Puma Cubs Information

Footsteps@Nesbit Puma Cubs Program Overview

We believe children learn and master new skills through a variety of play experiences.
We acknowledge children know how to learn, we are there to support their learning experience.
We understand each child is unique and learns through different approaches.
Learning occurs anywhere and anytime. We purposefully observe what the children are doing while considering their developmental level.
The program provides the children with the space and time to discover and develop their learning.

We provide the children and youth with supportive and encouraging staff to assist.

Encourage curiosity and enthusiasm for learning
Promote cooperative social interactions
Support individual creativity and diversity
Provide opportunities for children to use their growing bodies to develop a sense of autonomy and self-worth

Our program environments offer a rich variety of spaces, materials, and activities organized to promote children's active exploration and mastery.
Classrooms may appear informal at times, however, they are the result of careful planning and structuring to ensure that the needs of each child are met in a supportive and nurturing way.
Classrooms are specifically designed to provide a warm, intimate, and secure space for children to learn, explore, and develop at their own pace.

Ages 6 Weeks - 2 Years.
1:3 Child to adult ratio
With infants, we work to provide an environment as home like as possible – warm and welcoming, cozy spaces, photos of family, and so on. In the classroom, infants develop intimate relationships with a stable caregiver.
Care giving activities such as feeding and diapering are warm, consistent, and individualized. These routines are viewed as opportunities for the infants to receive undivided adult attention and to promote language, self-awareness, and social skills.
The infants' preexisting patterns for feeding and sleeping are respected and incorporated into the child's daily routine. Consistency in routines and schedules allow children to anticipate what is coming next, thus transitions are predictable.

Ages 2-4.
8:1 Child to Adult Ratio
Our classroom environment offers a rich variety of spaces, material, and activities organized to promote children's active exploration and mastery.
Although classrooms often appear informal, they are the result of careful planning and structuring to ensure that the needs of each child are met in a supportive and nurturing way.
Our teachers encourage curiosity and enthusiasm for learning, promote cooperative social interactions, support individual creativity and diversity, and provide opportunities for children to use their growing bodies to develop a sense of autonomy and self-worth.
Children spend the majority of their day involved in a variety of activities: art, block building, dramatic play, music, sorting and matching games, listening to stories, movement activities, science activities, and large motor play.

Ages 4+.
8:1 Child to Adult ratio
The preschool and prekindergarten classrooms are composed of children 2 years to 5 years of age.
These multi-age groupings exemplify the Center's commitment to provide an experience to enhance the development of each child’s whole self: creative, intellectual, physical, social, and emotional.
As each of these facets develops at different rates, the children seek activities and experiences that meet their individual needs.
In addition, children with different knowledge and abilities stimulate one another's thinking and encourage pro-social behaviors amongst themselves.
Most importantly, this enables families, children, and teachers the chance to build strong and consistent relationships with one another.