Our girl has used toddler training pants-- these ones specifically:
They're moderately absorbent but she'll feel very wet and it will soak into her pants/shorts, so it'll give her the proper cues if she has an accident.
From my experience, she will probably have a few accidents at daycare (and maybe a regression for a couple weeks) but she'll get right back into it! Don't be discouraged if your babe has a regression. I've heard that's very common. It also took our daughter approximately 4 months to be able to say, "I need to go potty" before she was already going, so be patient. :)