early childhood education Archives - Page 14 of 19 - Early Learning Childhood Education

25/08/201625/08/2016

Assessing School Readiness and Tackling the Transition

Starting primary school is one of the biggest transitions a child will ever face. It’s also a special milestone for children and for their parents and families!

Each state and territory in Australia has its own minimum and maximum age for starting primary school. In the lead up to enrolling and school orientation, it’s so important to assess each child’s school readiness individually.

School Readiness is More Than Age

Of course a child’s age comes in to play when deciding if they are ready for school, but there are so many other factors to consider.

Personality can dictate whether a child is suited to started school sooner or later, as well as their skills – this includes physical, social and emotional ability.

There are many checklists available online, like this one from renowned early childhood expert Kathy Walker. Kathy’s Early Life Foundations fact sheet on the topic talks about 7 key areas to consider whether children are ready for school, including

-Separate easily from parent / carer at preschool drop off
-Self initiate, engage and sustain engagement (6 – 8 minutes), have the skills to solve basic problems and ask for help from the educator if needed
-Have basic independence skills (able to put shoes and socks on, art smock on, toileting independently)
-Self regulate their emotional response when they need to do something they don’t want to (eg don’t tantrum when it is time to pack up).

We spoke to a primary school Prep coordinator and she was happy to share some tips with us too. These are some of the tasks that she recommends children starting primary school should aim to be able to do.

10 Tasks That Prep Children Should Know

Take care of their belongings including books and uniform
Put things away when they are no longer being used
Pack their lunchbox with various compartments for different items
Use the bathroom independently and confidently
Tie their own shoelaces
Write their own name
Recite the alphabet
Count from one to ten, and from ten to one
Be confident with zips, buttons and velcro
Listen and focus

If In Doubt, Wait It Out

Just because your child is able to start school because of their birthday, it doesn’t mean they have to. In fact, research has made it very clear that there are many benefits to starting school that little bit later (while there are no benefits to starting earlier). Read our previous blog on this subject here.

Australia has some of the youngest school entry in the developed world, so we certainly don’t need to be in a rush. Early childhood educators should be equipped to guide parents in making the right decision that is best for each individual child and their future.

Transition Troubles

Even if a child is competent at completing all of these tasks, the transition can still be challenging. Of course, for some children it is a simple process, but for others it can take a while to settle in.

In preparation there are things we can all do to help children.

Early childhood educators can help by:

-Practicing focus and listening skills
-Talking about school and what it involves
-Encourage children to create friendships
-Practicing buttons, zips, lids and Velcro
-Working on writing name
-Focusing on literacy and numeracy
-Showing children how to line up to go in/out
Parents and families can help children become school ready by:

-Allowing children more independence
-Increasing expectations around unassisted toileting, handwashing, eating and dressing
-Encourage children to create friendships
-Read books about children who go to school
-Practicing buttons, zips, lids and velcro

Even once children have started school, keep working on the skills they need for school so that the tasks they face become more familiar and easier over time.

School Ready, Life Ready

We like to think of being ready for school as being ready for beginning a life where children will be significantly more independent.

It’s so crucial that children are ready to take this step, and as Kathy Walker from Early Life Foundations says, we can’t assume that children will magically catch up once they begin as in most cases, they don’t. In fact the challenges and readiness issues often worsen over time, so sending a child to school hoping that they will just “cope” is not a good idea.

Starting school is an incredible step in children’s development and a memory that many of us will have for life. Making sure children are 100% ready to take this step can help to ensure this memory is a positive one.

18/08/201618/08/2016

Let’s Get Reading For Life

Reading books is a favourite hobby for many, children and adults alike! Books can be great for learning, for escaping, for relaxing and just for fun.

More that this, books help young children to build vital literacy skills that will provide them with benefits throughout their lives.

Children’s Book Week takes place from August 20 – 26 in 2016 and gives educators, children and parents the chance to discover the magic of reading together or alone. This is a great excuse to relive the wonder of your favourite childhood book and share it with children in your care! The theme for this year is ‘Australia! Story Country’, so you might like to incorporate this too.

Literacy and Numeracy for a Better Life

Literacy is defined as the ability to read and write. Numeracy is the ability to understand numbers. These two areas are major pillars in our development and ability to learn throughout life.

The research shows that “reading to children 6-7 days per week has the same effect as being almost 12 months older”, and that “These differences in reading and cognitive skills are not related to the child’s family background or home environment but are the direct result of how frequently they have been read to prior to starting school”. With this in mind, we need to do everything can to encourage a love of reading in all children!

