A Typical Day at Southminster Child Care Center
In The Toddler Classrooms At Southminster Child Care Center You Can Expect To See:Up to 9 children from the ages of 14 months to 3 years of age. Children can be full or part-time depending on the families' needs. A Head Teacher and two Assistant Teachers staff the classroom. Teachers' schedules vary, depending on the needs of the children and ratios.
The following list is to be used as a guideline in helping you to observe the Toddler Room at Southminster Child Care Center. During your time in the Toddler classroom you may see some or all of these things in addition to other types of interactions. Please note that short-term observations give a "snapshot" of a typical day in a classroom and more lengthy observations help an observer to better understand the consistent programming in the classroom.
Interactions:
- Teachers greeting each child and family when arriving in the classroom.
- Teachers and families engaged in daily conversation.
- Teachers and families developing relationships that will enable caregiver to provide the best care possible for children.
- Teachers helping children to separate from their families in the morning and helping them to reunite at the end of the day.
- Teachers sitting at tables at mealtimes, sitting on the floor engaged in activities with children, facilitating play, using rich language and supporting children's efforts to engage with other children socially and appropriately.
- Teachers having expectations of children, but also realizing that expectations should be determined based on individual children's abilities and needs and children may at times need help with tasks they can typically do on their own.
- Teachers interacting with children at their level, looking in their eyes and using language they can understand.
- Children engaged in perpetual motion, continually using their bodies to explore and understand their environment.
- Children reacting to situations (two children wanting the same toy, or two children wanting to be in the same space) using physical responses such as pushing, hitting, or biting because their language abilities may still be limited and they are still working at controlling their impulses at this stage of development.
- Teachers responding to the above situations using re-direction, positive language, empathy and striving to find the reasons for the behavior.
- Children learning through repetitious play.
- Children constantly moving to different area of the room, trying out new materials and toys, spending little time on any one task.
- Children being supported in their efforts and attempts at being empathetic and sympathetic, but not being require or expected to say "I'm sorry" or having to "share" materials or toys.
- Teachers loosely following a flexible daily schedule, but also taking into consideration children's individual schedules.
- Teachers engaging in story time and singing but not normally in a large group situation
- Children engaged in meal times that promote language (talking about food, each other, the days activities), self-help skills (pouring own water, serving themselves) and independence (cleaning up when the meal is over, making choices).
- Teachers using language that includes positive reinforcement ("I like the way you cleaned up" or "You did a nice job washing your hands") and positive language ("Please walk down the hall" -- instead of "No running").
- Teachers helping children to manage transition times by giving them a warning, using routines and familiar transitions techniques and telling them ahead of time what will happen next.
- Children involved in sensory activities, open-ended art activities, using puzzles and small building toys, engaged in dramatic play, looking at books, and using transportation toys, in addition to other activities as initiated by children.
- The classroom is arranged in an organized, inviting manner with specific play area organized for productive, positive play.
- Children involved in play situations in the following areas: housekeeping (dramatic play), blocks, manipulative, art, quiet/book, music, science, sensory.
- Children spending time involved in one-on-one interactions with teachers, involved in small group and large group activities and at times engaging in solitary (playing alone) or parallel play (playing next to or close to another child, but not "actually playing together).
- Children may be involved in cooperative play (children playing together and in some fashion working towards the same goal), but often need a teacher's assistance during many aspects of these play scenarios.
- Duplicates of many toys and materials so that "sharing" is not necessary and children can play positively and productively.
