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#261
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When did daycares become "schools"?
"Robyn Kozierok" wrote: : I can understand parents thinking, before they ever put their child in : a child care program, that it wouldn't provide the same : structure/curriculum as a "preschool" program, but I don't understand : how parents with children *in* the program can continue to have this : misconception. Don't the see what goes on in the program? They do see what goes on in the program, but it sometimes does not make a difference. For example, I have one family who had all three of their children in my program over the years. The oldest child was with me until he went to Kindergarten (with a few mornings of preschool to get him used to a larger group), the next was with me until 4 years of age (with a few mornings of preschool, and then a full year of full day preschool), and the third was with me until 3 and will be having two full years of full day preschool prior to Kindergarten. The Mom, who is a fairly good friend, kept saying with child number 2 that she did not know why she switched him, because the bigger school was just a 'glorified Ruthie's'. With child number 3 she was very sad and apologetic, but said that once you are in the preschool systems and hang out with the Mommies, she felt like she had to get them into the bigger programs earlier basically because of peer pressure. There really isn't much I could say as the program she went to is excellent, and the children are very sociable and handle change well : I had my children in a family/home daycare program for many : years. My children learned as much if not more than they would : have in a formal preschool program. It would never have : occurred to me to remove my children from this wonderful program : to attend a more formal "school" program. (When she moved out : of state when my children were 1 and 4yo, I did move the older : child to a preschool, the younger to another family daycare. At : that point I did want the 4yo to have a transition to a larger : group prior to kindergarten.) : : When we moved out of state the next year, I didn't need childcare : and didn't sign the 2yo up for preschool, but did take him : to gymnastics and music classes to have time with other kids. : The next 2 years he attended a "developmental" preschool in which : the children learned all kinds of things that they were interested : in but there wasn't any empahsis on traditional academics (alphabet, : numbers, etc.) : : To me, the line between daycare and preschool is thin. I think almost : any childcare program will offer a more structured/formal program for : children as they get to "preschool age" regardless of whether or not : they bill the program as "school". A lot of daycares have a more : formal school-like program for preschoolers in the morning, and then : less structured activities in the afternoon. Then again, a lot of : preschools offer extended care outside of their core program. So, like : I said, the line is pretty thin. It was great to read your post! I know this to be the case, but enjoy hearing it from a parental unit mixed age group activities : Another option is letting the older children do some of the : more complex projects while the younger children nap. This : worked well in the first program my children attended. Believe it or not, all of the children in my care either nap or have quiet time. Invariably the elder children sleep as hard and long as the little ones. What I do if we have a really intense activity planned is let the younger children work on something else in another area. Ruth B |
#262
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When did daycares become "schools"?
In article ,
Ruth Baltopoulos wrote: mixed age group activities : Another option is letting the older children do some of the : more complex projects while the younger children nap. This : worked well in the first program my children attended. Believe it or not, all of the children in my care either nap or have quiet time. Invariably the elder children sleep as hard and long as the little ones. What I do if we have a really intense activity planned is let the younger children work on something else in another area. Most of the infants napped twice, and the older kids only once, so the big ones could do activities that might have been dangerous or inappropriate for infants during the morning nap time. My oldest did nap all afternoon (4 hours!) when he was in childcare until he turned 4 (when our daycare provider moved and he moved into a "preschool" program with before-and-after childcare that had naptime built in, but wasn't really conducive to napping... 4 hours to no nap cold turkey! eeeek!) --Robyn |
#263
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I am a Toddler 1 teacher in MO. That is funny to me. A toddler 1 teacher.
