What are Waddlers? A Waddler is the middle man between Infants and Toddlers. Where we are starting to walk and babble just a little bit more. In the waddler room we focus on large and fine gross motor skills, sign language, sensory, the arts, start of independence, speech, group activities, social interaction, and more. In the Waddler room we use what is called Creative Curriculum. Waddlers are generally between 12 and 24 months of age. We assign children to a class not only based on their age but where they are at emotionally and developmentally, this means if your child is 12 months but is not yet ready for the change to the Waddler room we will keep them in the Infant Room until the time is right from them.
A Creative Curriculum involves ten objectives for development and learning. These ten objectives are: Social-Emotional, Physical, Language, Cognitive, Literacy, Mathematics, Science and Technology, Social Studies, The Arts, and English Language Acquisition.
Sign language is a big part of being a Waddler. At this age children are trying to learn how to communicate and do not yet know how to use words. Through the use of sign language the children are able to tell us such things as “all done”, “more”, “please”, “eat”, “water”, etc.
Personal Care Givers (PCG)
In our early learning programs we give each child a Primary Care Giver. This person is responsible for making sure that your child's needs are met throughout the day and they are also the person that your child is going to spend the most time bonding with. Your child's PCG is determined by his/her preferences. Every day you will receive a typed out daily through our app called HiMama. HiMama is a tool we at Home Again use to communicate and share your child's daily activities and routines through. This will inform you of the daily lesson, meal times, diapering/potties, nap times, along with special notes and reminders. We know that communication is key with helping your child grow and be successful. We have been using the HiMama tool for about a year now and have loved it and seen great improvements.
Hi! My name is Claire and I am the lead teacher here in the waddler room at Home Again. I have been at Home Again since September 2017 but I am originally from the East side of Michigan and moved to Kalamazoo to attend Western Michigan University. I am studying Early Childhood Education and hope to teach Kindergarten after I graduate. Teaching is my passion and I am very excited to have Home Again kids, families, and co-workers apart of my story. Outside of work and school I like to spend my weekends and free time with friends and family, reading, and traveling.