Good afternoon families,
To make things a little easier on myself I am copying and pasting the blue text as these things happen every day typically in that order. The black text is something that has changed that day or will always be different.
Today at drop-off, parents wash their child’s hands and place personal items on their child’s hook, if at all possible the 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; yellow & 5
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; you are what you eat and the Berenstain Bears Get stage fright
After drop off, breakfast, clean up, free play, calendar time, and library corner we; had a dance party. Played with Play-Doh and did some painting.
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; 11:45 until 2pm a little earlier to today because I had Deb coming and wanted the kids to be completely ready once she arrived.
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.
After nap, 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; had Deb come to look after the kids while I went to an appointment. I set up Magic School Bus movie for them to watch to make things a little easier for her. Also note it was still very smoky today so I kept the kids indoors.
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 with granola and one half a banana with their milk.
Snack: cauliflower broccoli and carrots with dip. Crackers and cheese
Lunch: will be chicken rice carrots onions and mushroom stir-fry.