The Panda Class is Unity's 2-year-old toddler room. This age group works on social and emotional skills, fine and gross motor skills, and learning the ways of the Unity community.

Jen has taught in the Panda Room for six years and is our morning lead. She has been teaching at Unity for a total of twenty years. Her co-teacher, Mikhaela, is in her first year of teaching in the Panda Room but has worked in other childcare settings for over six years. The three assistant teachers are JoAnne, Polly, and Chaylee. The Pandas are lucky to have JoAnne, who has been at Unity for 7 years and has an equivalent of 25 years in education, along with Polly who has been at Unity for 32 years, and Chaylee who is going on her 3rd year of working in education. We have some strong assistants in this room.

Throughout the day, we practice identifying and regulating emotions and developing bonds and relationships with the teachers and other friends in the class. Throughout the year, we learn to recognize our names, practice counting skills, engage in various fine and gross motor activities, learn how to use the space around us, value our environment, and work on building friendships.

Our classroom space is arranged to allow the children to experiment and explore, learn through hands-on activities, and engage with the world around them. We use the garden every Thursday, the barn on rainy days, take field trips, and perform community service. We encourage our panda students to be responsible for their own messes to foster independence. We teach them how to use their words with one another and develop teamwork as a class. We aim for each student to feel welcomed and loved in the Panda Classroom.