Our infant program provides your child with a GOLD SEAL APPROVED safe, loving and nurturing environment where your child will learn to play and grow.  Infants are exploring and learning about the world daily, so they require a flexible program that conforms to their own personal daily schedules.

The infant program at Precious People Learning Center is designed to promote the development of each child while providing flexibility to meet their individual needs. Your infant deserves the best possible care while you are away from them, which is why Precious People Learning Center prides itself on communication through daily reports, emails, and phone calls that keep you informed about your infant.

In our infant room you will find mirrors and rugs, soft and padded play mats, fabric or natural materials, sensory activities, and lots of great books to hold. There are musical instruments; toys for pretend play; and daily simple games like peek-a-boo, that our highly qualified teachers instigate to begin the foundational work for later learning. These simple skills will help your infant develop every skill they need to progress through our programs. We pride ourselves holding your baby often, so there are always lots of open arms and comfortable laps to sit in providing your child with the security and confidence they need. Personal cribs, separate areas for changing and feeding, and a “no shoes” policy, ensure clean, playing, eating and sleeping spaces.

Creating experiences for your one year old that are active, sensory-based and meaningful is our top priority. Our teachers guide your young toddler through GOLD SEAL APPROVED, age-appropriate activities to improve verbal and problem solving skills, which increases their hand / eye coordination.
Our own creative, credentialed, teacher driven curriculum is based on the idea that children are naturally curious and motivated to learn. We provide your child with the materials and experiences to help them understand and increase their social and verbal skills, which empowers them for successful graduation to our two’s program. Our daily activities included;

• Music and Movement — dancing, singing, outdoor play.
• Language Development — reading time, speech development.
• Basic Concepts — helping notice and make sense of basic concepts, such as shapes and colors.
• Motor Skill Development — rolling, crawling, tossing, catching, and walking.
• Artistic Development — art and construction projects.

TWO
Our GOLD SEAL APPROVED, two year old program is designed to encourage your child’s communication, and to assert their independence and individuality. Twos are moving from the total dependence of babyhood to the more independent, mobile world of preschoolers.
 
Your child will have the opportunity to choose from a wide variety of developmentally appropriate activities that will appeal to the child's senses in as many ways as possible, incorporating supportive teaching that will prepare your child for academic excellence.

You can expect your child to hear the sounds of letters from stories, songs, rhymes and silly tongue twisters. Your child will manipulate many objects with the thumb and forefinger, strengthening and coordinating these muscles for years of future pencil holding. During their busy day, your two year old child will learn about shapes, sizes and volume with water and sand play, puzzles, sorting activities, manipulatives and blocks, and will also get the feel of numbers with counting beads, sorting games, songs and finger plays. Their classroom daily schedule will involve self directed play, circle time twice daily, creative painting, working and kneading with play dough, movement with music, and musical instruments. Your child will be driven to practice newly acquired capabilities: understanding and a sense of success, by ensuring a building of confidence and competence being gained through daily repetition. Because two year olds need consistency and security in their environment, these activities are conducted in a self-contained classroom. The children are divided into small groups at times during the morning in order to address their different developmental needs and capabilities.

We are happy to help and provide insight into our potty training process for your changing two year old.

Potty Training Requirements (Adobe Reader Required)

Three and Four
Our GOLD SEAL APPROVED classrooms provide opportunities for additional hands-on learning experiences, as well as same-age peer interactions. Your child will  explore the classrooms  with strength and drive and continue to build on their social skills as they prepare for Kindergarten. Our highly qualified teachers will strive to blend academic skills like science, math, reading and pre writing activities into an interactive, playful environment so that these skills can be learned and retained more easily. Our Preschool environment follows the marvelous, explosive growth of the first few years of life and paves the way for the more serious business of foundational schooling. Children are encouraged to develop independently and in small groups which will support their language and conceptual thinking, mathematical and scientific reasoning, and the continual development of self and social skills making these years such important ones .

Certified Volunteer Pre- K Program (VPK)

Our fully certified and GOLD SEAL APPROVED Volunteer Pre-K, http://elcpinellas.net/vpk.php  program offers children a jump start into education by preparing them for school and enhancing their pre-reading, pre-math, language and social skills. By developing your child's skills, at least one year before Kindergarten, they become strong readers and students at an early age, therefore children are more likely to be successful in school.

Our VPK classrooms offer high-quality programs that include high literacy standards, developmentally appropriate curricula, manageable class sizes, and highly qualified teachers. Our ratios are 1 instructor to 10 children, class size will not exceed 18 children in the school-year program, and all VPK instructors must have a minimum of a child development associate for the school-year program or a bachelor’s degree in early childhood or related fields for the summer program.

Benefits of early education and the VPK program

• The most important growth and development in the brain happens by the age of five.
• The early years are the learning years. A child’s ability to be attentive and to follow directions emerges in the early years. Structured early learning fosters these abilities for later success in school and in life.
• Pre-K prepares children to be ready for school. Children who participate in high-quality early childhood education programs develop better language skills, score higher in school-readiness tests and have better social skills and fewer behavioral problems once they enter school. They are also better prepared for Kindergarten, especially in the areas of pre-reading, pre-math and social skills.
• Pre-K promotes a love of learning in children. Pre-K enhances what a child learns at home and instills a love of life-long learning.

Many of today's military families rely on quality child care as an important part of their support network. Parents want their children to be safe, happy, and healthy while they are in the care of others. Military spouses often work outside the home, continue their education, and play the role of a single parent. The demands of military service comes with frequent deployments, standing duty, training, and unpredictable work schedules with long hours. There has also been an increase in the number of single parent and dual military families serving in the armed forces.

All of these factors, taken together, means that Precious People Learning Center is proud to offer quality, affordable child care are a necessity for many active-duty families.

Our school is partnered and registered with NACCRRA (National Accreditation Commission Childcare Resource and Referral Agency) for military families
A valid and current form of military identification is required at registration and every new school year thereafter. Our registered number with the agency will be supplied, upon request to help with your childcare needs.

http://www.naccrra.org/MilitaryPrograms/