Substitute Employees in Child Care

In any job, employees will miss occasional days of work.  Some businesses can just live without someone in that position for a short time.  In child care, that is simply not an option.  We have teacher-child ratios and quality of care standards that have to be met, so we have to have substitute teachers when one of our regular staff members is unavailable. 

Substitutes are tricky.  Ideally, you will have a couple of part-time employees who can extend their hours for a day or two to cover for their co-worker.  Alternately, you may have an employee (or a few) who have agreed to work on-call.  In a smaller program, these people are more difficult to keep on staff as they do not usually get work frequently, but some are willing to stay for the opportunity for a regular position when someone leaves.  One other option, if there is one in your area, is a substitute agency.  You can contact them when you have someone out for the day and, ideally, they can provide a substitute to cover.  Of course, these agencies are significantly more expensive than paying your own staff member, but they may be a viable option if you don’t have anything else. 

Regardless of how you secure your substitute, you have to make sure the person knows what you expect of their employment, even if it’s just for a day.  We do this through a Substitute Agreement Form.  This form is a combination of our Employment Offer, Job Description, Standards of Conduct, and Statement of Understanding.  We don’t need those full documents for a substitute, but components of each of those documents are important.  We need to make sure this person understands that their employment is at-will and not guaranteed for any specific time or hours.  We ensure that the individual is qualified for the position for which we are hiring them.  We explain payroll procedures so there are no misunderstandings.  Finally, we go over the expectations for the job itself; how they are to guide and supervise children; keep them safe; interact with them; interact with the parents and other staff members; and use the program’s resources.  Making sure our expectations are clear from the start helps prevent future misunderstandings and gives our temporary employees the tools they need to be successful.

If you don’t have a Substitute Agreement Form yet, check ours out here.

Misty

Early Learning—Gross Motor Area

For most of us, our primary Gross Motor Area will be our outdoor playground which will, ideally, have a variety of hard and soft surfaces and a variety of stationary and movable materials.  As wonderful as the outdoor area can be, a Gross Motor Area inside can be very useful.  There are times when weather just doesn’t permit outdoor play and, of course, there are children who could use more gross motor time than you can provide outdoors. 

If you are fortunate enough to have a large, dedicated indoor Gross Motor area, you are in the minority.  So, we will talk about a Gross Motor Area within a classroom or Family Child Care Home.  Because of the activity level and noise level anticipated in this area, it should not be near any of your quieter areas.  Ideally, it will have a carpeted surface to provide some padding.  You will need to have mats around for any activities in which children are tumbling or off the ground in any way. 

Along with mats, you may want to include:

• A balance beam or even just lines taped on the floor.
• Balls of various sizes and textures.
• Tunnels.
• Large building blocks.
• A small climbing structure.
• Hula hoops.
• Plastic cones.
• A bean bag toss game.
• Scarves or streamers.
• A music player with some movement-type cds or mp3s.

Parents understand the need for children to get some extra energy out through gross motor play.  What we may need to help them understand is what their children learn through these types of activities.  Of course, there are the physical skills that are acquired, like hopping, skipping, bouncing a ball, balancing, etc.  But children can also acquire a sense of rhythm and the ability to move their bodies to rhythms.  Social skills are also huge in a Gross Motor Area.  Generally, this area won’t be big enough that everyone can do what they want at any given time, so they will have to learn skills like turn-taking and compromising; skills that will be important throughout their lives.

Misty

Early Learning—Science Area

Last week we talked about a Sensory Play Area in your classroom.  In this area, children often have the opportunity to learn some science concepts such as what sinks and what floats or what happens when you mix sand and water.  This week, we’ll talk about extending into a full-fledged Science Area. 

Obviously, in our toddler or preschool Science Area, we’re not going to include a chemistry set or anything else hazardous.  But, this is a great place for children to start learning about the world around them and about experimentation and basic scientific processes. 

Because children will be learning about making careful observations and thinking deeply about what they are doing, the Science Area should be in a quieter section of the classroom.  Ideally, it would be on a hard surface, for ease of cleaning, but with a washable rug for comfort.  Generally, children will be sitting at a small table or standing in this area, but it’s also always nice to have a comfortable area on the floor to sit or lie down, if desired.  Your Science Area should have some low shelves to separate it from the other learning areas and to neatly store your science tools and materials.

Your Science Area should be rotated frequently, but also have space available for long-term experiments to remain undisturbed.  You can rotate the materials according to your weekly or monthly theme and also with the seasons.  The goal of the Science Area is for children to explore the environment around them, so seasonal activities are very important.  Just make sure you provide a balance between varied activities and long-term observations.

