3.5k
Daycare and childcare providers in Winnipeg, Toronto, Vancouver, Ontario etc. in CanadaGarderies à Montréal ou au QuébecFind daycare or childcare providers in the USA
Forum control
+ Reply to Thread
Page 2 of 3 FirstFirst 1 2 3 LastLast
Results 11 to 20 of 23
  1. #11
    Outgoing
    Join Date
    Jun 2011
    Posts
    290
    Thanked
    55 Times in 48 Posts
    Quote Originally Posted by Momof4 View Post
    I agree, however I do still love my themes because it makes me feel like a teacher. We are X for x-ray this week and I have the skeletons on the wall and even my 1 year old boy who is advanced in his language understands he has bones in his body now. Ahem, we also did Y for yummy things so we ate everyone's favourite treats this week, but it's only one week and we are celebrating 2 little ones going off to JK soon. I can't believe next week is Z for zoo and we've been from A-Z since Jan. 1st.

    I also teach wherever we go and whatever we do, stopping to look at gardens and insects and police cars and garbage trucks and fire hydrants, you name it.
    That is such a cute idea doing a letter per week! Gonna have to steal that!!

  2. #12
    Euphoric ! kidlove's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2012
    Posts
    1,400
    Thanked
    347 Times in 258 Posts
    I guess I would be "coined" as the "idiot of the group" I use a preschool program that I discovered over the years and wouldnt change a thing. I ask the parents to help a little with the cost and the kids LOVE it. When the children hit the age of about 3yrs (for most kids) they have heard of "school" and want to go...I take them. The program that I use is made really well, and contains EVERYTHING you need to have a "day at school" the only thing I have to do is a little prep work, I have tried setting up my own stuff in the past and...well, its just too much work (for me). This program is adorable! It comes in a box that looks like a school bus and when the delivery man brings it..the kids JUMP FOR JOY! It's so worth the money. lessons, crafts, activities to spark! Every month has a theme. I manage to save a little by dragging the month out for two instead, we have a "slow paced education"

  3. #13
    Euphoric ! kidlove's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2012
    Posts
    1,400
    Thanked
    347 Times in 258 Posts
    just a response to the comment up top, re: the misspelled word. I do know alot of the people who develope these programs for children are common people like MOST of us, women who are stay at home mommies or "undereducated" daycare providers who just know the ins and outs of children. I'm sure alot of these programs are quite cute and enjoyable for the children as well as educational, they just may not be at everyones level of expectation. None the less, educational for the child.

  4. #14
    Euphoric ! Inspired by Reggio's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2011
    Location
    Ontario
    Posts
    2,697
    Thanked
    946 Times in 686 Posts
    Quote Originally Posted by kidlove View Post
    I guess I would be "coined" as the "idiot of the group" ....
    I know your joking but I just wanted to say that I hope I did not come off as implying there was something 'wrong' with themes or a purchased program ~ I just do not like to pay for something that I can do myself for free or less.

    I used themes up until 2005 myself and I own the Jolly Phonics program in its entirety cause I bought it back in 2000 and still enjoy 'portions' of it even in my current curriculum today ~ there are lots of things I loved about themes cause they allowed me to be organized I had my program planned out months at a time in file folders with the crafts cut out and prepared and all the related activities to my little theme and list of things needed for science and so forth and as someone else mentioned it made you feel 'equal to a teacher' in the school system cause you were doing all the same things the schools did and yes there were children who enjoyed the crafts and theme related games and activities for sure and I admit I was actually terrified initially to have to work in a centre with this 'child led emergent' curriculum cause I thought it would be bedlam and impossible and so forth specially after having spent over 15 years with the tired and true themes I knew and with great success as I knew it.

    I do not share my passion for Emergent Curriculum or the work in Reggio Italy to imply it is the only way to go but because after so many years in the field I am re-inspired by this different pedagogy and I am continually amazed by children and how they can lead their own learning with open ended materials and focusing on the environment as their teacher .... kinda like how when your girlfriend meets a new boy and ALL she talks about is how awesome he is

    We are all on a different pedagogy journey with different goals and objectives for our programs ... to be honest there is stuff I love about all the various pedagogy's out there and incorporate into my program ... there are parts of Montessori that inspire me, aspects of Highscope inspire me and I still love the 'circle time' that is traditional in the theme based program and would not want to give that up either.
    Children construct their own intelligence. The adult must provide activities and context, but most of all must be able to listen. Children need proof that adults believe in them. Their three great desires are to be listened to, to understand, and to demonstrate that they are exactly what we expect."
    Loris Malaguzzi

  5. The Following User Says Thank You to Inspired by Reggio For This Useful Post:


  6. #15
    Shy
    Join Date
    Apr 2012
    Posts
    46
    Thanked
    2 Times in 2 Posts
    kidslove - i used the paid curriculum as well! the small amount of money was worth it to me. They learn so much and its all laid out for me. Where do you buy yours from?

  7. #16
    Euphoric ! kidlove's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2012
    Posts
    1,400
    Thanked
    347 Times in 258 Posts
    No reggio: no offense at all, just was joke to the point of: over or under educated......we can ALL do a TERRIFIC job in child care!!!!

