La Creche D'Or, Kensington

Our Curriculum Our curriculum is structured keeping in mind that each child has a different personality. We try to incorporate play time to our curriculum and use it as an essential means to impart knowledge to the children Infants (0-48 weeks) In addition to nurturing and basic care, our teachers stimulate infants’ senses to encourage their mental and physical development. Links to Learning’s Infant Program provides an ideal environment in which your child will learn to grasp toys, vocalize sounds, recognize pictures of familiar objects and acquire a variety of other skills. Teachers work with each child in a series of stimulating activities that incorporate the natural routines of feeding and play. The teacher reinforces the babies’ development without disrupting their daily schedule. Infants need interaction and to develop a sense of trust with their caregiver. That’s why we coo, cuddle, rock and do everything possible to bond with your baby. We play simple games like peekaboo. We read stories. We do everything it takes to promote an infant’s growth. In our safe environment, our loving teachers help infants develop in key areas. Toddlers (1-2-years) Toddlers are bundles of energy. As infants mature and become toddlers, we continue to stimulate their senses and encourage them to explore their world. Your child will learn such skills as pushing and pulling objects, turning and bending, sorting objects by color and size, exploring the concept of big and little, and building an early vocabulary. At this stage, your toddler will start to experience a somewhat more structured classroom routine. He or she will start to learn valuable skills such as taking direction from adults other than parents, how to co-exist with other children in a learning environment, and how to share. (2-4 years) Early Pre- School to Junior Pre-K The Links to Learning Beginner Program for ages 2-3 years expands on the foundation established in the Toddler Program. At this point, your child will begin experimenting and interacting with other children and the environment. More routine and structure are introduced into the daily schedule. Your child will start to learn how to find uses for familiar objects, and how to explain everyday occurrences using simple reasoning. At this point, we introduce a Spanish- language program. Our daily activities continue to reinforce age- appropriate social development. Pre-K (4-5 years) These years are critical for the emerging learner to be prepared for elementary school. In Pre-K, your child will gain the final skills to be prepared for kindergarten. Some of the skills Pre-K children will learn include letter-sound relationships, how to sound out unfamiliar words, and how to read and recognize sight words. They will learn match concepts such as greater than, less than and equal to, and their number sense will grow. In Pre-K, your child will learn to make predictions based on prior knowledge, delve into traditions of other cultures, and will learn to write all uppercase and lowercase. Trained and Authentic Teachers We only employ highly qualified and trained teachers/caregivers. Our program uses diverse, engaging, developmentally appropriate educational and cultural experiences for each language by authentic speaking teachers Natural Development Our classes ensure that there is natural development of French and English. A community of multilingual families who feel at home at our center! Language Readiness Education Program We provide a year round bilingual (French/English) programs taught by native French and English speaking, bilingual teachers. During activity blocks children learn content in all three languages and conversationally throughout the day children experience a multilingual immersion environment. The curriculum is based on Theory and Research that supports five core components: (1) How Children Develop and Learn (2) Learning Environment (3) What Children Learn (4) Caring and Teaching (5) Partnering with Families. Pre-School Program Our Pre-School Curriculum is aligned with the Maryland Department of Education Early Learning Standards and developmental milestones and focuses on meeting the needs of individual children and making learning meaningful and engaging for every child. Before Care Program Our Before Care Program is intended to make our customer’s busy morning routines easy.