Hello Educators,

I hope you had a good January. What a roller coaster of weather we have experienced! Let's see what February brings! Remind parents to send the appropriate clothing for the weather (right now, this can change daily), and suggest sending spares too.

Affordability Grant Top Up

The agency appreciates all the questions we are currently receiving from you regarding the affordability grant top up.

As soon as we know more details, we will be back in touch with accurate and up to date information. We really appreciate your patience at this ever-changing time as childcare transitions from parent-funded care to government funded.

February Visits

Please be reminded that your consultant will be dropping off your statement of earnings and parents tax receipts at their next visit.

Feedback on Standards Core Training

Thank you to all educators who attended what is now the Annual Standards Core Training Refresher. I always appreciate and look forward to reading your evaluations and suggestions for future sessions.

Here are some statistics from the survey:

91 educators completed the evaluations.

In questions 1-5, over 80 of you gave a score of 5 (Agree) regarding the following statements:

1. The content was helpful

2. The level of workshop was appropriate

3. The format was enjoyable

4. The speakers had a good understanding of the topic

5. The workshop was worth your time.

Over 80 gave a score of 4 (Generally Agree) that the length of workshop was appropriate.

90 out of 91 would recommend the workshop to other educators.

The most useful aspects of the workshop were as follows:

· Reviewing Standard 10 – the Health and Safety Standard.

· Revisiting, refreshing, and revising your understanding of all the standards

· Focused information on program planning, exemption request procedures, medication procedures,

transportation procedures, and the purpose of non-compliance.

· The opportunity to share ideas, discuss and network with other educators.

· The chance to ask questions related to the standards.

These were some helpful and interesting suggestions for changes to the workshop:

· Changing the length of time

· Narrow down the information

· Offer a Saturday option

· Split the training over two days

· Offer an in-person workshop

· More breaks

· More time for discussions

· Keeping questions in the chat and focused on the Standards

· Offering varied sessions based on experience

These are some great suggestions, and we will certainly be considering them all for the following year, so thank you for taking the time to complete the evaluation and offer your feedback. If you have any other suggestions to make regarding the Standards workshop, please contact me or your consultant.

Have a wonderful February.

Emma Dajavs

Coordinator

We are excited to welcome Prabhjeet Kaur, Saranya Palpandian, Navreet Kaur Gill,and Anjali Patel to the agency!

February 8 , 6.30pm to 8.30pm: Core Training – Communication

It’s important that as an educator, you foster an environment that welcomes families into your home and the dayhome daily. Children benefit the most when they feel a connection between all areas of their lives. Here are a few ideas to improve parental involvement in the dayhome.

Have an open-door policy and welcoming dayhome environment:

Depending on your setup, do you know that many parents only see the front door area of your day home? After the initial interview, parents do not get to see all the changes and items you add to your dayhome regularly! All that hard work and parents do not see it!

Change that--- make sure parents come into your actual day home play space regularly. Plan a monthly “stay and play” day where parents stay longer at pickup and get to play with their child in the dayhome environment and with the dayhome toys.

Let parents know they can join you during the day- join for story time, circle time, lunch, craft time. Make sure parents know what time these activities take place.

Family-friendly events:

Plan activities for and with your dayhome children’s parents. Invite parents and other siblings/ family members on special occasion days. Set up an art shows, a play, a dance, a sports game with the kids and have families come and attend. Take into consideration the kids in your day homes interests and plan accordingly.

Speaking of interests, find out more about parents and their hobbies and interests. Then, when you are teaching a certain theme or talking about a certain topic, you can request certain parents to volunteer to come in and be your guest to share their “expertise”—this is a great way to boost family engagement. You can send home a “getting to know your family questionnaire” to find out about parent’s hobbies and interests.

Regularly showcase children’s work

When parents see their child’s work hanging up and in their daily reports, it helps them feel included and part of the day home. When they can see their child’s work displayed, it gives them a sense of belonging as well as pride in their child. It sends the message that you care and that you are proud of their work as well Sending photos and videos of children's work throughout the day is a bonus. This gives parents/caregivers a chance to save this work and have a portfolio to look back on.

Daily communication through an app

One of the best ways to engage families is through an electronic app. Using an app rather than paper not only makes it easier, but it makes it more fun to interact with families. Apps like HiMama allow parents to “like” and “comment” on photos as well as message back and forth with educators.

