Good afternoon families,
I hope everybody had a lovely Thanksgiving. A few things to note today; over the long weekend we were able to build the fence under the deck to keep all the kids out of the woodpile and objects we don’t want them interacting with in the yard. Now that the deck and fencing is complete I have sent off my to scale drawing and request to Interior Health for the yard inspection. They have come back to me that they will be here on Thursday morning for inspection of deck and yard.
Now that I’m caught up on appointments I needed to get to, I am able to take advantage of my Kelowna Child Care Membership. They’re only ever open on days that I am working, so up until this point I have not had the opportunity to utilize their toy Library. It’s a wonderful service that will be really nice to have over this winter. It works just like a normal library but instead of books there are toys and learning opportunities to take out. I’ve taken a picture of many of the new toys I was able to take out and there is also a learning box for the older kids on natural elements I don’t know if we’ll get to that today but certainly over this week will be fine diving into it:D
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; yellow and the number 8
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;
We went back over Germs Are Not For Sharing & Diary of a Week & Stellaluna
After drop off, breakfast, clean up, free play, calendar time, and library corner we;
Had a great time exploring all the new toys and then played outside.
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;
12-2:30pm, both the older girls did not fall asleep until about 1pm lots of giggling and getting up.
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;
Might go through the learning box or head outdoors depending on the temperaments of the kids.
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:oatmeal with Blended bananas almond milk and cinnamon
Snack:vegetable crackers withhold cheddar cheese and a Mott’s fruitsations unsweetened blueberry cup
Lunch: stir fry with chicken broccoli and rice