In-House Position Newsletter
September
Education Specialist
Language Immersion Spanish
All Toddler, Young Preschool, Preschool, Pre-K Academy and Varsity Club classrooms participate in Rainbow Child Care Centers Language Immersion Spanish Enrichment Program. You may be asking yourself why we are teaching Spanish in our centers. Well, it promotes cultural awareness, it provides cognitive advantages and early childhood is the best time to learn a new language! We do understand that you may not speak perfect Spanish and that is okay! We are not trying to produce fluent Spanish speakers. We are teaching the children in our center something called “sequential Spanish”. Meaning, the first thing they learn are sounds and words, not sentences. Play Spanish music during the day, soon you will realize that children (and you!) are picking up on the sound and words of the Spanish language. Utilize the Language Immersions Spanish Manuals (1 &2) when writing your lesson plans. As you write the activities on your lesson plans write the activity title, the page number (if from the manual) and the objectives that activity meets.
If your center needs new copies of the Language Immersion Spanish manuals, please email the Education Department at education@rainbowccc.com
PDF versions of the manuals can also be found at SharePoint / Google Drive > Education > Enrichment Programs > Language Immersion Spanish> RCCC-CG-SP-Vol 1 / 2
For further training on the Language Immersion Spanish program, visit the Education Training Portal > Enrichment programs
Rainbow Representative
“The most valuable resource that all teachers have is each other. Without collaboration our growth is limited to our own perspectives.” Robert John Meehan. Remind your staff to collaborate with each other to help make their classrooms successful. Also, we are only one month away from Employee Education Conference Day 2016. Be sure to ask your director what you can do to help get ready and get everyone excited!
Each month we will continue to provide ideas as well as general tips for connecting with staff and families. We would also love to hear your ideas and see your hard work! Please send ideas and pictures of completed activities to education@rainbowccc.com.
Staff Appreciation Idea- “Work Like a Captain, Play Like a Pirate!” September 19th is Talk Like a Pirate day. Attach the above quote to a small bag of chocolate gold coins and pass out to the staff.
Family Connection Idea- September 16th is National Play Doh Day. Have each member of your staff write down their favorite play dough recipe. Set out copies of the recipes for parents to grab at pick-up. You can also plan a play dough night where families and teachers can get together and create different play dough recipes.
Health and Safety Coordinator
Having Our Eyes Everywhere!
We all know that we do not have eyes in the back of our heads and things do happen, but the most serious issues we are running into is lack of supervision during transition times. Teachers are forgetting to follow through with the Name-to-Face procedures to account for each child in their care. Children are being left behind on the playground, wandering the halls, left in the gyms, etc. By following the guidelines below, we have a better chance at keeping all the children in our care safe.
- Be sure that each child is properly signed in on the Name-to-Face sheet with their first and last name.
- After the children line up, make sure you are calling out their names and waiting for recognition from each child before leaving the location.
- Check to make sure that your numbers and names match up with the children in your care.
- If you are going to the gym, have the children line up along the wall and do another Name-to-Face check when arrive at your destination. Call out each child’s name and look at them. Follow this same routine before leaving the gym.
- When your class is coming in from the outside, have them line up against a wall, do a Name-to-Face and ensure you have everyone before entering the building again. Count each child’s head to ensure you watch each child walk through the door and no one went back to the playground.
- If you are lucky enough to have a second teacher with you in your room, have one teacher at the front of the line and the other at the back of the line. Both teachers are responsible for completing the Name-to-Face and ensuring children are accounted for at all times.
- Stay focused on the children in your care to make sure that everyone is present and accounted for. Minimize distractions during transitions to ensure 100% of your focus is on the children.