Try this list of great books for children aged between 3 and 5 to get even the least interested children engaged in reading. Sometimes if you start with the subject matter this can be a good tactic, for example a child who loves trucks could fall in love with pictures of trucks in a book and then the story about the trucks. It can be as simple as that to start off a love of books in children!

Why Children Should Read More

Need more reasons why children should read more? In addition to those measurable educational benefits, reading is great to:
-Help children learn about the world

-Stimulate the imagination and ability to visualise

-Increase children’s vocabulary

-Provide a form of entertainment that is relaxing and has no screen!

Reading is a simple way to enhance children’s love of books and in turn, enhance their ability to learn and have a positive impact on their lives well into the future.

In the interest of Book Week, we’d love to know what your childhood favourite was from the bookshelf… Share with us!

11/08/201611/08/2016

A day of professional development for your ENTIRE team

professional development to your entire team

Each and every centre running the Bonkers Beat Music and Wellbeing programs gets the opportunity to attend two exclusive Wellness Summits each year. The Wellness Summits take place in summer and winter, plus we run them in each state so no one misses out or has to travel interstate.

Professional development delivered to your entire team

It’s not just the management or team leaders that are invited to head along – the Wellness Summits deliver a day of exclusive professional development to your entire team!

As if that’s not enough, the Summits feature guest speakers who are ready to share with you and your team, enlightening you on a range of different topics and unique approaches to grow your knowledge on various aspects of early childhood education.

Not to be confused with the recent (and fantastic!) Wellness Works! Early Childhood Leaders Conference, which was a ticketed event, the Wellness Summits are only open to centres with membership to the Bonkers Beat Music and Wellbeing program.

For all centres running Bonkers Beat within their curriculum, the Wellness Summit is a 1-day event for your entire team to attend together with NO additional costs, fees, tickets – it’s all included in the Bonkers Beat membership!

The Winter Wellness Summit will travel across Australia over August and September with all participating centres attending.

The event features:

-Reggio Emilia expert Kerrie O’Neill from Early Childhood Hub

-Wellbeing expert

-Managing behaviour with music and games

-Learning enhancing strategies

-A practical and informative session on setting up systems in your centre

-MUCH MORE!

To all the Bonkers Beat members, we cannot WAIT to see you there!

If this innovative, practical and cost-effective professional development day sounds like something you and your team would like to be involved in, feel free to send us an email to info@bonkersbeat.com to find out the many benefits of being part of the Bonkers Beat family.

04/08/201605/08/2016

Your Guide to Celebrating the Rio 2016 Olympic Games

As we all know, the Olympics only comes around once every four years so it can be a novel event to celebrate in centres – not to mention a lot of fun! The Rio 2016 Olympic Games take place from August 5 – 21.

The Olympic Games provide early childhood educators (as well as educators at all levels) the opportunity to explore many different topics with children, but to make it simple for you we’ve narrowed it down:

1. What are the Olympic Games?

Start with a discussion of what the Olympic Games are. Keep it simple – pick from a few of the main features that children will find exciting. You could talk about the whole world working together, the teamwork, the sports, the Olympic torch and the medals.

Here are some leading questions to help you with your Olympics discussions:

What do you know about Olympic Games?
How often do the Olympic Games run?
Which countries participate in Olympic Games?
Where will Olympic Games run this year?
Which country is Rio de Janeiro the capital city of?
Do you like playing sport?
Which sport is your favourite?
Does your mummy or daddy play sport?
Why do people like to do sport?
Does playing sport make you healthy?
Why do we need to be healthy?

2. Get physical

Check out the full list of the sports featured at Rio 2016 here and adapt them to allow children to try at your centre. Children could line up chairs and row in an imagined kayak! Or get outside for one of the many ball games like basketball.

3. Get creative

Children can explore elements of the Olympics creatively using visual arts. Here are a few ideas:

-Colouring or creating Olympic rings is a classic Olympic activity for children. Here’s a printable, or try using plastic cups dipped in paint.

-Children can create their own Olympic medals using ribbon, cardboard, coloured paper, felt, foil – whatever else you can find!

-Roll up some paper into a cone shape, secure with glue or tape and stuff with orange and red tissue paper to create an Olympic torch!

4. Talk about teamwork

Children watching the Olympics and any sport will notice that in many cases teams need to work together and help one another. A simple parachute game of trying to keep a ball or balls on the parachute/sheet will help demonstrate the importance of teamwork to children! Observing and discussing uniforms can be fun too.

