Parent’s Handbook

Approach:

• Provide opportunities for fine and gross motor development both inside the classroom and outside on the playground or excursions 

• Balance of quiet activities and active play throughout the day

• Nutritious meals and snacks according to Canada’s Food Guide and ensuring safe and hygienic practices

• Meet all local government by-laws regulated by Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health and Region/Town of Durham

• Staff to be trained and informed regarding policies and procedures upon commencement of employment and periodically or annually thereafter or as required

Implementation:

• Health:

  • Hand washing and hygiene practices of children

  • Staff to coach children on maintenance of personal hygiene

  • Staff to observe and be mindful of the physical state of each child through the day

  • Daily sanitization of equipment in facility

  • Enable a quiet area which is accessible to children throughout the day

• Safety:

  • Maintenance of child-staff ratios in accordance with Ministry of Education guidelines

  • Keeping of hazardous substances or medicine in a safe locked area outside of reach at all times

  • Staff training to respond appropriately in emergencies such as fire and anaphylaxis incidents

  • Staff certification in First Aid / CPR

• Nutrition:

  • Provision of daily nutritious morning snack, lunch and afternoon snack and access to water throughout day

  • Recognition of each child’s individual nutritional needs (food restrictions and allergies)

  • Menus to be aligned with Canada’s Food Guide

  • Children to be educated on healthy food habits

  • Children to be encouraged/guided to serve and feed themselves during meal times

Approach:

• Encourage respectful interactions amongst children, childcare providers and parents / caregivers

• Promote open communication and dialogue

• Treat our staff with respect by having open discussions with them regarding their strengths and opportunities for improvement. Involve parents in the process as required to positive improvements to the centre.

• Encourage an open place for communication with children and their parents

Implementation:

• Staff to display compassion through posture, voice tone and physical contact with children and parents and other staff

• Staff to be at child’s level most of the day to maintain eye contact and build confidence

• The ideas of children, families and staff will be heard and validated.  Acknowledge child’s thoughts and feelings

• Staff to ask parents relevant questions upon drop off and pick up to inform child-led programming throughout the day

• ·Abundance of smiling, nodding and welcoming and good-bye hugs to demonstrate affection and build a safe environment

Approach:

• Use collaborative learning experiences for children to develop interpersonal skills and various approaches of positive expression

• Foster self-regulation through a conducive learning environment comprised of routines and collaborative experience

Implementation:

• Staff to help children navigate through conflict using negotiating and problem solving skills

• Staff to engage with children one on one and as a group to demonstrate appropriate social interaction

• Staff will be engaged with the children for most of the time during play inside and outside to capture and build upon teachable moments

• Design classrooms to allow for small and large groups and individual activities throughout all day

• Build routines into the schedule for the day to promote self-regulation

• Staff members to respond quickly to children when upset and validate their feelings

• Children to be encouraged to acknowledge what they are feeling with staff support

• Use of community circles to encourage dialogue and expression

Approach:

• Invite children to explore their learning environment and make positive connections

• Build curriculum based on the interests shown by the children from the previous week to ensure its child-led and focuses on building upon their curiosity

• Learning environment to consist of developmentally appropriate play-based learning materials

Implementation:

• Staff to plan most of their curriculum for the next week, but will allow for spontaneous activities to happen as the week progresses

• Curriculum to include sensory activities and resources for child-initiative play based learning such as reclaimed materials, art materials, etc

• Staff to enhance their indoor and outdoor environment with age appropriate activities that encourage manipulation, construction and creative expression

• Staff to allow children to explore freely when engaged in an activity

• Staff to ask ended-questions to children to try and understand their thought processes, instead of imposing our ideas onto them

• Staff to provide a planned provocation weekly to foster children’s inquiry and exploration

• Children to be encouraged to explore all areas of their environment, allowing play materials to be used in an appropriate manner

Approach:

• Staff to encourage children to take ownership in their learning and consider risks in order to recognize strength and areas of growth

• Smart Start to provide adult-supported experiences while allowing children to maintain a sense of autonomy

Implementation:

• Child-initiated experiences:

  • Building with lego, blocks, sticks

  • Use of push toys

  • Constructing puzzles

  • Visual and creative art

  • Reading and listening to stories

  • Exploration through deconstructing and building of products

• Adult-supported experiences:

  • Yoga and mindfulness

  • Circle time, story time

  • Toilet Training

  • Workshops participation

  • Sing-a-longs

  • Supervised exploration of natural elements (water, sand/earth, planting)

  • Cooking and food preparation

Approach:

• Play-based materials are provided that are open-ended and single-purposed materials

• Classrooms are organized in learning areas which are developmentally appropriate and reflect each student’s interests and abilities.  The décor of the room is child-inspired

• Childcare providers take time to get to know each child holistically and in order to differentiate instruction which is catered to the needs of the child

Implementation:

• Play-based materials:

  • Visual art

  • Fabrics and textiles

  • Manipulative toys

  • Puppets and soft toys

  • Toy cars, people, animals and dolls

  • Puzzles and board games

  • Maps / globes

  • Play kitchens/tools centre/doll houses

  • Dramatic area

  • Easels

• Areas of learning:

  • Reading centre

  • Culture area

  • Rest/quiet place

• Knowing each child:

  • All About Me child information form / documentation

Approach:

• Play-based materials are provided that are open-ended and single-purposed materials

• Classrooms are organized in learning areas which are developmentally appropriate and reflect each student’s interests and abilities.  The décor of the room is child-inspired

• Childcare providers take time to get to know each child holistically and in order to differentiate instruction which is catered to the needs of the child

Implementation:

• Play-based materials:

  • Visual art

  • Fabrics and textiles

  • Manipulative toys

  • Puppets and soft toys

  • Toy cars, people, animals and dolls

  • Puzzles and board games

  • Maps / globes

  • Play kitchens/tools centre/doll houses

  • Dramatic area

  • Easels

• Areas of learning:

  • Reading centre

  • Culture area

  • Rest/quiet place

• Knowing each child:

  • All About Me child information form / documentation

Approach:

• Learning environment includes spaces allowing for active play and rest/quiet time.  Children always have the choice to engage in rest / quiet time when needed.