Daily communication is crucial for families to feel seen and heard, and this is a great way to have this. After checking what the parents have requested in the photo/video policy form- you can upload individual and group pictures so that parents/caregivers can get a good idea of what their children are doing throughout the day. It’s helpful to have a caption to explain each photo, too.

Take some time to see which of these ideas will work best in your day home. Is there something else you can do to increase the parent involvement in your day home? Have you done something specifically that has worked well, and you want to share with us so we can pass it on other educators? If so- please share these great ideas with your consultant!

Even though these ideas may require more work and effort, we promise you that these events are fun and parents/caregivers will want to help, participate, and learn about their child’s day at your day home.

Did you know there is a National parental involvement day? It is on November 16th each year. Keep that in mind but do not wait till then to get parents more involved in your day home!

“Afternoon snack was apple cinnamon cheerios with banana and milk. I’ve started offering the milk on the side so the children have control over how much or how little goes in their bowl.

The children were confused at first, why would I put the milk in a cup instead of their bowls? I explained that they could pour it over top of their cereal, as much or as little as they’d like, or they could drink it or leave it. One child chose to pour it into their cereal immediately and all the other children watched, then decided to do the same.

When the same snack was offered 3 days later, multiple children asked specifically for their milk in a cup so they could pour it in themselves.”

"Hello everyone!

“I have been working in the childcare field since 2008. I completed my level 2 and level 3 from CDI College in 2013 and 2014. I worked directly with children for about 12 years in a day care setting.

I joined Southgate Medallion Family day Home Agency in 2021. I enjoy my role of supporting, guiding, mentoring, witnessing the hard work of our fantastic educators and learning from them and from my colleagues.

I have two beautiful children who motivate me to move forward. “

Did you know that some plant-based beverages provide more nutrition than others? Click on the link below to find out what to look for when choosing a plant-based beverage for young children.

P’s discovery of music and movements

Play Schema: Sound

In the morning P entered the classroom and she did her routine by changing her jacket, indoor shoes and washed her hands. After that she walked around the room for twice and she stopped at the musical instrument bin, and she squatted and pull the bin out and she looked inside. She spotted a collection of bells, shakers, percussion (xylophone piano) nestled in the bin. P picked the piano and placed it on the table and she used her fingers to play by humming. After some time, she went back to the bin and took the xylophone out and placed next to the piano on the table and she played the xylophone as well. V walked close to P and stood beside the table. P offered the xylophone to V, and she took some shakers out from the bin. They both took turns to play piano, xylophone, shakers by humming with the rhythm.

As they explored, they both discovered the varying tones and textures of the instruments. Together they created a harmonious music of laughter and melody. P walked to the mike set area and she pulled out the mike set and said, “V come” and she came to me saying “Ms. Dhanya help me please”. I helped them to remove child proof plug covers and plugged the mike set. P held the mike, and she sang ‘A B C…” and she hand over the mike to V. While he was singing, P took the shakers in both hands, and she did rhythmic movements with the shakers. Together it was a journey of sensory discovery and a lesson in co-operation and a celebration of creativity.

As the children took turns experimenting with different instruments, they learned about cause and effect, developing an understanding of how their actions produced different sounds. They also discovered the joy of collaborative play, taking turns and listening to one another. Through this musical adventure, both P and V only embraced the joy of sound but also forged bonds of sensory experiences.

This play experiences emphasis the play schema of sound exploration and demonstrates how it fosters various aspects of development, including sensory exploration, cooperation and cause and effect understanding.

Learning Dispositions:

Seeking: the initial curiosity that led P to explore the bin of musical instruments, it encouraged P to ask questions, seek out new experiences and engage with their environment in a meaningful way.

Playing and playful: The act of creating music even in its simplest form fosters creativity. It encourages children to experiment with different sounds, rhythms, and movements, allowing them to express themselves in a unique and imaginative manner.

Participating: Children were engaged and listening to one another while sharing their ideas of tunes, rhythm, songs, and movements.

Holistic developments:

Well-being: Children develop a sense of others by supporting, encouraging, and listening to others and experiencing trust and compassion with each other.

Communicative practices: Children form relationships through communicative proactive and by practicing and playing with sounds.

The office is closed on Monday February 19, 2024, and will reopen on February 20, 2024.

Please call the After Hours Emergency Phone: 780-245-3097 in case of any emergency.

Happy Chinese New Year!🔴

We wish you all a Happy Valentine's Day 💌💟