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Seedlings

Infants (newborn-beginning walkers)

Thanks for trusting us to care for your precious baby!  We know that leaving your new baby for the first time can be overwhelming.   The volunteers who serve in our nursery have been chosen for this age group because of their love for babies.  They have been trained to care for the needs of your infant.  We hope that the following information will help you and your baby have a great weekend experience.

Safety is one of our highest priorities.  All of our adult volunteers  complete an application and are background screened.  Youth must be in 9th grade and above to serve in the nursery.  

Security name tags – Every baby receives a three part name tag, (child, parent, and belonging tag) when you check them into the nursery.  To ensure safety, our volunteers are trained to make sure the tags correspond to each other before releasing a child to a parent.  If your child has a custodial restriction, please put a red sticker on your child’s name tag and alert the classroom volunteers. 

Please bring diapers, bottles, pacifiers, and any special blankets or toy that will soothe your baby through the morning.  Please label all items with your child’s name.

When you arrive at the classroom, please fill out the sign-in sheet located on the counter in the nursery, listing any special instructions you would like us to follow concerning feeding, napping schedules or other special instructions.  

To ensure that your babies receive the best care possible, we adhere to a 2:1 ratio (two infant to one volunteer) in our nursery.   

We promote children from nursery based on developmental skills, not on age.  When they start walking steadily, we will move them up to a toddler room.  One of the nursery volunteers will communicate with you before this change is made to make sure you are in agreement.   A volunteer will give you the form you need to complete so your child will be promoted to the correct toddler room.  

Toddlers - Preschool

This is a fun and active stage in your children’s lives.  We are excited to have them in our classrooms and look forward to teaching them that God loves them, God made them, and Jesus wants to be their friend forever.  We hope the following information answers any questions you may have regarding your child’s classroom environment:

Our teaching plan begins in our two year old classrooms.  All activities are age- appropriate with plenty of flexibility for the normal needs of two-year-olds.  If you would like to know what your children are learning, please utilize and read the Small Talk cards on the back of the coloring page we send home with your child each week.   We believe that  “What happens at home is more important than what happen at church”,  so please use the activities sheets we send home to build faith at home.   

Our curriculum is centered on three basic truths.  We focus on one of these basic truths each month.  Every week your children will learn a Bible story that will help them understand the key truth for the morning.  Your toddlers and two-year-olds will also participate in many age- appropriate, creative activities throughout the morning.  

To ensure that our classrooms are safe and to create the best possible learning environments, we strive to adhere to a ratio of one volunteer for every four children in our toddler’s classrooms,  a ratio of one volunteer for every five children in the two’s classrooms and a ratio of one volunteer for every seven children in our preschool classes.  All of our adult volunteers complete an application and are background screened. 

We provide toys, activities, and snacks in the classrooms.  We usually serve Goldfish and Cheerios.  If we are serving something else, you will find a note posted on the door outside of your child’s classroom informing you of the new food item.

If your children have any allergies or special dietary needs and cannot eat what we have provided, please inform the teachers and bring appropriate, simple snacks for them.

Please label all items you bring to class with your child’s name.

If your child is being potty trained, please be sure to communicate that to the classroom volunteer. If possible, we ask that your child wears pull-ups to class so if they have an accident their clothes will remain dry.  

Please do not bring extra toys.  This can cause the children unnecessary frustration when they are asked to share something that was brought from home.

Your children will be promoted to the next classroom based on the school calendar.  Promotion takes place in May.