CREATING NEW EXPERIENCES FOR CONTINUED GROWTH & DEVELOPMENT OF OUR YOUNGEST LEARNERS

At IXL, we know that no two toddlers are alike. That’s why we created our Little Smarties Curriculum, a teacher-developed program characterized by custom care for children in our Toddler classrooms. Built upon the Michigan Standards of Quality and our team’s comprehensive knowledge of child development and education, Little Smarties ensures that your little smarty is safe, nurtured, and stimulated. Weekly lesson plans focus on wellbeing, belonging, exploration, communication, and contribution.

MICHIGAN STANDARDS OF QUALITY

The Early Childhood Standards of Quality are meant to provide guidance to all early care and education programs. Clear research-based expectations for the content are desired results of early learning experiences help focus curriculum and instruction. The Standards offer children with opportunities to reach essential developmental and educational goals.

INFANT/TODDLER STANDARDS OF QUALITY STRANDS AREAS OF DEVELOPMENT:

WELL-BEING

BELONGING

EXPLORATION

CONTRIBUTION

COMMUNICATION

SOCIAL EMOTIONAL CURRICULUM

While safety, love, and compassion all play an important role in our classrooms, it’s also crucial that our children feel heard and understood during their time at IXL. To accomplish this, we created our Social Emotional Curriculum.  This empowering program  supports a child’s social emotional health and improves their capacity for self control, self confidence, trust, communication, and empathy. Emotions run wild during childhood, so every classroom provides our kiddos with a safe space for when they’re feeling upset, need a moment to themselves, or have a problem to solve.

EARLY MATH SKILLS

We believe that “math” and “fun” should work together. Beginning in our toddler rooms, we encourage the exploration of number recognition and counting skills, structuring each week around a specific number, color, and shape so that our toddlers have exposure to various math skills at an early age.

BUILDING A SENSE OF BELONGING

While every child is unique in their own special way, they all share the same inherent motivation to belong. At IXL, we aim to nurture that need for belongingness by honoring the following concepts:

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1| Strong parent/teacher relationships & communication

2| Family photos displayed on family bulletin board

3| Name cards with pictures of each child to distinguish ownership in the classroom

4| Child-created art displayed throughout each classroom

5| Stuffed animals & other special nap time items brought in to offer comfort

6| Opportunities for clean up and caring for their environment
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7| Special times to share including “show & tell” and “star of the week”
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8| Daily conversations incorporating home and family life

MUSIC & FINGERPLAYS

Our IXL kiddos experience the magic of music daily as they learn new songs, dance to music, recite fingerplays, and become familiar with basic rhythm skills. Children benefit from musical exposure in many ways, but we like to highlight the following:

1| Increased development of large and small motor skills

2| Exploration of cause and effect

3| Improved social skills with teachers and peers

4| Positive emotional expression

5| Outlet for creativity

EARLY HANDWRITING WITHOUT TEARS

At this young level, the goal of Handwriting Without Tears is to get the children familiar with the basic pieces and terminology of the program. Handwriting Without Tears incorporates many readiness skills, including songs, spacial awareness, body part recognition and letter exposure. Each week, your toddler will focus on a different letter of the alphabet. These letters are broken up into four basic pieces, including big lines, little lines, big curves and little curves.  Children at this age will not be able to form these specific pieces, however, they will continue to be introduced to this new terminology and concepts. As they progress through the Smart Start classrooms, they will have a basic familiarity with our handwriting program as well as letter recognition. 

​We will also give these young children ample fine motor opportunities by using different writing objects to scribble and color.

DISCOVERY & SENSORY

Kids are curious. There’s no doubt about it. That’s why we’re big advocates of fueling their curiosity through sensory play and discovery. From scientific explorations to real world experiments to squishing mud between their fingers, our classrooms and curriculum are intentionally designed to satisfy the growing wonderment of your child and introduce them to the fascinating world around them.

SIGN LANGUAGE

Developing sign language skills as a young child is directly related to early speech development, increased vocabulary and reinforces concepts about the world around them. The main purpose of our sign language program is to give toddlers the tools they need to communicate their needs and wants effectively, without frustration.