The Olympic Games are an exciting time all over the world, so above all keep it fun! If you have some amazing ideas to add, we would absolutely love to hear about them! Share with us on our Facebook page, or if you’re a Bonkers Beat member, share in our private group here. Parents, feel free to post in our private Facebook group for Bonkers Beat

27/07/201628/07/2016

Overcoming High Staff Turnover in Centres

When it comes to the first five years, we know how important this time is in a child’s development.

Genetics play a role in this foundation-laying period in children’s lives, along with other influencing factors like nutrition, environment and relationships. With many children spending time in childcare centres or kindergartens during these early years, early childhood educators can have a notable impact on their lives – now and into the future.

In this blog we will focus on relationships and high staff turnover in centres. A recent survey conducted by Queensland University of Technology discovered that of 1,200 childcare workers across Australia, 1 in 5 plan to leave their job within the space of a year.

The research leader Professor Karen Thorpe spoke with the ABC, saying: “[The children] are losing people they’re attached to and that’s not good for children’s learning or emotional and social development.”

Children’s bonds with educators

Children have various bonds with different educators and can also be creatures of habit – they tend to like routine and seeing familiar faced, so when an educator they are used to seeing is no longer around it can cause distress.

Children deserve the opportunity to feel like they can trust their caregivers and when an educator who has created a positive, nurturing relationship with them is leaving, that sense of trust can be affected. Needless to say, this can disrupt a child’s learning experience and be generally upsetting for them.

The impact is felt

The impact of losing staff members – team members – is felt across every aspect of a centre. And while children are impacted most, everyone is affected.

To gain a passionate, qualified, dedicated educator is no easy feat and requires time, energy, patience and financial resources. Even more to train them, help them to understand centre’s philosophy, make them feel welcome and comfortable. For educators to then be planning to leave within a short frame of time presents many challenges for a centre.

Parents need to be informed, job advertisements need to be distributed – and of course, as we mentioned, it needs to be explained to children.

Facilitate loyalty

So how do we overcome high staff turnover and improve retention of our valued educators? It’s a complex issue and one that there is no simple answer for, but it is something we need to work to overcome together as dedicated members of this important industry.

In this recent article in Early Edition, we discuss what an exciting time it is to work in early childhood education. We also acknowledge that it’s a role that isn’t always easy but as a team we can create positive environments that are geared towards maximising the day-to-day experience for our educators.

Supporting the wellbeing of educators and maintaining an open line of communication with plenty of opportunities to express feelings can be invaluable. While we spend a lot of time doing and informing, sometimes we can benefit greatly from simply listening and understanding.

Have you experienced high staff turnover in centres? What actions do you take to improve retention of your educators?

High staff turnover in centres is an industry-wide issue in early childhood, so a team approach is the first step toward fostering a culture of long-standing teams of educators in our centres.

21/07/201622/07/2016

Revealed: The Top 3 Challenges Faced by Early Childhood Educators

On July 12 the very first Wellness Works: The Complete Early Childhood Leaders Conference took place in Melbourne… And what a fantastic success it was!

In the lead up to the Melbourne event, we did some research to find out exactly what challenges in early childhood education were coming up for educators, leaders, managers and owners working in the field. The reason for this was to ensure that the conference addresses what you really want and need from your early childhood professional development. We asked many centres to share their top three challenges, and it’s safe to say there was a theme in the responses!

Top 3 Challenges in Centres

Here are the top 3 challenges in early childhood education that we identified after reviewing responses from a range of centres. These are challenges that are faced on a daily or regular basis by educators, room leaders, management and owners.

Motivation

Many centres find they have difficulties with motivating their teams – from getting them motivated initially, to keeping them motivated. This is a priority at Wellness Works and is addressed thoroughly. Our approach is through empowering and motivating the leaders in the centre as the basis of improving motivation levels across the team. Our tactics and tips are foolproof…

Transitions

If you’re like the vast majority of the educators we heard from, transitions continue to cause stress and are a great source of frustration in centres. We’ve been careful to focus on this area and deliver practical ways for your centre to tackle transitions. You will even find them enjoyable…!

Documentation

How do we document a child’s learning, how do we maintain adequate – even excellent – standards for our centre’s documentation without it being a job too big to handle? Documentation is a hot topic for early childhood and we set out to improve your understanding of documentation and make sure it is no longer a huge challenge for you and your centre.

Do these challenges sound all too familiar? Not to worry –Wellness Works: The Complete Early Childhood Leaders Conference comes to Sydney on July 26 and Brisbane on July 28. Both Galina and Alina (or the Duolinas as they’ve been dubbed!) are really excited. If you’re coming along to Wellness Works, you should be excited too! (And if you haven’t got your seats organised yet, you’re in luck as there are still a couple of places available for Sydney and Brisbane – be quick and get them here!)