Someone who is actually trying to teacher a toddler. Read to a toddler. Do art projects with a toddler. Am I crazy or what? I teach the younger one-year-olds in our daycare. We are trying to become accredidated so that means we have to teach them things. We have to have a "creative curriculum". Yes this means that they do more learning through play. But we still have to do art projects with them as well as large and small motor skills, read to them, fingerplays, music time, and sensory projects. When I took this job I thought it would be just playing with little kids all day long and changing a few diapers. Seriously have you ever tried to sit a 1 year old down and do an art project with them? I am not talking about letting them play with crayons or markers but making an actual art project. It is nearly impossible but it has to be done. What happen to a daycare being a daycare and not a "school"? Shouldn't little children be able to play and have fun vs. going to school before their preschool years. I completely agree with 2.5 and up following a curriculum. But before that age we are worrying about changing diapers, feeding, making sure nobody is getting bit,nobody is falling, nobody is putting something in their mouth, potty training, and all the other joys that come along with a infants/toddlers. Then we have to try and find things that they can do. That is nearly impossible as well. They want us to "teach" them but we have limited resources to do this! |
#264
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Samijo wrote:
I am a Toddler 1 teacher in MO. That is funny to me. A toddler 1 teacher. Someone who is actually trying to teacher a toddler. Read to a toddler. Do art projects with a toddler. Am I crazy or what? I teach the younger one-year-olds in our daycare. We are trying to become accredidated so that means we have to teach them things. We have to have a "creative curriculum". Yes this means that they do more learning through play. But we still have to do art projects with them as well as large and small motor skills, read to them, fingerplays, music time, and sensory projects. When I took this job I thought it would be just playing with little kids all day long and changing a few diapers. Seriously have you ever tried to sit a 1 year old down and do an art project with them? I am not talking about letting them play with crayons or markers but making an actual art project. It is nearly impossible but it has to be done. What happen to a daycare being a daycare and not a "school"? Shouldn't little children be able to play and have fun vs. going to school before their preschool years. I completely agree with 2.5 and up following a curriculum. But before that age we are worrying about changing diapers, feeding, making sure nobody is getting bit,nobody is falling, nobody is putting something in their mouth, potty training, and all the other joys that come along with a infants/toddlers. Then we have to try and find things that they can do. That is nearly impossible as well. They want us to "teach" them but we have limited resources to do this! I am not familiar with any reasonable accreditation program that requires that you do developmentally inappropriate things with the kids. Our preschool does not have a 1yo program, but it does have a 2yo program and is on the route to accreditation (our 3- and 4yo program is accredited, but we recently merged in another program with 2yos, so that part of the program is not yet accredited but will be). While there is a curriculum and projects and such in place at all levels, that is completely transparent to the kids (as it should be). They think they're just playing and having a grand time. I don't see why the same couldn't be done for 1yos with a reasonable accreditation standard. If the standard is that developmentally inappropriate, that why seek accreditation to it? Best wishes, Ericka |
#265
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Samijo wrote:
I teach the younger one-year-olds in our daycare. My daughter is 17 months, so probably about the same age you're teaching. we still have to do art projects with them as well as large and small motor skills, read to them, fingerplays, music time, and sensory projects. Those are all things that IMHO could be done in an age-appropriate manner with 12-24 month olds, assuming you had a sufficient number of caregivers for the number of kids. When I took this job I thought it would be just playing with little kids all day long and changing a few diapers. Maybe you'd prefer a different job? Seriously have you ever tried to sit a 1 year old down and do an art project with them? I am not talking about letting them play with crayons or markers but making an actual art project. It is nearly impossible but it has to be done. I don't see what's impossible about it. "Outside all of the leaves are changing colors and falling off the trees. Today we're going to draw the pretty leaves falling down." hand over crayons in autumn colors "Oh, look what a pretty RED leaf you drew! It fell all the way down from here" point to one end of squiggle and trace to the other end "to here!" From their point of view, it *is* playing with crayons and markers, but in your curriculum, it's learning to identify colors and learning about nature/science. If you want something more elaborate, let them pick up leaves outside (or from a pile of clean dry leaves you provide) and stick them to contact paper, while you talk about the colors and shapes the different leaves have. But before that age we are worrying about changing diapers, feeding, making sure nobody is getting bit,nobody is falling, nobody is putting something in their mouth, potty training, and all the other joys that come along with a infants/toddlers. Then we have to try and find things that they can do. I should hope you aren't wasting time trying to potty train your under-twos. Seriously, though, kids that age can do a bunch of things. Caterpillar can identify a dozen body parts in two languages (by pointing when you name them), sit through a full reading of "Pickles the Fire Cat" (which is more than I can say for me, and is IMHO not particularly age-appropriate), dance to music, build with regular blocks or disassemble Duplo blocks (fine motor skills), climb a slide ladder (gross motor skills), cooperate as you move her hands through a fingerplay, and dig in sand (sensory). Phoebe -- yahoo address is unread; substitute gmail |
#266
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"Samijo" wrote in message alkaboutparenting.com...
