A Day in the Life – Teacher’s Edition

Our Day in the Life blog posts seem to be a favorite around here, and for good reason – we enjoy getting a peek into each other’s home days and relating to the highs and lows of the this WONDER-filled SLOCA life.  A few years ago, we thought we’d flip it, and highlight a day in one of our teacher’s lives instead to give our parents and readers a look into what happens in the classroom.

Speaking of teachers, before we get to our post, we’d like to remind everyone that we are celebrating our staff & teachers next week for Team SLOCA Appreciation Week.  For our Track B families looking to fulfill their volunteer hours, here’s your perfect opportunity! Click here to join in on honoring our wonderful community!

Onto our post…joining us today is one of our incredible teachers, Mrs. April Bodine. Mrs. Bodine works in our Tiny Wonders program which just opened up at the beginning of last year. Today, you’ll get a peek into what a day in our toddler class is like! Get your favorite beverage, settle in and be prepared to be wowed!

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Welcome to Tiny Wonders: The Toddler Class!

7:45 AM

I arrive to the classroom and start setting up for the day. Usually, my 2 boys (age 4 and 6) are with me but they are sick and stayed home today. It feels a little strange without their playful noise in the classroom before everyone else arrives. I put out some new puzzles on one table and colorful button sorters on another for some morning exploration.

8:00 AM

I open the door and drop off begins! Parents are encouraged to establish goodbye routines with their children and this dad below is giving his daughter one last hug before she is passed off to me. It takes many hands to keep this classroom running and also pictured is one of our amazing staff (and SLOCA mom) comforting a child who needed an extra hug when her dad left. We are so lucky that hugs are part of our morning routine.

8:45 AM

Everyone has arrived for the day and is deep in their play. The door is open to our yard and some children have asked for bubbles. After a teacher blows bubbles with them for a few minutes we decide to make some bubble solution and give the kids strawberry baskets for bubble blowing. Although this was not our original plan for the morning, we try to be flexible and follow the children’s interests. They used all 5 senses to explore the soap, bubbles, and baskets.

9:15 AM

One way parents in Tiny Wonders fulfill their volunteer hours is taking home and washing all the laundry (washcloths, towels, sheets…) we use everyday. We are so thankful for them! Another one of our amazing staff (and SLOCA mom) takes the opportunity to fold and put away some clean laundry during a quiet moment in the classroom.

9:20 AM

A few more minutes until we get ready for a snack. The children are busy exploring the puzzles, bubbles, sliding in the yard, relaxing and dressing up.

9:35 AM

I stayed close and observed as one of the children attempted to put on a dress-up hat. After several tries, she held out the hat and said “Help”. As a staff we have been slowing down, watching and waiting for the kids to let us know they need help through words instead of rushing in to rescue. We believe “helping” does not mean doing it for them, but instead giving children the time and space to practice verbal and physical skills as well as the tools to help them be successful. I say we are working on this skill as a staff because it is HARD to watch a child struggle, be frustrated, know what they need, know we can fix it for them and yet step back and observe. We are always learning and growing alongside these children.

9:45 AM

Snack time! With our help, the children wash their hands at the sink and settle in at the table. I sit on the floor next to the table with the children and make some observations out loud. “I see Rose and Logan have strawberries today. Does anyone else have strawberries? Are they sweet?” Mealtimes are a great opportunity to talk with the children about our plan for the day, what the schedule will look like, who is in class and what kinds of foods everyone has packed. Sometimes children are disappointed that they can not have what is in their neighbors’ snack/lunch. We work through this by labeling their feelings of disappointment (“You really want Claire’s sandwich”), reminding them of what their food options are (“I see you have berries in your snack today”) and physically being present with them. You can see in the pictures below an adult sitting near them as one child points at another child’s food and she puts her hand up and says “Mine”.

10:05 AM

As the children finish eating a snack they wash their hands at the table with wet washcloths, put them in the laundry hamper and put their cups away. The room and yard are open for more exploration as one staff starts changing diapers. Diaper changes are necessary for the health and safety of the children and the classroom, but we view them as so much more. These caregiving routines are a chance for some one-on-one time with children. We may talk or sing, the children participate in the diaper change with us by holding a diaper, lifting their legs and pulling up clothing. We then record every diaper change, meal, and nap on the daily board for parents and staff.

10:25 AM

I ask the children who have taken their shoes off to go get them from the shoe shelf so we can get ready to head out to the playground. This is another opportunity to let children attempt and possibly struggle with some self-help skills but hey, they are trying! After watching and waiting as one child attempts to put her foot in her shoe she asks me for help. Did I put her shoe on for her? Nope (even though again, it is hard not to quickly do it for her). I showed her how I open the velcro and pull the tongue out then gave her the shoe back to try. A few more tries and she was able to get most of her foot in. I helped her put her foot on the ground and said, “Push your foot down”. I prompted her to fold the velcro over and asked if it was comfortable noticing the velcro was pretty loose. She said yes and seemed satisfied.

10:30 AM

Time to walk out to the playground. We gather at our back fence and hold hands before heading out the gate.