Tools and/or activities for a Science Area could include:

• Local seasonal items like leaves, pine cones, acorns, and snow.
• Rocks and shells.
• Seeds or plants to grow.
• Pets, insect farms, or an aquarium (with everything treated humanely and provided with veterinary care as appropriate). 
• Scales and balances.
• Magnifying glasses.
• Magnets and magnetic and non-magnetic materials.
• Color paddles and color wheels.
• Rulers and measuring tapes.
• Science books.
• “Tornado tube” with plastic bottles.
• Posters of nature, weather, etc.
• Gears, ramps, and pulleys.
• Paper or notepads and pencils for taking notes.

The Science Area is a great place to have fun with your little environmental detectives!

Misty

Early Learning—Sensory Play Area

Parents will often see the Sensory Play Area as just a play area and not understand the great skills that their children are acquiring in this area.  Not only are they learning math and science concepts, but they are learning critical social-emotional skills. 

From a social point of view, a child will rarely be alone in the Sensory Play Area.  For this reason, there will be a lot of give-and-take, a lot of cooperative learning, a lot of compromising.  What great life skills!  As for the emotional piece, sensory play can be very soothing.  We all have coping mechanisms for when we get stressed; perhaps chewing fingernails, smoking, or taking a nice warm shower.  These are all sensorial experiences that we have learned over time to soothe ourselves  (and, no, I’m not promoting smoking or even fingernail chewing, but recognize that these are commonly used soothing mechanisms for adults).  Some of us even have worry stones or stress balls on our desks.  This is what the Sensory Play Area does for children.  They can plunge their hands into water, let sand sift through their fingers, or squeeze playdough to soothe themselves when they are feeling stressed. 

Any learning area that involves water, sand, and playdough should not be located in a carpeted area of your classroom if possible.  If it must be located on carpet, make sure that you have a lot of plastic mats available to protect your carpet.  At the same time, your flooring must be non-slip so that, when it does get wet, the children (and staff) are not in danger of slipping and falling.  Ideally, your Sensory Play Area will be located near your back door so that it can be used both indoors and outdoors.  Specially-made sand and water tables are great, but not necessary.  If you don’t have the space or money for these, dishpans or plastic bins work well also.  Along with sand and water, you can use a variety of sensorial materials like clean mud (basically toilet paper, soap, and water), real mud, snow, packing peanuts, beads, and, depending upon your philosophical beliefs, rice, beans, or cornmeal.  (Keep in mind that your materials and water containers have to be appropriate for the age of children in your program.)  You also need tools for playing with these materials.  These tools could include: 

• Rakes, shovels, spoons, and scoops
• Buckets and sand molds
• Cups and bottles
• Sand wheels
• Measuring cups
• Funnels
• Sifters
• Egg beaters
• Plastic boats
• And don’t forget the smocks to help keep the children’s clothes clean.

Looking at these materials, we can see what types of things the children will learn in the Sensory Play Area.  We’re talking about a lot of math and science concepts here.  How many cups of sand will fit in this bottle…and how do I get it in there?  What happens when I mix water with the sand?  What will sink and what will float?  As with any learning center, you can change out both the tools and the materials to fit the theme of the week.

Next week, we’ll talk about expanding the learning about scientific concepts into a specific Science Area.

Misty

Early Learning—Manipulatives Area

This week, we’ll talk about the Manipulatives Area.  Manipulatives, also known as Table Toys, are great because they can be very appealing to children and can teach a lot of different skills.  While this area can contain a huge variety of materials, it’s best to keep it well-stocked but not overwhelming.  It’s also best to rotate materials so that children do not become bored with them.  Some items to include in your Manipulatives Area are:

• Building materials like bristle blocks and Legos
• Geoboards
• Pegboards and pegs
• A variety of puzzles (variety in subject matter, size, material, and difficulty); don’t forget floor puzzles
• A variety of counters and sorting containers
• Games (lotto, bingo, etc. for numbers, color, shapes)
• Gear boards
• Pattern cards
• Dressing frames
• Sequencing activities
• Tanagrams
• Beads and laces

As you can see, there are a ton of things you can put in your Manipulatives Area.  If you see a child falling behind in one area of learning, there is probably something you can add to your Manipulatives Area to help that child.  For example, if a child is having difficulty with learning the sounds of letters, you could add an activity in which the child matches the letter with small items beginning with that sound. Oh, and one of the really cool things about manipulatives is that you can make a lot of them yourself!

Some of the skills and concepts that are learned in the Manipulatives Area include:

• Fine motor skills
• Eye-hand coordination
• Shapes and colors
• Matching and classifying
• Following directions
• Visual discrimination
• Sequencing
• Identifying patterns
• Problem solving
• Concentration

Because this is an area that could promote teamwork in some activities, and the play could become a little louder, it’s best to locate it away from your quietest areas.  Ideally, your Manipulatives Area would have both a table and a rug where children could work.  The materials should be on low shelves, well organized and clearly labeled so that children can return the materials to the proper place.