  8. #17
    Euphoric ! kidlove's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2012
    Posts
    1,400
    Thanked
    347 Times in 258 Posts
    shopgirl: The preschool program I use is called "Mother Goose Time" www.mothergoosetime.com , such a GREAT program, so cute, eye catching and the parents always comment on how cute the little crafts are the kids bring home. The kids really enjoy it and the best part is.....I do stretch it out so I use one month for a two period. Saving money. I am located in the US but I happen to know they deliver to canada. check it out. and dont forget, you can always ask the parents to help pay tuition, I ask for 5$ week and I dont have to take much out of my own pocket.

  9. The Following User Says Thank You to kidlove For This Useful Post:


  10. #18
    Euphoric ! kidlove's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2012
    Posts
    1,400
    Thanked
    347 Times in 258 Posts
    I also came up with a FREE idea to work with the kids during off seasons or if I didnt have enough kids to do preschool, they LOVED it as well. I called it "specials" , every week I would type up a letter with the next weeks "specials" on it. But the kicker was...the kids picked the weeks list. I had a bucket labeled "for the week" and another labeled "for the day". In the "for the week" bucket would be tickets labeled with everything from every color to number and letters, animals, food groups, plants, weather, etc. the list is endless. then in the "for the day" bucket would have things like, color, set the table, pick whats for snack, pick a show, pick a game to play, etc. that list is also quite endless. Now, at the end of every week, I would allow the kids to pick from the "for the week" bucket to help set up the next weeks activities. they would do this by first picking a number on a popsicle stick to pick the order they had a turn and needed to then put themselves in order and wait their turn. I would do the same for the "for the day" bucket, each day when all the children arrived, we would pick a number, get in order and then pick a for the day "special"......t hey love this!!! it gets them ALL involved and excited about the days plans. the parents also LOVED the weekly letter that went home re: the next weeks specials, also helped get the parents involved in their child week, gave them some dinner talk During the week the parents were encouraged to help the child bring things from home to help with each days "special" ie. on red day, they wore red clothes or brought a red snack to share, on animal days they would bring that animal (stuffed) from home to share and so on. They really enjoyed "store" they would bring their own shopping carts and purses. (everything costs 1$ so they learn to count money and count change) lots of fun!!!!!!

  11. #19
    Euphoric !
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Location
    Ottawa, Ontario
    Posts
    4,499
    Thanked
    1,469 Times in 1,125 Posts
    The idea of curriculums and themes and adult led teaching vice child led learning were things we discussed in our childcare association at one time when setting up the workshops for the new year. A lot of the terms out there are confusing Early childhood for example means toddler to me but if you look at any teaching resource manual from the major publishers that says themes for early childhood on it the age range of the intended student is age 3-5 years. For us in Ontario at least that is the JK/SK group not what we have in home daycare for the most part. What this does is confuse both caregivers and parents on exactly what they are supposed to be "doing" with children aged 1-3 years. This group needs to experiment with why towers fall over when you put the big block on the top and the small one on the bottom or why only 6 hot wheels cars fit in the blue tin but 11 cars fit in the red tin which is bigger. That is the curriculum of toddlers. And it can be planned just the same. Gather the children together with some objects (whatever they are interested in at the time - cars, dinosaurs, lego) and some containers and count as you put things in and out of them together. Then leave the containers and objects available for the children to redo the experiment. This is math and science at the toddler level.

    About the letter of the week concept - there is a website I think it is just called letteroftheweek.com that does just that. As someone mentioned these are just parents that are sharing what they are using with their own children. In many cases they are homeschooling families. I have never bought these types of programs since I am not a sit down do seatwork kind of teacher - here we "learn to play and play to learn".

  12. #20
    Euphoric !
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Location
    Ontario
    Posts
    3,629
    Thanked
    949 Times in 781 Posts
    My daycare is structured with field trip days (3-4 per week), learning and crafting days (1 per week, bad weather day if possible), and imagination days (also bad weather days). On the learning day I cover all the teaching about my theme of the week and we do our craft that pertains to the theme. On imagination days we are playing the way playfelt described and I'm giving the children encouragement in their role playing games, like turning the kitchenette into a drivethrough restaurant, a hospital, etc.

    There are so many ways we can teach and I've heard parents say before that they don't know how to teach their child. To which I respond, you are teaching your child every day whether you know it or not just by playing with them, talking to them and showing them the world around them.

    I didn't mean to judge anyone else's methods of running their daycare at all. If you want to buy a curriculum and that works for you, by all means go for it. I certainly didn't have my system in place the first few years I was in business but the last 2 years it's been working great for me. You have to experiment with what works best for you because we are all so different. That's why the parents look at a lot of different daycares before they choose the one that is best for them.

Similar Threads

  1. Curriculum
    By Goldilocks in forum Daycare activities
    Replies: 10
    Last Post: 07-21-2017, 12:21 PM
  2. Summer curriculum
    By godsgirl in forum Daycare activities
    Replies: 3
    Last Post: 04-30-2013, 11:23 AM
  3. Emergent curriculum
    By Vtorrance in forum Opening a daycare
    Replies: 2
    Last Post: 04-23-2013, 09:10 AM
  4. Curriculum
    By boobop in forum Daycare activities
    Replies: 2
    Last Post: 12-01-2011, 12:41 PM
  5. Replies: 8
    Last Post: 02-16-2011, 03:36 PM

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts

A few tips...

If you visited or if you're using a childcare provider found on DaycareBear, do not hesitate to leave a review. This will most certainly help other parents!
Did you know?
DaycareBear receives more than 155 700 unique pageviews each month; that's nearly 1.9 million pages per year!
Partner in your
search for a daycare provider