• Smart Start encourages children to make choices with respect to choosing and initiating activities

Implementation:

• Outdoor Play:

  • Bicycles, tricycles

  • Ride-on toys

  • Outdoor balls

  • Toy golf clubs/ bats

  • Ladder ball

  • Sports – basketball, baseball, soccer

  • Seasonal outdoor activities

• Indoor Play:

  • Music and movement, dance

  • Karaoke machine

  • Large/small playmats

• Quiet/Rest Play

  • Cots/cribs for sleep

  • Carpet and mat areas

  • Couches

Approach:

• Foster a solid home to school connection for the children and their parents.

• Smart Start strengthens relationship and trusts with parents by facilitating ongoing dialogue with caregivers regarding the program and development of their children

Implementation:

• Staff to greet families as soon as they enter the room and will communicate with them in regards to their child and their day at the centre

• Infant and toddler parents to receive a daily sheet that provides information of the primary needs such as feeding, sleep and diapering

• Supervisor to have an open-door policy which invites parents to communicate issues when they arise

• Supervisors to take all necessary steps to follow through on parent concerns with investigation, communication and solutioning

• Daily verbal communication

• Daily charting of nap times, meals and toileting, and other key observations for parents to see if requested

• Public Health reportable illnesses that occur in a centre or classrooms to be posted for parents

• Learning stories to be created and posted by staff to show a snapshot of learning occurring in the classrooms

• When required, staff and management along with parents and support staff to have meetings in regards to children’s behaviours

• When required, staff to allow adjustments to their programming to benefit all children’s needs.

• Parent engagement happens throughout the year to encourage relationships with families

• Staff to welcome support staff into their classrooms and take into consideration the development of all children when planning their curriculum

• ·Welcome volunteers into the centres to support care when needed

Approach:

• Smart Start invites and collaborates with local community partners in attempt to support children, families and care providers

Implementation:

• Region of Durham through training courses

• Fire Dept

• Region Police

• Public Health Dept

• Local care providers – paediatric dentist

• Local activity workshops – karate, music, French, yoga which may be subject to reasonable price per workshop series

Approach:

• All of the staff are dedicated educators committed to on-going professional learning.  We provide opportunities for collaborative learning, courses and pedagogical inquiry

Implementation:

• Supervisors to take copies of the staff’s certificate of completion for their files.  Staff must attend periodic staff meetings, which includes professional development opportunities

• Staff will attend courses offered through Region of Durham for on-going training on early childhood best practices

• ECEs belong to the College of ECE or have been approved by a Ministry Director

• Supervisors to continuously monitor and mentor staff

• Supervisors to conduct yearly performance appraisals on each staff

• Management to stay well-informed of the evolving field and keep staff updated as necessary

• Once a year, the staff and management to document and evaluate our strategies set out in our program to ensure it reflects our vision. If it is deemed necessary, a plan will be put into place to better meet these strategies

• Staff must attend at least 2 workshops a year as well as in-house workshops

• Review resources such as: HowDoes Learning Happen? Ontario’s Pedagogy for the Early Years

Approach:

• We understand the importance of reviewing the practice of each caregiver to ensure goals of the program statement are being implemented.  The evaluation allows us to identify the impact on our children and their families and test effectiveness of learning strategies

Implementation:

• All staff, students and volunteers will review the program statement prior to interacting with children and at any time the statement is modified

• Teachers will observe and record the observations on each of the children at least once a week.   The observations serve to capture the children’s interests, inquiries and discoveries.  Based on these observations the teachers determine the children’s interest.  Program planning allows teachers to provide materials and provocations to deepen the children’s thinking and learning.  Teachers will create pedagogical documentation that demonstrates children’s thinking and learning

• Documentation may take many forms, such as photos with learning stories, video clips, art projects, etc.  Documentation will be displayed in the classrooms and shared with parents, as well as kept in the child’s portfolios.

• All staff, students and volunteers shall review and sign off on the program statement prior to interacting with children, annually and when the program statement has been modified. Records of this shall be kept for 7 years

• Regular discussions amongst room staff will take place in order to develop appropriate programming

• Periodic meetings will take place to discuss programming details and new curriculum information.

• Individual observations of each teacher will take place twice per year, accompanied by feedback and mentoring on their performance and teaching style

• Training will be provided to all students and volunteers so that they are familiar with the program statement and implementing all aspects of it along with the classroom teachers

• Strategies to review with children and their families:

  • Families are encouraged to provide informal feedback on an ongoing basis

  • Families are given the opportunity to complete an annual nursery school evaluation at the end of each school year.  Outputs such as reflective observations about the program are discussed amongst Educators when the program is done