Infants & Toddlers

Bet Yeladim Preschool provides a safe, nurturing, and developmentally responsive Infant and Toddler program designed to support our youngest children and their families during these important early years.

Our Infant and Toddler program is open year-round from 7:00 AM to 6:00 PM, offering families flexibility while ensuring children experience consistency, care, and connection throughout their day.

A Warm and Loving Environment

We believe that infants and toddlers thrive when they feel secure, loved, and understood. Our professional staff work closely with families and communicate daily with parents to create individualized schedules that reflect each child’s unique needs, routines, and developmental stage.

Infant Care

Our infant program focuses on building trust, comfort, and secure attachments. Babies explore a healthy, stimulating environment that supports growth across all developmental domains—physical, cognitive, social, and emotional.

To support each child’s learning and development, we use The Creative Curriculum for Infants, a research-based framework that emphasizes responsive caregiving, meaningful interactions, and learning through exploration.

Throughout the day, our staff lovingly engage infants by:

• Playing and interacting one-on-one

• Cuddling and providing comfort

• Singing songs and talking with babies

• Responding attentively to individual cues and needs

These experiences foster a strong sense of security and lay the foundation for lifelong learning.

Toddler Program

Our toddler program is designed to encourage curiosity, exploration, and growing independence. Using The Creative Curriculum for Toddlers, teachers thoughtfully plan hands-on, age-appropriate experiences that support language development, social-emotional growth, and emerging problem-solving skills.

Through play-based learning, engaging materials, and both small- and large-group activities, toddlers are supported as they:

• Develop communication and language skills

• Increase mobility and refine fine and gross motor skills

• Practice social interaction and cooperation

• Build confidence and independence

Our educators guide toddlers through each stage of development, creating a joyful environment where learning happens naturally through play, discovery, and relationships.

Full-Day and Half-Day Programs for 2’s, 3’s, and 4’s

Bet Yeladim Preschool offers both Half-Day and Full-Day programs for children ages 2, 3, and 4, providing families with flexible scheduling options while ensuring a consistent, high-quality educational experience grounded in best practices for early childhood development.

Program Schedules

Half-Day Program
Runs from 9:00 AM–1:00 PM, with early drop-off available for 2’s, 3’s, and 4’s, and an extended-day option for 3’s and 4’s.

Full-Day Program
Our Full-Day program is open year-round from 7:00 AM–6:00 PM, offering flexibility for families while providing children with a rich, engaging, and developmentally appropriate learning day.

Learning Through Play and Purposeful Instruction

At Bet Yeladim, learning is intentional, joyful, and grounded in research-based best practices and the Maryland Early Learning Standards (MELS). Our educators design experiences that nurture a lifelong love of learning, encourage curiosity, and support children as they take healthy risks and try new things in a safe, supportive environment.

For our 2-year-olds, we use The Creative Curriculum for 2-Year-Olds, which aligns with MELS by emphasizing responsive relationships, hands-on exploration, predictable routines, and experiences that support growing independence, communication, and confidence.

For our 3’s and 4’s, we use The Creative Curriculum for Preschool, a comprehensive, play-based framework aligned with MELS that supports children’s development across all key learning domains while preparing them for future academic success.

Development Across All Learning Domains

Under the care and guidance of our experienced teachers, children develop skills aligned with the Maryland Early Learning Standards, including:

• Cognitive Development & Early Problem-Solving: Exploring, questioning, reasoning, and thinking critically

• Social-Emotional Development: Building self-awareness, self-regulation, and positive relationships

• Language & Literacy: Expanding vocabulary, expressive language, listening skills, and early literacy foundations

• Mathematics: Developing number sense, patterns, sorting, and early mathematical thinking

• Physical Development: Strengthening fine and gross motor skills, coordination, and body awareness

Children also learn how to function successfully in a group setting by developing essential school-readiness skills such as following routines, listening to others, expressing needs using words, cooperating with peers, and resolving conflicts respectfully.

Jewish Values at the Heart of the Program

Jewish values are woven naturally into everyday experiences at Bet Yeladim, shaping how children learn, interact, and care for one another. These values support the social-emotional and ethical foundations emphasized in the Maryland Early Learning Standards.

In addition to Tikkun Olam (repairing the world), we intentionally model and teach values such as:

• Hesed (Kindness): Showing care, empathy, and compassion toward others

• Kavod (Respect): Honoring ourselves, one another, and our environment

• Savlanut (Patience): Learning to wait, persevere, and support one another

Children experience these values through daily interactions, classroom expectations, and hands-on activities such as caring for our teaching garden, participating in age-appropriate service projects, preparing and delivering meals to a local shelter, and engaging in recycling and environmental stewardship.

Through these experiences, children develop a strong sense of responsibility and come to understand that their actions matter.

A Confident Transition to Kindergarten

By the time children leave Bet Yeladim, they are prepared for Kindergarten in ways that align with the Maryland Early Learning Standards—not only academically, but socially, emotionally, and behaviorally.

Our graduates enter Kindergarten with:

• Strong foundational academic skills

• Confidence and independence

• The ability to engage in a group learning environment

• A sense of kindness, respect, and responsibility

Our goal is for every child to graduate from Bet Yeladim Preschool curious, capable, kind, and ready to learn.