Pinecones – 24 to 36 months

Potty Training –The children in the Pinecone classroom begin to address the challenges and successes of potty training.  There is a child sized potty available for the children to use and the teachers will often change the children’s diapers in the bathroom in an effort to help them become familiar with the space and its use.  Early in the process the teachers will discuss the efforts occurring in the home and make every effort to replicate them at school as consistency is one of the key factors in successful potty training.  We recognize that potty training is often felt as a challenge to an entire family and in some circumstances natural regression (due to changes in family composition, schedule, etc) can feel overwhelming to everyone. We try to empower the child rather than lay blame and focus on them as a unique individual with potty training as a single facet of their being.

Interactive Play- In the Pinecone classroom the children begin to recognize their classmates as friends.  They may identify that they have interests in common with another child or similar dispositions and they begin to seek that child out.  They recognize certain characteristics about each other, who is a boy or girl, who likes trains or princesses and recognize these traits in themselves. We witness these friends gravitate towards each other, miss each other when there is an absence, and feel greater joy or sorrow depending on the day’s interactions.  Their play becomes more interactive than the parallel play of their earlier years and they choose complementary roles for each other in their games.