At Bright Minds Academy we want to be your infant’s home away from home. It is important to us to make our classroom a loving and nurturing environment for our children. Our classroom is strategically designed with purposeful intent that aids in the development of expected routine and structure. This provides a calming effect for your little one’s emotional wellness throughout the day. Infants sleep in our top-of-the-line cribs near a window with natural light. They enjoy circle time, tummy time, and playtime on soft surfaces that are kept clean and inviting.
When the teacher is engaged with the infant she speaks calmly and slowly using full clear sentences and everyday words paired with basic sign language (no baby talk). Additionally, as a Spanish learning facility, Bright Minds knows the importance of introducing a child into a second language and culture. The earlier on an infant or child is submersed into a second language the more likely they are to be linguistically inclined.
This necessary developmental foundation promotes advanced language learning. We introduce basic sign language in group and individual settings when a baby is 6 months old. We believe that communication is key and that infants thrive to understand the world around them. Creating the introduction to a second language is also started instantly as your baby is submerged in learning Spanish from day 1. They will enjoy daily circle time with songs in English and Spanish with new words being added to their vocabulary daily.
Parents will notice our infant classrooms do not have swings and bouncers. We believe a least restrictive environment provides the foundation for optimal growth and development. Infant and toddlers learn best in an environment that promotes independence and freedom of movement. Creating a least restrictive environment promotes child-to-child interaction as well as teacher-to-child bond. Our teachers work hard to build that loving, nurturing environment with one on one interaction for each infant.
Our approach is based around Serve and Return interactions that affect a baby’s overall development, including intellectual, social and emotion, and behavioral. Serve and Return interactions take place when an adult responds appropriately with eye contact, words, and emotional support. These interactions build neural connections that strengthen a child’s development of communication and social skills.
Bright Minds infant’s staff is passionate about keeping the infants socially engaged by using high and low voice octaves and using facial expressions to imitate emotions. This aids in social emotional awareness and development.
When the child is developmentally ready to self-feed the teacher provides self-feeding opportunities as the infant progresses throughout the day. This includes modeling spoon to mouth self-feeding, hand over hand and then self-feeding with excited encouragement from the teacher.
May it be self-feeding with cheerios or picking up small objects during one on one work and developmental time the infant class introduces and encourages fine motor development for both ulnar and pincer grasps throughout the daily routine.
Bright Minds infant’s staff is passionate about the progress and monitoring of the infant’s gross motor development. The teacher monitors and records any new gross motor milestones to relay back to parents and then sets a gross motor developmental plan for the individual infant’s daily routine.
Bright Minds Academy provides developmental progress reports to families on a regular basis to ensure both staff and families are on the same page of developmental goals and practices.
