Junior Rooms

Ages: 2 ½ – 3 ½ years old

Child-to-Teacher Ratio: 5:1

Capacity: 10 per classroom / 2 classrooms of 10

The Junior Rooms are just right for 2 and 3-year-old children who are almost done with being toddlers, but aren’t ready yet to move to a room with older preschoolers. Potty-training is one of the most important activities in this classroom. Every child in each of our two Junior Rooms is learning toilet skills, and this gives your child the support needed to master this tricky, but necessary, skill. Younger children look up to the older children who can make it through the day without an “accident.” Our teachers have experience with all kinds of children – some children take a long time to learn body control, some children gain control easily. Moving out of diapers is easier for everyone because of the experience and patience of our teachers.

Our Head Teachers in the Junior Rooms are Melody and Dani. Melody has worked at Peninsula since October 2001 and holds a Child Development Associate Credential (CDA); Dani has been with Peninsula since October 2011 and is currently completing her Associates Degree in Early Childhood Education.

In this room we also work on the social and motor skills needed for preschool. Children in the Junior Rooms learn to be more independent and responsible by learning skills such as dressing themselves, washing hands, and putting toys away. To get ready for the group activities in our Preschool Rooms, the Junior Rooms work on sharing, taking turns, and using words to communicate with children and grown-ups. Singing, nursery rhymes, reading aloud and lots of conversations help children learn new words and language patterns. Opportunities to explore a variety of art materials, manipulatives, and dramatic play encourage children to begin to represent their ideas symbolically. This is the age when a cylinder-shaped block can be a microphone, a birthday candle or a train car all in the course of a 3-minute game.

When they are 3 ½ -years-old and are fully potty-trained, children move from the Junior Room to one of our three Preschool Rooms .