Rock & Roll Day Care uses Montessori curriculum which is a robust and engaging curriculum. Our toddlers follow a pre-set schedule each day. Infants participate in all music classes, and some arts/crafts classes. Activites lasts for a duration of 30-60 minutes (music classes are 15 min for infants, 30 min for toddlers), and children participate each day in the classes below. We hold strongly to the idea that children’s earliest years are the strongest point in their lives to develop cognitive and literary understanding, and thus every child is engaged daily in curricular study. We do not believe in exempting children from learning, just because they are young, and have designed our curriculum to engage children in a variety of subjects through age appropriate material.
TODDLER SCHEDULE: MONDAY-FRIDAY
7:30 – 9:00 Free Play/Open Centers and Arrivals
9:00 – 9:30 Morning Snack
9:30 – 9:45 Morning Circle Time (Songs, Fingerplays, Stories, Schedule of the Day)
9:45 – 10:30 Morning Activity (Curriculum)/or Gross Motor Play
10:30-11:30 Specials: Music Class and Language
Mon: Asian Explorations with Chen!
Wed: Music Therapy with Nikhil!
Thurs: Rhythm Kids with Zach!
11:30 – 12:30 Lunch/Toothbrushing
12:30 – 2:30 Quiet Time/Lights off
2:30 – 3:00 Afternoon Snack
3:00 – 3:15 Afternoon Circle (Songs/Fingerplays, Story-telling of our Morning, and Schedule of the Afternoon)
3:15 – 3:45 Afternoon Activity (Curriculum)
Tues: Music Together with Jessica!
Fri: Music Therapy with Nikhil!
3:45 – 4:30 Gross Motor Play
4:30 – 4:45 Evening Snack (Optional)
4:45 – 6:00 Free Play/Open Centers and Departures
Class 1. Music
Class 2. Circle time/Story
Class 3. Montessori Learning Period
Class 4. Arts/Crafts
**Note on Transition
Please note that during the first 1-2 weeks of care, your child may not participate in all scheduled activities. This is due to the transition period during which your child will be eased into his/her new schedule at our center.
Class 1. Music. Visit our “Music” page to learn more about our programming.
Class 2. Circle time/Story. This is a time of gathering together daily to establish and reinforce the theme of the week. Story books are selected from the Cambridge public library each week that coordinate with the weekly theme.
Class 3. Montessori Learning Period
Through years of observation around the world, Montessori understood that children, when left in freedom, displayed a distinct work cycle that was so predictable, it could even be graphed. This cycle, with two peaks and one valley, lasted approximately several hours. At Rock and Roll Daycare, children have several hours of open, uninterrupted time to choose independent work starting with a shorter period as toddlers, become deeply engaged, and repeat to their own satisfaction.
Class 4. Arts/Craft
Arts experiences in daycare not only contribute to children’s artistic and creative development but also to a wide range of skills in other areas, including perceptual, cognitive, language, and social skills.Artistic development focuses on the following five areas:
Art: Children express and represent what they observe, think, imagine, and feel through two- and three-dimensional art.
Music: Children express and represent what they observe, think, imagine, and feel through music.
Movement: Children express and represent what they observe, think, imagine, and feel through movement.
Pretend play: Children express and represent what they observe, think, imagine, and feel through pretend play.
Appreciating the arts: Children appreciate the creative arts.
Free Play/Out-door
Children will have outdoor time at Gore Park playground, located conveniently only one block from our center. During inclement weather/winter play time may be scheduled in another room in the Cambridge Performing Arts Center, such as our auditorium.
Each Teacher at Rock & Roll Day Care is licensed and certified as professional educator by the Department of Early Education and Care
(EEC) and has been trained and certified in infant/child CPR and First Aid.
What you will receive each day from your child’s teacher
a. Daily Form: listing times of feeding, naps, diaper/tolieting, activities (please note that NOT all daily activities are listed on this form, selected highlights only)
b. Journal entries (please take these home/bring them back each morning and write child’s activites outside of daycare so that we can better serve your child each day)
c. List of upcoming activites
d. Artwork, special projects, etc.
e. Progress reports (every 3 months for infants, 6 months for toddlers)
*Note on Infants
Although we do have an infant schedule, infants should be fed as they are hungry and put to bed, as they are tired, and individually cared for as the situation arises. Infants will participate in music classes and select arts/crafts classes.
Our program for infants sets its pace around the needs and unique difference of each child. Our younger infants have a “primary” caregiver who centers her day around the schedules of those for whom she cares. This care, while meeting basic needs for food, diapering, and adequate rest, goes beyond that. This keen observer plans and enhances the interactions and activities the infant’s behavior is identifying.
Routines are the curriculum for an infant’s day. Every moment of a young child’s day offers opportunities for learning. The skilled educator catches these moments and helps each baby establish trust, discover, and fell about herself, tackle a motor task, realize the power of language, and begin to understand this strange new world from many angles. This is accomplished as each teacher keys into the verbal and nonverbal message the child is sending.
An infant teacher, with the education and understanding of early childhood development, knows that rich verbal interactions with children help them to understand that language is a tool for identifying and expressing their needs, ideas, and feeling in later life. Each of our caregivers accepts that infants developmentally need to explore the world through mouthing and touching and allows for this, viewing it as a valuable learning experience. The teacher is alert to the need for proper sanitation measures and follows them consistently and conscientiously. As the trained adult looks at the environment, she views it from the child’s eye and creates a cozy, inviting, and stimulating place for children.