I am a Toddler 1 teacher in MO. That is funny to me. A toddler 1 teacher. Someone who is actually trying to teacher a toddler. Read to a toddler. Do art projects with a toddler. Am I crazy or what? I teach the younger one-year-olds in our daycare. We are trying to become accredidated so that means we have to teach them things. We have to have a "creative curriculum". Yes this means that they do more learning through play. But we still have to do art projects with them as well as large and small motor skills, read to them, fingerplays, music time, and sensory projects. When I took this job I thought it would be just playing with little kids all day long and changing a few diapers. Seriously have you ever tried to sit a 1 year old down and do an art project with them? I am not talking about letting them play with crayons or markers but making an actual art project. It is nearly impossible but it has to be done. What happen to a daycare being a daycare and not a "school"? Shouldn't little children be able to play and have fun vs. going to school before their preschool years. I completely agree with 2.5 and up following a curriculum. But before that age we are worrying about changing diapers, feeding, making sure nobody is getting bit,nobody is falling, nobody is putting something in their mouth, potty training, and all the other joys that come along with a infants/toddlers. Then we have to try and find things that they can do. That is nearly impossible as well. They want us to "teach" them but we have limited resources to do this! My son's day care does this, and I honestly don't see the big deal. I think it's taken as read that when a thirteen-month-old does a 'make a turkey' project, it just means scribbling on a turkey-shaped piece of paper. It's just as much playing and having fun as scribbling on rectangular paper, but with a little more stimulation and connection to the world outside. Stuff that's connected to the day or the season breaks up the day-to-day routine a bit and gives the teachers and toddlers both something more to talk about. I never felt like the toddler curriculum was out of his grasp or trying to teach him inappropriate skills - no one was trying to get him to grasp arithmetic or decline verbs in Spanish. He did leave that room knowing most of the standard colors in Spanish, which I don't think was on the curriculum, it was just something one of the teachers taught them for fun. I think you may be seriously underestimating how much a toddler can learn, or the day care you work for is taking the 'curriculum' word a little too seriously and is trying to make them sit at desks and do homework or something. Also, as a final note, of *course* you should be reading to them, even in the absence of a curriculum. My son was actually much more book oriented as a thirteen month old than he is right now as a two year old, because he's more active now and has more other options for amusement. Many young toddlers love books, although obviously not all. Beth |
#267
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In article
outparenting.com, "Samijo" wrote: I am a Toddler 1 teacher in MO. That is funny to me. A toddler 1 teacher. Someone who is actually trying to teacher a toddler. Read to a toddler. Do art projects with a toddler. Am I crazy or what? I teach the younger one-year-olds in our daycare. We are trying to become accredidated so that means we have to teach them things. snip When I took this job I thought it would be just playing with little kids all day long and changing a few diapers. Er, are you telling us that you have no qualifications in child care? Because it certainly sounds like it. -- Chookie -- Sydney, Australia (Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply) "Life is like a cigarette -- smoke it to the butt." -- Harvie Krumpet |
#268
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Haven't you had any training in developmentally appropriate practice
whatsoever? I'm used to a lead teacher being required to have at least 2 years of child development coursework (usually an AA in child development or childcare), and an assistant teacher having at least 100 hours a year of training in the area. There are TONS of books on amazon of age-appropriate activities for toddlers (and even for infants) in a group care setting. Or, if you have a local college which has any sort of human sciences department, their library will have many. There is also a Toddler edition of Mailbox Magazine, which I strongly recommend. www.teachers.net/chatboards/mentors has an early childhood chatboard, which, while many of the teachers are pre-K level, also has some younger age group teachers, and there are many preK websites out there, some of which go down to the toddler and two's level. Teaching very young children IS playing, feeding, and changing diapers-but, in a good care setting (including a home) these are done in ways which will help develop the young brain. In a poor one, they're done in a fashion which hopefully meets a child's physical needs, but not necessarily their intellectual and developmental ones. I now teach in an inner city public school. Our average 5 year old enters with a 2 yr old's skill level on language development and significant lags in many areas. No disability, just poor care. The children who have had parents at home who tried to stimulate them (and took advantage of the resources available) or who had good childcare providers are ready for kindergarten, eager to learn, and are more successful throughout at least the next few years (usually, with a lot of work, we can get the ones who have had poor early childhood backgrounds caught up by the time they complete 6th). |
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