A child’s learning and development changes rapidly during the first three years of life. The ELM Curriculum we use promotes responsive interactions and flexible experiences that encourage individual children to pursue their own interests and to stretch toward what they do not yet know or cannot yet do.
Each activity supports specific areas of development with play-based experiences that follow the child’s lead and recognize all areas of development are interrelated. Most activity plans are one-to-one experiences that help a caregiver tune into a child’s interests and development.
We believe that it takes a village to raise littles and we are proud to be an important part of your child's village. We understand that infants develop at all different rates so we adjust our classroom schedules to best fit your home schedule. As infants get older, we start to introduce more structured activities and schedules.
You can expect your infant to have sensory, art, language development, and gross motor experiences at Little Raiders.
Chipmunks is the introductory classroom at Little Raiders Nursery! This classroom serves infants ages 6 weeks old to 5 months old depending on the time of year and developmental stage of the child.
Low Teacher-to-Child Ratio: With one teacher for every four babies, the Chipmunks classroom ensures that each infant receives individualized attention and care, promoting strong emotional bonds and a secure environment for development. The small group size allows the teacher to focus on each baby's unique needs, providing personalized feeding, comforting, and developmental support throughout the day.
Nurturing Environment: The Chipmunks classroom is designed to offer a calm, safe, and comforting space for infants, with soft, age-appropriate toys and sensory activities to stimulate their growth and development.
Responsive Caregiving: Caregivers can respond quickly to each baby's cues, whether it's for comfort, attention, or developmental needs, ensuring that babies feel secure and supported.
Fostering Early Development: In a focused environment like the Chipmunks classroom, babies can benefit from tailored activities that encourage early sensory exploration, motor skills development, and socialization, laying a strong foundation for future growth.
Badgers is the second classroom at Little Raiders Nursery! This classroom serves infants ages 4 months to 9 months depending on the time of year and developmental level of each child.
Balanced Teacher-to-Child Ratio: With two teachers for every eight infants, the Badgers classroom provides ample support for each child, ensuring that babies receive personalized care and attention while fostering a safe, nurturing environment.
Baby-Led Weaning: The Badgers classroom embraces baby-led weaning, allowing infants to explore new foods at their own pace. This encourages independence, fine motor skills, and positive associations with mealtime in a supportive, guided setting.
Gross Motor Development: Teachers focus on activities that support the development of gross motor skills, such as tummy time, crawling, and assisted standing, helping babies build strength, coordination, and confidence in their physical abilities.
Sensory Exploration: The classroom is designed to stimulate infants' senses through hands-on activities, textures, colors, and sounds, which promote cognitive development and help babies explore their world in an engaging, safe way.
Individualized Attention and Growth: With a teacher-to-child ratio of 1:4, each infant's unique developmental needs can be met effectively, allowing for personalized guidance in both physical milestones and sensory learning, ensuring that babies thrive in their early stages of growth.
Squirrels is our transition classroom from infant to toddlerhood! The brain develops rapidly from age 8 months to 1 year and this classroom is designed to help your little move up easier.
Low Teacher-to-Child Ratio: With one teacher for every four infants, the Badgers classroom offers individualized care and attention, ensuring that each baby’s needs are met while fostering a strong sense of security and emotional connection.
Smooth Transition to Toddlerhood: As a transition room, the Badgers classroom prepares infants for the move into toddlerhood by gradually introducing new routines and experiences, helping them adjust to upcoming changes like less frequent naps and more structured activities.
Focused Development of Self-Sufficiency: The classroom supports the transition from multiple naps to one nap, while also introducing new milestones like whole milk, solid foods, and sippy cups, all in a nurturing environment where babies can develop independence at their own pace.
Encouraging Exploration and Motor Skills: Teachers encourage gross motor development through activities like standing, cruising, and assisted walking, helping babies strengthen their muscles and gain confidence in their physical abilities as they approach toddlerhood.
Personalized Feeding and Milestones: In the Badgers classroom, the shift to solid foods and sippy cups is done in a personalized, baby-led manner, ensuring that each infant's individual pace and preferences are respected as they reach key developmental milestones.
Our Otters classroom is our younger 1 year old room! These students explore their environment and each other as they venture into full toddler world.
Supportive Teacher-to-Child Ratio: With two teachers for every eight children, the Otters classroom offers a low teacher-to-child ratio, ensuring that each child receives individualized attention while fostering a safe, nurturing, and engaging environment.
Promoting Independence: The classroom focuses on encouraging independence as children begin to explore self-help skills, such as feeding themselves, dressing, and following simple routines, which supports their growing sense of autonomy and confidence.
Social-Emotional Development: Teachers actively guide children in developing social and emotional skills, teaching them how to express their feelings, share with peers, and navigate group interactions, helping build strong emotional intelligence.
Structured Learning Environment: The Otters classroom provides a structured routine with designated times for learning, play, meals, and naps, helping children feel secure while introducing early academic concepts like colors, shapes, and numbers in a fun and engaging way.
Introduction to Sign Language: The classroom introduces basic sign language to enhance communication skills, allowing children to express themselves before they fully develop verbal language, which supports their emotional well-being and reduces frustration.
Our last stop in Little Raiders Nursery is the Bunnies classroom. This classroom is intended for our older 1 year old students before they transition into the Little Raiders Preschool building.
Enhanced Independence: In the Otters classroom, children ages 1 to 2 years old are encouraged to further develop their independent skills, such as using utensils, dressing themselves, and following simple instructions, which fosters confidence and self-sufficiency.
Building Communication Skills: The teachers focus on expanding verbal communication, helping children improve their vocabulary, sentence structure, and social communication through both guided interactions and peer conversations, along with continued use of sign language if helpful.
Early Education Foundations: The classroom offers educational activities designed to introduce early concepts such as numbers, letters, colors, and shapes, all delivered in a playful and engaging way that supports cognitive development and prepares children for future learning.
Exploration and Curiosity: The Otters classroom provides opportunities for children to explore their environment and engage with a variety of sensory materials, encouraging curiosity and creative thinking while developing problem-solving skills.
Gross Motor Development: Teachers incorporate activities that promote the development of gross motor skills, including climbing, jumping, and running, helping children strengthen their muscles, coordination, and balance as they grow and become more physically active.
At this time, Little Raiders only offers full-time enrollment as an option for birth to preschool age children. There is no maximum or minimum enrollment required. You pay for the spot for your child to attend full 5 day weeks but it is your choice as a parent for how often you send them. We encourage parents to send their children on a routine of 5 days a week in order for your child to get their full learning experience but this is not a requirement.
Hours of Operation: Monday through Friday from 5:45AM to 5:45PM
Open year-round with planned closures for major holidays
Sibling discount: 10% off oldest child
School District of Arcadia Employees Discount: 25% off Tuition
*Disclaimer: Little Raiders is expected to increase their tuition a minimum of 3% each year to compete with inflation. Additional tuition increases can happen during the Spring or Fall dependent on financial need of the center and the state of our economy.
Once approved, parents transfer the amount given to them monthly to Little Raiders.
Any cost NOT covered by Wisconsin Shares is the responsibility of the parent. The amount is pulled out automatically from the checking account on file at the end of each month.
