Daycare

Debbie asked me what to look for in a daycare.. seeing as how I work there.. I'm pretty sure I know what to look for.. lol.

I'm going to try to be in depth as much as possible.

What is the ratio of staff to children? One of the most important things to ask about is how many kids are in the class. By looking up local state licensing laws, you can find that out to know for sure. One thing about daycares is some will fill to max capacity, while others will try to shimmer it down a bit. Our state law (in KY) is 1 teacher to 10 two year olds. One thing the center I work at strives for (and keeps as long as I've been here) is 1:8 with their twos. That is a major plus for staff and parents. The lower, within reason, ratio the better. (Understanding, of course, that daycares do have to make some money in order to keep it's doors open. You shouldn't expect 1 on 1 care in a daycare.)

How are the teachers trained? Again I speak only in KY (cause I know the laws here) we are required to have 15 hours by state law. Our daycare requires us to have 20 hours... In order to maintain excellence and keep above the learning curve, we have to have more. Does your daycare ask the staff to go above and beyond the law in order to provide the children with more?

Do any teachers there have a CDA? CDAs are national, and basically state that the teachers owning them are trained in the children above and beyond. It is much like having a grade school teacher with a masters VS a bachelors.. both are good, and the bachelor teachers may even be better, but more training never hurt anyone.

What are the policies on discipline? Do they do Time-out? Do you agree with Time-out? Do they only redirect? What is concrete for any time of removal from play? How often do children get removed from the daycare totally for discipline problems? What are the policies on Biting and such like that? In all honesty, all daycare providers should have a readily available copy of their parent handbook for you to read over and ask questions about at your viewing.

Is there ample SAFE space for all children to play? A play ground.. does it look safe? Ask how the playground molds to the state requirements. What about on rainy or snowy days? Where do the children play then? Look for a gym or open space indoors that is well equipped AND offers a variety of activities for those rainy days.

Ask to see the POSTED licensing information. All daycares are required to post the inspections on them. They are required to post all write-ups from state and all state investigations for the last year. Ask to see where they are posted. READ THEM! Ask questions. All of those posted will also have the daycares response to them. READ THE RESPONSE! Does it line up with your feelings on it?

Check the "no brainer" child proofing. Are the outlets covered? Are there any cords dangling dangerously? Look around the rooms your children will be in and SEE if there is anything that you would not allow at your house. The greatest tool is to LOOK all around you... never taking for granted that things just are.

What are the toys in the rooms and how do they educate children? Different age levels have different appropriate toys. When you are touring, ask about the toys. Does the shelves seem well stocked of toys? What is the teaching methods for the different rooms? How are the toys further developing my child's brain?

Ask about curriculum and such I have had more than one person say to me over the years "I didn't know two year olds were taught lessons!" Every minute of every day is a teaching experience for each child. Starting at birth, a child is learning and seeing. One of the most important things for me in my classroom (and yes, I consider it a classroom just like a school teacher) is that my children are challenged every day to learn something new. I teach Montessori style in a traditional daycare. It is perfectly acceptable and shows just one of the different teaching methods when parents come to look around. Children should not just be "sat" for... daycares really shouldn't be just overpriced babysitters. For paying as much as you are, do you really just want someone to watch your kid try to eat a stuffy?

Again with that, it's all age appropriate. I don't try to teach my two year olds complex math. We call math counting to 25 and learning to identify their numbers. But at the 4 and 5 year old level, right before school, if they were merely counting to 25 and learning to recognize number... that would NOT be age appropriate. All lessons should be done on the kids level.

How does the center encourage parent/teacher/director relationships? Does the center offer time for the parent to come in to talk to the teachers? Parent nights at school? Open door policy? Can parents just drop by randomly to observe the child's classroom? How dose the center deal with this?

Watch the teachers, talk to the teachers It is hard to visit with parents touring the place. That is understandable from a teacher perspective, but really, it is worth it to step aside and, while watching the kids, take a moment to talk to the visiting parents. Parents don't be afraid to ask questions.

I had a parent in once quiz me on the stuff going on in my classroom. It impressed her! I smile to this day thinking of her and her questions and exactly how they were answered.. it was the defining point to put her child in our center.

Look for schedules and postings How do the staff record the happenings of their day? What does the parent receive at the end of the day to outline all the happenings of their child's day?

Don't be afraid to talk, and talk a lot Directors may seem like they don't want to talk, but really, talk their ears off. Ask any questions you can think of! Ask, ask and ask some more. This is your child, don't be afraid to fight on their behalf to find them the best place possible to be away from.

That is really all I can think of when looking! Feel free to ask more specific questions if you need to!

~Hawk

Schooling

So today was a very interesting Summit training session. I enjoyed most of what I dealt with and truly came to learn a lot about the Montessori method.

As of right now, I have no method in my 2 year old classroom. We are traditional, Creative learning.. which is a way to say "we have a routine, but that's about it". I am trying to structure this now that I know my kids (even though I am getting 3 new ones and having 2 transition up to the 3's on Monday) so I decided to step back and regroup.