Next week, we’ll talk about Sensory Play.

Misty

Early Learning—Art Area

After a few weeks of talking about different learning areas, we finally come to an area that most parents appreciate—the Art Area.  Parents love to have artwork from their children.  The trick with the Art Area is to help the parents to understand that this, like the other areas, is an area for learning.  The first place where this may arise is when the parent doesn’t understand the child’s art work.  (“What is it?”, “Why did you let him make the sky green?”) It is our job to teach the parent that our focus in early education is on the process, not the product.  Therefore, the product may not be exactly what the parent was expecting.  But, in the process, their child may have learned:

• Creativity
• Fine motor skills
• Hand/eye coordination
• Self-expression
• Vocabulary
• Confidence

Ideally, your Art Area will be located near a window to allow for natural lighting.  The flooring should be a hard surface, not carpeting.  If this is not possible, plastic mats can help save your carpet.  It also should be located as near to a sink as possible to allow for easier cleanup and less tracking of mess through your classroom. 

As for materials, again, we are looking for open-ended activities which provide for creative expression.  We’re not after 25 Christmas cards that each look just like a model provided by the teacher, or an insect made from a craft kit.  Your art materials should reflect your philosophy.  Some suggestions are (keeping in mind that age-appropriateness is very important in the Art Area):

• A variety of paper—large and small, colored and white, construction paper, newsprint, finger paint paper, cardboard, lined and unlined
• A variety of materials for drawing and writing—pencils, crayons, markers
• Scissors and hole punches
• Glue and tape
• Collage materials
• Paint brushes and sponges
• A variety of paints—tempera, watercolor, finger paint
• Smocks
• Modeling/sensory materials—playdough, shaving cream, cookie cutters, rolling pins, plastic knives
• Seasonal materials—used greeting cards, natural materials—acorns, pine cones, leaves, etc.
• Recycled materials—plastic cups, bottles, etc.

Your Art Area should also include appropriate tables and chairs, easels, and drying racks or somewhere that the art projects can be protected while they dry.  Keep in mind, too, that your Art Area can easily be extended outdoors as well.

Next week, we’ll move on to manipulatives.

Misty

Early Learning—Dramatic Play Area

Last week we talked about your Block Area and how it’s sometimes difficult for parents to see what their children are learning in that area.  This week, we take on an even bigger challenge; the Dramatic Play Area.  “Seeing” learning in a Dramatic Play Area can be difficult.  Parents can also feel challenged when their child is choosing an activity that does not meet the parent’s expectation of gender appropriateness.  I once had a father become very upset because his son chose to play with a baby doll.  Of course, what this father didn’t see was that his son was trying out a role and practicing caring for someone else.  

So, other than caring skills and empathy, what else can children learn in a Dramatic Play Area?

• Compromise and problem-solving skills.  If two children both want the same role, but it wouldn’t be appropriate, or we just don’t have enough materials for it, how do they decide who gets to play which role?  How do you keep the play going if there is a conflict?
• Fine and gross-motor skills.  Putting on costumes can be tricky, as can working with various props.
• Language.  Certain language is appropriate for certain situations.  Children learn to use the right vocabulary and phrasing for their make-believe situation.
• Writing.  If your Dramatic Play Area is a restaurant this week, someone will need to write down the customers’ orders.
• Empathy.  Children can learn to understand how they are feeling about a situation and how their classmate is feeling as well.
• Creativity.  We can provide the best space in the world, but the children still need to develop their own story in using the space and the props.

Speaking of space and props, what will that look like?

• Like the Block Area, the Dramatic Play Area needs to be away from your quiet areas. 
• The space needs to be well-defined, but not necessarily by shelves.  A shelf for materials can be quite useful, but a lot of Dramatic Play Areas will have kitchen furniture (stove, refrigerator, etc.) and some sort of coat rack or other method of hanging clothes/costumes.
• The space needs to be well-organized.  Dramatic Play Areas can become overwhelming with too many materials that are not easily accessible.  A few items on hooks will be used much more than a huge box of random clothes. 
• Provide a variety of materials—pants, shirts, dresses, hats (that can be easily and regularly washed), shoes, accessories, household items, writing materials.
• Rotate your materials.  As much fun as dramatic play can be, it can also get boring if it’s always the same items.  This is another great place to bring in props related to your current theme.  This will extend learning on your theme and keep your Dramatic Play Area from becoming boring.  

Next week, we’ll talk about an Art Area.

Misty