A Day in the Life of Together For Children ...

Primary Groups (for Toddlers and their parents) meet for 2 hours each week for 27 weeks during the school year. In addition there are 3 family events a year. One of the sessions would look a lot like the following:

• Each session begins with parents and children playing together in age appropriate activities, planned by an Early Childhood specialist.
  • An introductory period may consist of a few minutes of getting reacquainted, a circle time of songs, finger plays, baby bounces, parachute play and information about the focus of the day. Social affiliation, healthy emotional development, eye/hand coordination and a sense of family and community are encouraged by the group activities.
• Next would come the introduction of the days’ “hands on activity” which parents and children would engage in together. These could be:
  • Finger painting in shaving cream, scooping and pouring beans in a texture table, water play, building with blocks, gluing and pasting, using crayons and markers or the beginning skills needed in cutting. Cognitive and creative abilities are enhanced along with the social skills of sharing, negotiating, following directions and the coping skills needed when frustration sets in.
• This portion of the morning would conclude with cleaning up, washing hands and sitting down for a nutritious snack (or lunch if the group meets at noon time).
  • In some groups the parent brings an individual snack for their child, in others it is provided on a rotating schedule by parents. This is also a transition time when parents adjourn to another area of the building for parent education, stories are read and visiting and sharing is encouraged. A different parent will remain behind each week to assist with the children.
• During the parent education component of the program a curriculum of researched based material and best practices, are presented by a trained parent educator. It is also a time of support building, networking and encouragement by the parents for each other.
  • At this time, the children are supervised in a “children’s program” of developmentally appropriate activities that focus on social interaction and school readiness skills.
• Near the end of the second hour, parents rejoin their children for a closing circle, announcements about up and coming events and goodbye songs that assure the children that we’ll “see them next week.”
  

New Babies Group (for infants 3 months to 11 months and their parents) meets weekly for 75 minutes to enjoy a program similar to the first half of the Primary Group, although designed for the age of these very young children. The parents do not separate and the parent education portion is less formal.

The Together For Children approach offers a friendly child centered program, while at the same time wisely addresses and models developmentally appropriate practices. It stresses parent education and encourages the active involvement of both the parent and the child, while fostering a strong sense of family and community.