What Early Childhood Professionals are Saying

Here’s what just a few of the Melbourne Wellness Works attendees had to say about the event:

“Thank you today was very enjoyable. I have RSI I took so many notes!”
– Mandy, Joseph Avenue ELC

“Great opportunity. I feel empowered to take back to a team. Loved the songs and games”
– Rebecca

“This PD was fantastic, all the info was great, very engaging and fun”
– Jessica, Aberdeen Street ELC

Join us at Wellness Works: The Complete Early Childhood Leaders Conference and let’s break down your challenges in early childhood education and address them together.

Featuring the engaging and experienced early childhood experts, Galina and Alina, this just might be the best professional development session you attend this year!

06/07/201608/07/2016

The Journey of a Small Local Kinder

Choosing the right childcare centre, kindergarten or school is one of the most challenging decisions parents have to make. It’s clear that many parents have an idea of what sort of program or approach to early childhood education they prefer… So how can our philosophy, values and early childhood curriculum suit everyone?

As early childhood educators, we want to deliver what all families want, but how do we do this while staying true to what we believe will help a child to reach their full potential?

Have a Vision

After teaching music to children for more than 25 years, it was evident to me that music is powerful! I could see how music could change lives and characters of young people and could become a key for the development of the whole child. The vision for me was to use music as the foundation of a program to nurture each individual, develop their sense of identity and unlock the door to reach their potential.

The questions I asked myself were: “How can we create a curriculum where music will become a strong and valuable foundation for children’s learning? How can we include music in everyday routines? How can we achieve the best outcomes for EVERY CHILD, EVERY DAY?”

Fix your Focus

With so many expectations from parents, it’s hard to know what to focus on. “Will your programme help my child to read and write before he’ll start school?…” “Can you help my child become independent? He will be going to prep next year…”
“Don’t you teach children math in kinder? They need to know how to count…”

So where do we start? I believe we should start with VALUES. For example, the Bonkers Beat Philosophy is based on Five Principles:
• Respect for all people
• Respect for all animals & living creatures
• Respect for all plants & nature
• Respect for kinder & personal belongings
• Respect for yourself

While our program reflects these Five Principles, it’s clear that every curriculum should have only one Main Focus: THE CHILD!

Ask yourself these questions:

What is the main focus of our curriculum?

Is this working for the children (and educators)?

Are the children really interested and engaged?

Do I really know and understand every single child?

What new and exciting ideas can I offer?

What is my purpose and what is my vision?”

Remember every educator is a creator and every educator is an innovator. If our Main Focus is the CHILD, we are well on our way to delivering a world-class curriculum.

Wellness Works for Every Child

We mentioned in our previous blog, ‘Why Wellness REALLY Works’, that a holistic approach really is crucial to deliver high quality early childhood education. For me, the approach that made the most sense – and demonstrated amazing results – was through wellness. There’s really no denying that achieving wellness for children AND for educators improves every aspect of early childhood education – for families, staff, centres and the industry as a whole.

In our days of pressure and fast living, it’s so easy to fall into the habit of doing the same things over and over again. From time to time we might feel scared to make a change or try something different. Often, we get criticised for not doing things the ‘usual’ way. Believing in your dreams and working towards one goal with a team of supportive and dedicated people, will make a difference. It will help you to put your vision into practice.

For me, one single idea of a music program for EVERY CHILD EVERY DAY, was just the beginning of a comprehensive and innovative curriculum which is now successfully run in centres all over Australia!

There is always so much more for us to learn, that we can never say that all our work is done. There will always be many more opportunities to improve, make our curriculum better and reflect on the changes of our fast moving society.

I’ve joined forces with internationally renowned early childhood expert Alina Dan and invite you to join us at Wellness Works: The Complete Early Childhood Leaders Conference. Come along and see for yourself why a holistic approach is so unique and effective.

23/06/201624/06/2016

Don’t Wait For Change – CREATE Change

Too often we spend time waiting and hoping for change. This applies to life in general, but today we are specifically referring to early childhood education providers.

You might have recently read our blog about leadership and how important it is to have leaders who are inspiring. With this in mind, many managers, owners, directors and educational leaders have asked – how do we use our leadership positions to make positive change?

You can be a leader, you can inspire those around you, but how do you create real change that will benefit your team, your families, your centre and most importantly the quality of care and education you provide to children?

