Hot, dry and shakey - how is Home Sweet Home prepared?
It is not essential to involve children in a culture of fear. It is reasonable to teach them safe body postures and how to respond to emergencies. Home Sweet Home does not rehearse for earthquakes. We do involve children in knowing the "ready position". We encourage that parents cheerfully practice this at home with their child. Place both hands behind the head protecting the neck, kneel in the fetal position with the forehead down to the ground - hold this until an adult says "Clear! You may sit up.".
Home Sweet Home has posted in each classroom a Disaster Preparedness plan that outlines the roles held by various staff members. Parents are asked to take direction from lead staff if they are present during an emergency or drill. A reminder that in each classroom is a red dot indicating the strongest point of structural safety (usually in the kitchen or bathroom). First Aid kits are stored in the kitchens, bathroom #1 and the diaper changing area.
Big Friends receive training on how to support the children and program, including touring the premises, identifying the red dot zones and the storage fo first aid kits. Their first priority is their own safety, their responsibility to support the safety of the children is secondary. Most Big Friends leave their classrooms to support the children during monthly drills!
Parents are asked NOT to call Home Sweet Home after an earthquake. Staff must be able to focus on the physical and emotional needs of the children. Please assume all is well unless you are contacted directly. In the event of evacuation, an autoresponse phone message will go out to all parents. Additonally, as staff are able, an email blast will also go out. If parents pick up early PLEASE make verbal contact with staff members and sign your child out in the book with the correct time.
As a licensed daycare, Home Sweet Home is identified with emergency services as a first priority location.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Is Kindergarten Ready for them?
As parents understand and advocate for what is best for young children, policy makers struggle to catch-up and apply knowledge and understanding to practice.
Currently Kindergartens rarely reflect in design and teaching strategies the neuroscience research which supports best practices. This is demonstrated by a lack of meaningful playground time, long periods of desk work, early literacy activities that are flashcards or scripted dittoes paired with teacher verbal direction, and homework. Too often administrators, principals and K-teachers have a deficit in their education - it is possible to teach and/or administrate a kindergarten class without one course in Early Childhood Education. Increasing their knowledge and understanding by requiring Child Development training would possibly lead to developmentally appropriate kindergartens.
Please consider this recent alert from Child Care Information Exchange (bold italics by Kathleen Seabolt): As the Pew Center on the States concludes its 10-year initiative to advance pre-kindergarten for all three and four-year-olds, it has released the final report of its Pre-K Now campaign, "Transforming Public Education: Pathway to a Pre-K-12 Future", which strongly advocates that policymakers transform public education by moving away from our current K-12 system. One key recommendation is that the K-12 system incorporates play-based, child-centered approaches into its classes. The report states...
"Direct instruction has an important place in classrooms, but those dominated by teacher-centered approaches tend not to maximize learning. Instead, teachers trained to convert child development research into practice know how to complement direct instruction by structuring and facilitating activities in which children have a more dynamic role: creative play, working with manipulatives, independent or small group projects. These teachers are at the ready to provide feedback and to help children connect what they are doing to targeted concepts. Such intentional practices, common in high-quality early programs, foster social-emotional development and cognitive skills by giving children opportunities to exercise their curiosity and bring their own experiences into the learning environment."
As parents find their voice and advocate at local and state levels for 0-5 best practices in the Kindergarten classroom, the learning environment will change and become a place that seeks to meet every child's needs from exactly where they are at cognitively, physically and socially-emotionally. Kindergarten Readiness will cease to be a fearful phrase that panics parents, and become a mandate for every school district. Kindergartens, are you ready for them?
http://www.allianceforchildhood.org/sites/allianceforchildhood.org/files/file/kindergarten_report.pdf
Currently Kindergartens rarely reflect in design and teaching strategies the neuroscience research which supports best practices. This is demonstrated by a lack of meaningful playground time, long periods of desk work, early literacy activities that are flashcards or scripted dittoes paired with teacher verbal direction, and homework. Too often administrators, principals and K-teachers have a deficit in their education - it is possible to teach and/or administrate a kindergarten class without one course in Early Childhood Education. Increasing their knowledge and understanding by requiring Child Development training would possibly lead to developmentally appropriate kindergartens.
Please consider this recent alert from Child Care Information Exchange (bold italics by Kathleen Seabolt): As the Pew Center on the States concludes its 10-year initiative to advance pre-kindergarten for all three and four-year-olds, it has released the final report of its Pre-K Now campaign, "Transforming Public Education: Pathway to a Pre-K-12 Future", which strongly advocates that policymakers transform public education by moving away from our current K-12 system. One key recommendation is that the K-12 system incorporates play-based, child-centered approaches into its classes. The report states...
"Direct instruction has an important place in classrooms, but those dominated by teacher-centered approaches tend not to maximize learning. Instead, teachers trained to convert child development research into practice know how to complement direct instruction by structuring and facilitating activities in which children have a more dynamic role: creative play, working with manipulatives, independent or small group projects. These teachers are at the ready to provide feedback and to help children connect what they are doing to targeted concepts. Such intentional practices, common in high-quality early programs, foster social-emotional development and cognitive skills by giving children opportunities to exercise their curiosity and bring their own experiences into the learning environment."
As parents find their voice and advocate at local and state levels for 0-5 best practices in the Kindergarten classroom, the learning environment will change and become a place that seeks to meet every child's needs from exactly where they are at cognitively, physically and socially-emotionally. Kindergarten Readiness will cease to be a fearful phrase that panics parents, and become a mandate for every school district. Kindergartens, are you ready for them?
http://www.allianceforchildhood.org/sites/allianceforchildhood.org/files/file/kindergarten_report.pdf
Monday, October 3, 2011
Fall BUILD 2011!
The first BUILD of the 2011-2012 School Year received a lovely turn-out from parents to support beautification of the playground.Zach, Katy and Jacob plant lettuce.
Big Friend Luis and Chris moving mountains with their muscles.
A whole lot got accomplished including the completion of Cierra's dream - THE SOD BOX so that Home Sweet Home can have a little lawn of their own to water and trim.
Many thanks to Sky, Cierra and Kris Palmer (Katy's mom) for coordinating this BUILD, and to our many helpers: Abukhalaf, Anakata, Avidon, Edgelow, Fletcher, Frederick, Martin, Russell, Speed and Springer-Sullivan families.
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