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The essence of quality childcare…

when a teacher recognizes and accepts where a child is

academically, socially and culturally and teaches them through play

allowing them to engage in learning.

Quality Care Overview

What does QUALITY mean?

• How good or bad something is • A characteristic or feature that someone or

something has • Something that can be noticed as a part of a

person or thing • A high level of value or excellence

Why is Quality Childcare important?

What is Quality Childcare?

We will emphasize a high level of value or excellence in maintaining

standards, best practices and attitudes that support the

development of children in our care.

The state regulates quality based on the following aspect:

• Ratio: The number of children per adult in a home or classroom

• Group Size: The total number of children

• Health: Policies and practices around illness, immunization, nutrition, cleanliness, and preventing the spread of germs

• Safety: Practices to make sure the environment is safe, both indoors and outdoors. This includes practices around First Aid and Infant and Child CPR training for staff, fire precautions, criminal background checks

• Training, education and experience of the provider: Assures that providers are knowledgeable in child development and other related topics

Quality care is more than just following regulations,

it is embracing the individual, developmental, and academic

needs of children; meanwhile respecting parents as their

primary educators.

Research has shown that building positive relationships with children and their families, plus providing safe developmentally

appropriate learning environments produces long lasting positive effects on children’s cognitive and social development.

This includes: developmentally appropriate curriculum knowledgeable and well-trained teachers

comprehensive services that support the health, nutrition and social well-being, in an environment that respects and supports

diversity

Employing effective practices in the following stages of quality care

are essential for every early childhood teacher.

Stages of Development Children grow and develop at different rates. While their

pathways through childhood differ, most pass a set of predictable milestones along the way.

The information presented here offers a map that can help you follow a child's journey.

The map divides the developmental milestones into four areas:

Physical Development

From the start, babies want to explore their world. As they grow, children's determination to master movement, balance, and fine-motor skills

remains intense.

Social and Emotional

Social and emotional milestones are often harder to pinpoint than signs of physical development. This area

emphasizes many skills that increase self-awareness and self-regulation. Research shows that social skills

and emotional development (ref lected in the ability to pay attention, make transitions from one activity to

another, and cooperate with others) are a very important part of school readiness.

Thinking Skills

Infants were once thought of as passive and unknowing. It was commonly believed that until they mastered language, young children were incapable of thinking or forming complex ideas.

Today, we know otherwise.

Communication Skills

Long before children can say words or join them into sentences, they are active language learners.

Within a few short years, young children go from newborns without language to excellent

communicators and lively inventers and tellers of stories.

In reality, these areas overlap, as development in one area is reinforced

and enhanced by growth in others.

Every child is unique and will develop in their own way and in their own time.

Every child goes through the stages of development in the same order but will spend different lengths of time, and show different

characteristics, at each stage.

Child Development….

refers to how a child becomes able to do more complex things as they get older.

Development is different than growth. Growth only refers to the child getting bigger in size.

Developmental Milestones a set of functional skills or age-specific tasks

that most children can do at a certain age range.

http://www.med.umich.edu/yourchild/topics/devmile.htm

Learning Environments

The setup of your child care environment is as important as

the care you provide!

Indicators of a Quality Early Learning Environment

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fm7hIwLXuTU

A Quality Learning Environment Should Send These Messages to Children…..

• This is a good place to be. • You can trust all the big people in this place. • You can be independent and do many exciting things that will help

you learn. • You can get away and be by yourself or be with friends whenever you

want to. • This is a safe place to explore and try out your ideas. • Everything here is for you and you can use it whenever you like. • You know where things are and they're always in the same place. • This is a happy place that helps you learn new things. • Somebody knows you and know what you like to do.

A child's environment affects their development and behavior.

Well-planned, indoor and outdoor environments make it easier for children to learn,

to get along with one another and

become independent.

Health and Safety Practices

The program promotes the nutrition and health of children and protects children and staff from illness and

injury.

