Good afternoon families,
Wow Halloween and the first snowfall in one week lol. The kids are all delighted this afternoon about playing in the snow.
At drop-off parents wash their child’s hands and place personal items on their child’s hook, if at all possible older children are encouraged to do this on their own
Children are settled down at the table to have breakfast and a glass of milk together.
After breakfast, each child is cleaned up. Older children wash their own hands and face, while younger children are assisted. At this point younger children have their diapers checked and changed. After each child goes through the cleaning process they are able to join the other children and free play until all children are ready and I’ve had a chance to wash bibs, sanitize table and high chairs and clean up the kitchen for the next meal.
I then gather all the children around the calendar poster. We say good morning to each other and I ask all the girls to tell each other about their evenings/weekends. Each older child takes a turn, while the younger ones listen or play quietly in the background. We then go through the month, year, season, count up to what date it is, go through all the days of the week, weather is noted, we also go through a color and letter of the day at this time. Through each of these subjects the kids are picking the label we talked about and putting it up on the board. The color and number was;
Number 2 and the color white
After this we have library book corner. Every week I get a bunch of books from the library usually on a particular subject such as dancing or sharing out for the week. The kids get a chance to go through all the books pick one for reading at that time and also pick out the book we’ll read just before nap time. Books we read today are;
First Snow in the woods (a beautiful realistic book about the changing of the seasons. It was quite long so I broke it up into two parts and it was the only book we read today)
After drop off, breakfast, clean up, free play, calendar time, and library corner we;
It was really wet out this morning and cold so we stayed indoors. They did drawings played with Play-Doh. And then we built a tent out of the table.
Once it is 10:30 we start getting ready for snack and nap time. Everybody gets their face and hands cleaned and settled at the table. Water and snacks are served. After everybody has eaten all the kids go through the cleaning process again. Older children wash their own hands and face, while younger children are assisted. At this point younger children have their diapers checked and changed. After each child goes through the cleaning process they are able to join the other children and free play until all children are ready and I’ve had a chance to wash bibs, sanitize table and high chairs and clean up the kitchen for the next meal.
We then get ready for nap time. I set out the books, Play-Doh or coloring station for older kids. The younger ones are set up with blocks and Lego. I get all the kids set with what they’d like to do then I start getting the playroom ready nap time. Setting up all playpens and sleeping bags for nap time. All the little ones get a diaper check and settled into their playpens with their blankies soothers and special toys. After little ones are set. The big kids sit on the couch and I read them one last book, that they picked out in the morning, before they take a turn going to the washroom and settle into their sleeping bags. The kids then sleep anywhere from 1 ½ to 2 ½ hours. Today we slept from;
12 to 2 p.m. One of the kids had an accident today so nap time was cut a bit short for the older kids. I allowed them 20 minutes of the Magic School Bus while I finish getting lunch on the table.
While the kids are sleeping I clean up the daycare space. Have my own lunch. Reply to emails and text messages from parents and Interior Health. Work on daycare paperwork. I check on kids every 20 to 30 minutes. I prep lunch and set the table for the kids for when they wake up. I do the daily log and post photos for parents at this time too. Usually I start hearing the first of the kids wake just as I finish up.
Each child’s hands are washed and then they are settled at the table. After lunch, each child is cleaned up. Older children wash their own hands and face, while younger children are assisted. At this point younger children have their diapers checked and changed. After each child goes through the cleaning process they are able to join the other children and free play until all children are ready and I’ve had a chance to wash bibs, sanitize table and high chairs and clean up the kitchen for the next meal.
After lunch I try to remember to put anything that the children need for pickup in their bags and we;
Got cleaned up and then put all our snow gear on for a play out in the snow.
Just after 4 o’clock we get ready for pickup. We clean up, pick up and put everything away. each child is cleaned up. Older children wash their own hands and face, while younger children are assisted. At this point younger children have their diapers checked and changed. After each child goes through the cleaning process they are able to join the other children and free play.
This is when parents start to arrive if any issues have come up or supplies is needed I will tell parents then or text them during pick-up.
Meals provided are typically homemade, often fresh from the garden if it included any kind of tomato sauce. Today they had;
Breakfast:
Yogurt granola half a banana and a side of blueberries
Snack:
Fishy crackers, sandwich meat, slices of cheese and carrot sticks
Lunch:
I took extra time today and made the kids a beautiful butter nut squash soup. I also used a homemade roast chicken broth in the soup and blened in cream. Blended garlic and onion in the soup as well. I figured with the change of season the kids could all use a from scratch hot heathy meal. On the side half a multigrain brown bread bagel with butter to dip.