10:50 AM

The playground offers another opportunity for the kids to test their balance, practice large motor movements on the bikes, going down the slide, climbing and running but also fine motor skills using chalk, picking up rocks and exploring the sand. On this morning the wonderful safety team was sweeping the leaves into piles around the playground. Well, it didn’t take these toddlers long to plop themselves right in the middle of those piles. One child took her shoes off so she could fill them with the leaves. Even though the playground looks huge against their small bodies, they often move together in small or large groups around the yard. This requires the extra practice of sharing space, people and materials. We are always close by to provide physical support (when trying something new or climbing high) as well as problem-solving support when conflicts do inevitably arise.

11:15 AM

Time to clean up the playground and head back to our classroom. The children participate in cleaning up by carrying balls, hanging up hoops, collecting chalk and pushing bikes up to be parked.

11:25 AM

We take shoes off outside and the kids put them on our classroom shoe shelf and head to the rug for group time.

11:35 AM

We do a variety of activities during our group times but today we are singing Sticky, Sticky, Bubble gum and identifying different body parts as our hands “stick” to them. We also read Barnyard Dance by Sandra Boynton, talk about the different animals, practice animal sounds and mimic some of the fun movements (spinning, jumping, sliding) from the story. Lastly, we do one of their favorite flannel stories called Little Mouse. Little mouse hides behind different colored houses and we have to call him and look under the different colored houses to find him.

 

11:45 AM

Lunchtime! We help the kids walk over to the sink, wash their hands and sit at the lunch table. One staff helps kids wash their hands, one staff is at the lunch table to get cups, lunches and guide kids to the table while the other staff starts pulling out rest mats, sheets, blankets and bottles for nap time that quickly follows their lunch.

12:10 PM

When the kids are done with lunch it’s another round of diapers and bathroom trips for those using the toilet (or attempting). This prompts another staff shift in the room so one person is changing diapers, one person is with the kids finishing up lunches and one staff is helping kids to their rest mats and getting them to sleep by laying with them or near them. Kids lay on their own rest mat which has been strategically placed in the room to accommodate each child’s unique napping needs. White noise is turned on (we like the rain sound best) and curtains are closed to make the room dark.

12:40 PM

While I finish up helping the last child fall asleep the other 2 staff are heading to lunch. I record what time everyone fell asleep on the whiteboard, clean up the lunch area, write a few notes for parents on our “Today We…” board and make notes for myself about things I want to put in the weekly email to the room 6 families.

1:15 PM

My two wonderful staff are back from their much-deserved lunch break. We all spend a few minutes checking in with each other about the day and I give them my thoughts on a few things I want to focus on with some of the children. We discuss our different observations from the day and make a plan to implement a different approach with some children that we hope will be more effective in getting them to use verbal communication to get what they want and need.

1:25 PM

As I head out to take my lunch break, I see the two staff in the classroom get to work sanitizing all the toys, organizing the classroom, sweeping and mopping the floors, washing dishes, restocking supplies, picking up the yard and getting an activity set up on the table for when children start to wake up. Whew, all in a day’s work!

2:00 PM

I walk into the classroom to find one child awake and get the update that a few children started to wake up but they were able to help them back to sleep by sitting with them and rubbing their back for a few minutes. We bring some paper and pens to a table and let the children do some drawing as they wake up.

2:20 PM

We clean up the table that they have been drawing at and wash hands for another snack before some of them head home. Not everyone is awake yet so we offer a snack to those who are awake in a space away from our sleepers.

2:30 PM

Normally I would be running out the door for a minute to pick up my two boys from their classrooms but they are at home sick and again it feels strange not to see them popping in and out of the classroom as I finish the day. However, the other two staff are off now and their children are filtering into the classroom as they get out of school. I love the community feeling our classroom takes on at the end of the day as older siblings come to help pick up younger siblings, staff children come to meet their parents and even their friends brave the foreign environment to say “hi”. I say bye to the other two staff and welcome another teacher who works as the Kindergarten aide during the day and in the Tiny Wonders classrooms in the afternoon. I fill her in on the day and she starts to change diapers as the children finish snack and wake up.

2:50 PM

The last child is awake so we turn off the white noise, open up the curtains and start saying goodbye as children get picked up by their parents. I talk with parents about their child’s day (the good, bad and beautiful). My other staff prepares 4 of the children to go over to our extended care room at 3pm. We have limited availability for those families that need full-time care until 5pm and combine the infants and toddlers in the infant room. The children help gather their snack (because yes they will eat again before getting picked up at 5. Growing growing!) and water cups before walking down to the other room for the late afternoon.

3:10 PM

I finish talking to the last parent in the classroom, bring the sign in/out sheet to the extended care room and check in with the staff there about any relevant information they may need regarding the toddlers we brought over, gather the trash from our classroom, finish sweeping, sanitize the toys, vacuum, write a note to my co-teacher who will be in that room the next day and take the trash out to the dumpster.

3:45 PM

It has been a busy and productive day in the toddler room! It truly takes a team to make things run smoothly and I’m always so grateful and humbled by the amazing team and people I get to work with everyday. I walk out of the classroom feeling grateful and, truthfully, just a bit tired.

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WOW! What a day indeed, Mrs. Bodine! Thank you so much for sharing your incredible classroom day with us. We love how engaged you and your staff were with the children. From the minute you enter the classroom to the last second you leave campus, it is obvious that you and your team are invested in these children by the amount of love and nurturing that is imparted in the time that they are in your care. Thank you for a job well done, Tiny Wonders team!