When it comes to professional development, we are huge advocates of ongoing training and training that involves your whole team. However, for true change to take place, the leaders in your centre need to take charge and lead the way. This is why it is crucial to have professional development that focuses solely on management and educational leaders.

This is why Galina Zenin and Alina Dan have joined forces to deliver just that. Introducing, the upcoming event ‘Wellness Works: The Complete Early Childhood Leaders Conference’.

Galina recently attended a conference in Chicago in the USA that was dedicated to leadership and was tailored to specifically address the issues and challenges that are unique to management and to educational leaders. Inspired, she has teamed up with early childhood business development expert Alina Dan to deliver an event that is tailored to the leaders – to inspire them to inspire their teams.

The simple fact is, change won’t happen unless the leaders – the management – make it happen. And to make it happen, you need the right tools. Wellness Works provides practical tools that WILL equip management and educational leaders to bring about positive change in early childhood education and real results.

If an Early Childhood Education Revolution sounds like a breath of fresh air, take a look at the flier for Galina and Alina’s July conference below. You can even reserve your spot right now by emailing info@bonkersbeat.com.

09/06/201610/06/2016

Exceeding NQS Rating again

We’ve done it again! Bonkers Beat Music Kinder & Childcare has received an outstanding rating of Exceeding National Quality Standard from the Australian Children’s Education & Care Quality Authority (ACECQA)! This is the second time we have received an Exceeding NQS rating, having been assessed in 2012 and 2016.

This result is one that the Bonkers Beat Music Kinder & Childcare team at Aspendale worked hard for, and it’s important to let you know you aren’t alone in your challenges in your centre – we all need support, guidance and teamwork along the path to achieving our goals, whether that’s an Exceeding NQS rating or something else.

While the Bonkers Beat programs offer exceptional value, support, practical tools and proven benefits for all, we also invite you all to visit our Aspendale centre yourself to get a feel for the Bonkers Beat experience. If you’d like to arrange a time to visit, please send us an email (info@bonkersbeat.com) or give us a call (1300 022 328).

You can have a taste of the Bonkers Beat experience in this video tour of our Aspendale centre. The video also features an insight into Galina’s passion and vision for the future of early childhood education.

We truly believe that a team effort is required for success, strengthened by effective leadership and a passionate approach to early childhood education.

Happy singing and stretching,

Galina and the Bonkers Beat Team

P.S Take a look at the video to enjoy a virtual tour of our Aspendale centre and hear about the things that are most important to Bonkers Beat and the future of early childhood education.

26/05/201626/05/2016

Make life easier with systems and procedures

While we all enjoy a little spontaneity and flexibility in our days, one thing is for certain – you can make life easier with systems and procedures.

This definitely applies to the way childcare centres are run – having systems in place reduces stress for educators, management, families: everyone! They are also vital for a successful operation of a centre, and can save money, time and headaches.

Systems and Procedures in Centres

Just about every element of the average day in a childcare/early learning centre needs to run to a schedule with a system in place to govern it. With so many children to guide and nurture, effective systems are a must for a centre that runs smoothly and successfully. Systems and procedures are also important for your NQS Rating – in fact, Standard 1.1 and Standard 7.3 specifically outlines the need for systems and processes in various areas of centres’ operation.

Here are some suggestions for systems and procedures to make sure your centre is set up to meet its full potential:

For Staff

Checklists – these are a fantastic way of tracking necessary tasks and systems on a daily, weekly, fortnightly, monthly, quarterly basis. So simple, so effective
Ensure educators have set days/times for planning and documenting children’s progress and a system of how to do this eg a book, template etc
Document all systems and procedures – a folder with standard operating procedures and guides for everything should be informative and accessible
Display procedures where possible: for example, have a script taped near the phone for answering calls and what to do with new enquiries etc

For Children

Transitional songs are an excellent element to add to your daily routines – whether it’s for packing away toys or washing hands.
Depict systems for arrival with clear images, steps and flowcharts around the centre. Eg reminder to put bag in its spot upon arrival, packing up bedding etc

For Parents and Families

Create a system for arrival and pick-up to ensure children’s safety and minimal disruptions to the other children
Provide families with a calendar of events well in advance to allow for adequate planning time (for centres and families)

Systems and Procedures in Life

Identifying patterns and turning them into systems can make your life less effortful and more enjoyable in a broader sense too…

With any systems and procedures, there should be an element of flexibility – it’s important to assess regularly and be open to change if something could be done better in some way. The goal should be to empower through effective systems and make life easier with more time for the fun things!

Tag: early childhood education