Frog & Toad Essex Junction
Child-Centered Environments
About Us
Your Child Is in Great Hands
Philosophy
At Frog & Toad our philosophy is that each child is an individual, with individual needs, preferences, feelings, and learning styles. Likewise, we believe that each family has its own uniqueness. Our school is designed to provide outstanding care to all children and families. We do this by altering our teaching styles to reach each child, by communicating with families about their child and family each and every day, by fully understanding early childhood development, and by genuinely caring about the success of each individual and family with whom we work.
Health & Safety
We value the health and safety of all our students and staff at Frog & Toad. During this time especially, we have adopted the strict guidelines set forth by the State of Vermont Department of Health in order to ensure that our students and staff are well-protected.
The uniqueness of each child and family is especially evident during times of crisis (such as a pandemic), but our mission remains the same. We will work diligently to ensure the success of each child and family. We recognize that success can take many forms, and during challenging times, our focus will be on the mental and physical health and well-being of each child and family in our care.
Curriculum & Assessment
Every child is on their own unique developmental journey. At Frog&Toad Child Care&Learning Center, LLC we support that individual journey by consistently developing curriculum that is appropriately challenging, based in developmental standards, and of the children's interests.
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The Vermont Early Learning Standards provide the framework for our teachers to develop the most well-rounded educational experience possible for our students. Additionally, teachers develop curriculum utilizing their own unique teaching expertise, the interest of their students, and the Creative Curriculum platform.
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Creative Curriculum is a series of curriculums designed by Teaching Strategies that are specifically meant to meet the educational needs of children at all stages of their development. Teachers can use as much or as little of the platform as they like. They can also alter activities to better suit the students in their classroom.
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Additionally, the teachers of Frog&Toad perform regular assessments on the learning and growth advancements of all of our students. This is done by performing the ASQ (an assessment tool that many families complete at their child's pediatrician visits) twice each year as well as the Checkpoints Assessment through Teaching Strategies Gold (this is an assessment focused on educational milestones, and is in alignment with the Vermont Agency of Education requirements).
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Both the Creative Curriculum platform, and the Teaching Strategies Gold assessments "talk" to one another; which streamlines our curriculum, assessment, and portfolio process. In short, communicating effectively with families about the growth and development of their child is thorough and comprehensive.
Frog&Toad values it's teachers!
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At Frog&Toad we take the time to honor our staff in a multitude of different ways, but one of our favorite methods is to give them some public recognition for their efforts and dedication to the field of Early Care and Education! Here, as well as in our programs, you will see prominent displays of the Teacher of the Month as well as the Honorable Mention. ​​
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Gracie is our Teacher of the Month for March! She comes in each day with a huge smile on her face, and greets all the children with open arms! Gracie has grown so much in the past year plus that she has been an Assistant Teacher with Frog&Toad, and tt has been amazing to watch her confidence as a teacher grow! She does a wonderful job of managing a room of up to 10 preschoolers and engaging them in meaningful activities. She also makes it a priority to get them outside in nature. Gracie gets to know each child as an idividual (their wants, needs, and the things they love). She uses what she learns about them to help make everything about their day run smoothly! Gracie also makes a point to get to know families and connect with them because she knows that these connections are so vital for the positive development of children. We are so lucky to have Gracie and her silliness on our team!
Clarie is our Honorable Mention for March. She is relentlessly full of smiles and kind words for the infants, co-workers, and parents. She is always able to see the positives in any situation. Claire has also been a solo teacher in the infant room for a few weeks now (which is not an easy task) and is rocking it! (Pun intended) During in-service she learned how to use our Teaching Strategies Gold platform for curriculum implementation, and did a great job keeping all of her students in mind while revamping her classroom.
The infants have been engaged in loads of sensory experiences, art, and tons of book reading. Claire can most often be seen cuddling with, singing to, or reading to someone, and her joy in doing so is evident. She truly loves her work here at Frog&Toad, and we truly love having her on our team!