn and grow with confidence, by building self-esteem to support successful learning in the years ahead
2 years, 9 months to 4 years
Play is a key foundation for learning; perhaps this is why the children in our preschool program have so much fun. Bright classrooms and a large playground create the backdrop for a learning environment where children are engaged in exciting activities around a monthly theme.
Preschoolers gain self-confidence as they independently explore learning centers for dramatic play, block building, creative art-at-easel, science, and music. Emerging interest about writing is developed through scribbling, drawing and creating letters and words. The children build on language skills by practicing writing their names and other familiar words. Offering new materials extends thinking skills and ideas for play activities and for problem solving.
Our teachers design lesson plans for the individual needs of the children in the classroom. The class comes together each day in circle time activities dedicated to songs, finger plays, number or letter games, show and tell, and story time. This group focuses on building self-esteem and socialization skills.
4 to 5 years
In Junior Kindergarten, children expand their ability to acquire information, solve problems, and communicate with others. The students participate in engaging, age-appropriate, and challenging activities to extend their knowledge and to enrich their learning of curriculum content and concepts.
Each child in Junior Kindergarten is given a personal journal in which they are encouraged to practice writing letters and words as well as express their creativity through arts and crafts. The journal is a wonderful tool for children, parents, and teachers to observe their improvements throughout the year.
The Junior Kindergarten program is more structured than others in an effort to facilitate the children’s transition into kindergarten. The children do partake in some free play where socialization, cooperation, and problem solving skills are enhanced.
Because they are encouraged to observe, question, and experiment, the children’s learning extends beyond basic skills. Most importantly, students leave the Junior Kindergarten program excited about learning and with the skills and confidence to succeed in the next stages of their education.