I have always used the A Beka approach to teaching before. That was the "method" used at my last daycare centre. Now I am the sole teacher and I must adapt my own method. So I started my research back in August of the different methods... and completely wrote off the Montessori cause I have never heard good things about it. I have been attempting child lead, but alas, it's not working all that great for me as my children lead me directly to messes. :)

That said, I am researching Montessori and hope to be able to make a post about it later when I have a bit more information. But what I do have now is amazing.

What is your favourite type of child learning for preschool/early childhood education?

School starts, tooth pulled, finger gidgets

Okay, I had tooth #31 pulled today (12 year molar).. and wow.. hurts.

School started this week for my pre schoolers... My GOD! They are killing me. 10 min writing exercises are turning into 3 hour projects... My little smarty? Yeah, takes him teh longest because all I hear outta him is "that's rediculous" "why do I have to do BOTH sheets?" "Ugh, this is rediculous" 100 times! I had to break his little heart the other day (Wednesday)... everyone else in the class (6 other kids right now) got done... and he was still on the dots of his name sheet (3 rows of dots with his name, then 4 rows of write it yourself name) and so I took the other kids outside and left him in with the 3 yr old class... I felt horrible about it, but he did his work yesterday (and I was out with my tooth today, so I dunno how he did).

I know it's a slow process, I know it's going to take time, first week, blah blah blah.. but it's driving me crazy that I can't get them to even get half the work done in 15 mins... But I dunno... I went out to the teacher supply store and bought fight widgets that go on their pencils. I've got 2 leftys and 5 rightys.. and I have a hard time teaching the rightys to write better... so these widgets are specially designed for the correct hand.. and that's what I'm gunna use to hopefully get everything in order that way.

Week one is done though, and I am exhausted, even after having a day off... I hate the thoguht of going back on monday and seeing that the folders didn't go home, that work was not done on friday... I dread thinking who she (my boss) put in my class.. and the chaos that one day off schedule this early in the game can cause.. but the tooth had to come out.

I am getting prepared for a get together with EJ.. he wants to "talk" about what he said, about everything... shit... I dunno.. I'm not thinking right, cause I invited him down for the day... we are gunna go hang out at waterfront and go out to dinner to talk.. stupid boys.

Anyway, on the adoption front... I added 2 agencies to my list, and took away 4.. so I'm down to 6 agencies who I'll chose who to go with from. It's kinda sad.. right now, my life is so far from adoption, yet it would be perfect right now to adopt.. blah.

Hope all is well with all of you!

Teaching four year olds to read

My new task this summer is to teach 3 of my four year girls to read. Unfortunately I only have one boy in my class, and I doubt he will be reading ready by next week when we finish our standard cirriculum.

I am going to pull one of the 3 yr old boys to read... he is technically four but hasn't been promoted up because there is no room. I may pull a second 3 boy who is reading ready, I believe, but not able to write his letters.

I have all sorts of little free cirriculums online, but I'm going with the tried and true method of Dick and Jane. I think that will be the easiest, to just set down with them and read with them. I am so excited about this.

If anyone has any helpful hints, yay for helping me out!

My kiddos::

Abs is 4, almost 5 (July) and is very ready to read. I asked her why mop is spelt MOP and she actually knew... I was excited!! She is a firey blonde who just thinks everyone is hers... "DUH!" is her key phrase. She is a cutie who just is ready to learn. I am excited to teach her and I know her nannie will make sure she reads every night to her.

Han is extremely cute! She is another firey blonde who knows everything about phonics. Her mum works with her like a true schoolers mum would. I am excited to teach her because her mum is very interesting to be around. This is also the little girl who said I hit her in the head with a "baby buggy" (whatever that be)... so for that little thing I don't care much for her sometimes, but over all I am excited to teach her more and more.

Cor is my kiddo. Her and Abs are the first graduating class of my 2s from when I first started! It is bittersweet that they are graduating this year and that I have them for graduation.... I am sad to see them go but excited to show them how much they can learn. Cor turned 5 in Feb and she is just so ready to read. She can sound out simple phonic sounds, such as MOP and CAT. I hope she is receptive to learn what more I can teach her.

I am going to try to pull my two boys from the threes to learn, Na and Za. I know I want Na personally because I believe he has Aspergers Syndrome, which is a form of Autism. He is incrediablly smart, knows more about animals then you could ever DREAM of knowing. Za, just because I want to see if he pulls dyslexia like I feel he will (he is a leftie and has a lot of problems writing his name, let alone with flipping letters and such). I do know however, that I will personally tutor him if he is dyslexic, I am dyslexic and I know how to do the tricks, I know the frustration and the likes. I hope I can help him out if he turns out to be.

I may even pull one of my two's girls to come up and read... she has amazing memorization skills and already can read the names of all the people in our class... she is amazing, but I'm not going ot push her.. the 4 year olds I'm going to push a bit because they need to learn this skill.

Regardless, any tips of the trade for working with little kids on reading, I'll accept.