Children must be healthy and safe in order to learn and grow.

Enhance Development and Learning

The teacher implements a curriculum that is consistent with goals for children and promotes learning and development

in each of the following areas: social, emotional, physical, language, and cognitive.

Positive & Caring Community

The teacher promotes positive relationships among all children and adults.

She encourages each child’s sense of individual worth and belonging as part of a

community and fosters each child’s ability to contribute as a responsible community

member.

POSITIVE Guidance

Research shows that if children start school with a strong set of attitudes and skills that help them

"learn how to learn," they will be better able to take advantage of

educational opportunities.

While some learning skills come naturally to children, others can be developed through a

supportive environment.

Observation and Assessment The program is informed by ongoing systematic, formal, and informal assessment approaches to

provide information on children’s learning and development.

These assessments occur within the context of reciprocal communications with families and

with sensitivity to the cultural contexts in which children develop.

Relationships with Families

Establish and maintain collaborative relationships with each child’s family to foster

children’s development in all settings.

These relationships are sensitive to family composition, language, and culture.

Quality Caregivers

The program employs and supports a teaching staff

with the educational qualifications, knowledge, and professional commitment necessary to promote children’s learning

and development and to support families’

diverse needs and interests.

Developmentally Appropriate Practice

Developmentally appropriate practice, often shortened to DAP,

is an approach to teaching grounded in the research

on how young children develop and learn and in what is known about

effective early education. Its framework is designed to promote young

children’s optimal learning and development.

https://bkc.vmhost.psu.edu/documents/TIPS1402.pdf

3 CORE CONSIDERATIONS OF DAP

• Knowing about child development and learning.

• Knowing what is individually appropriate.

• Knowing what is culturally important.

Developmentally appropriate practice means you use knowledge about child development to create a program that is suitable

for the age and stage of development of your group of children.

At the same time, your program considers the needs of the individual child.

• Age appropriate • Individual Appropriateness.

• Child-guided and Teacher-guided Experiences • Culturally and Socially Responsive

• Play

Play

Play promotes optimal development across all domains during early childhood and beyond.

Children love to play, and play often mirrors what is important in their lives. When asked about play children talk about having fun, being with friends, choosing activities themselves, and being outdoors.

Indoor Play….

Outdoor Play…

Benefits of Play Educational benefits include… • providing a meaningful context for children to

learn concepts and skills; • making learning fun and enjoyable; • encouraging children to explore and discover

together and on their own; • allowing children to extend what they are learning; • encouraging children to experiment and take risks; • providing opportunities for collaborative learning

with adults and peers; • allowing for the practice of skills.

http://udel.edu/~roberta/play/benefits.html

Types of Play

There are five distinctly different types of play.

http://deta.qld.gov.au/earlychildhood/pdfs/tip- sheets/different-types-play.pdf

Solitary Play: This is when your toddler

plays alone. All children like solitary play

at times.

Parallel Play: This is when your toddler plays beside another child

without interacting.

Your toddler will observe the other child and often imitate what they do. Toddlers enjoy parallel play.

Imitative Play: This is when your toddler and another child

copy each other. One toddler starts to jump and soon they are both jumping. Or you are folding clothes and

your toddler tries to do the same.

Social Bids: This is the first step toward

having fun with others. Well before the age of 24 months,

your toddler will offer toys, looks, or words to other children.

It’s your toddler’s way of communicating.

Cooperative Play: As your toddler gets older, he or she will start to

play with other children. They may work together to build a block village or take stuffed animals to the doctor. Many children are not ready for this kind of play until they are 36

months of age or older.

Promoting Play

The adult provides children with the support, props, time, and space to develop their play.

This role involves many dimensions such as when to intervene and when to stand back.

http://www.ncca.biz/Aistear/pdfs/Guidelines_ENG/Play_EN G.pdf

http://laup.net/documents/what_we_do/race_to_the_top/eei_2/ rtt_eei2_what_i_learn_when_i_play.pdf