Interview/Tour Preparation and Curriculum

[mamac]

What do parents expect from you during their interview beyond the basic information such as rates, times, etc.? Do any parents want to see the actual curriculum that you will be teaching or do you automatically show them examples of what/how you teach? What do you have prepared to "sell yourself" to the client that separates you from other dc's?

I will be advertising myself as a "Daycare and Preschool" and although I have no teaching experience I would like to have a somewhat structured day with a themed curriculum. The only problem is I haven't quite figured out how to actually get started on creating my own that will cover all areas of learning. I would love to do child-led and play-based but I don't want it to turn into a day of them "just playing" and me babysitting them. (Plus I think parents would expect more based on my name.)

[preschoolteacher]

Yay, I get really excited to talk about play-based curriculum for preschoolers.

If you want to call your program a preschool, I really suggest that you look into what standards/expectations your state has for early childhood education. Here in Minnesota, we have Early Childhood Indicators of Progress which lay out what young children should be working towards. For example, one standard is for the children to develop critical thinking skills. Then when you plan a play-based activity, you should go to your standards/guidelines and match up a standard to an activity. This helps you plan enough activities to cover all the different areas children need for healthy development, and it also is a great way to show parents that you are actually teaching and they are actually learning.

Read all you can on play-based learning. You could follow or "like" some play-based programs on Facebook. Try out Explorations Early Learning, LLC. They are a family daycare with play-based learning.

You could also look into Creative Curriculum, which is structure for setting up play-based learning programs. They have a book specific to family day care settings. I know here in MN my state offers training for providers interested in Creative Curriculum. Maybe you have training near you, too? The benefit of this approach is that a lot of the work is done for you already. It even comes with forms and information you can pass along to parents to inform them on play-based learing.

Also, check out this provider's site in Wisconsin. I find it really inspirational to how a family daycare provider can run a play-based, educational program.

http://www.appleton-child-care.com/

[Starburst]

For now just think about basics that you want to focus on in your preschool. Examples: ABCs, 123s, shapes, colors, music and movement, arts and crafts, circle time/ group reading, gross/fine motor skills, emotional literacy, communication/ social skills (like manners and etiquette), basic health (hand washing), safety (in my state a fire drill is mandatory every 6 months), and anything else you offer or want to teach them that is age/developmentally appropriate but still may stand out a bit from what others in your area teach. Do you know how to cook? Can you speak another language? Do you have any other hobbies you can teach the kids?

For now I would just list the subjects you plan on teaching the children I think most parents don't necessarily want an outline of how you teach them they are more interested in what you plan to teach. after you have more parents enroll and start teaching I would probably take some pictures of the activities you do (just finished work or hands working no faces) and document it on a poster board or make a portfolio so that other future parents can see some of the things your class does.

[MarinaVanessa]

During my interviews I try to control the tempo and then ask if they have any questions at the end. I like to take them on the tour first to show them my space and as I'm walking them through I'm explaining how I do things.

"The living room is our "playroom" where the kids to the majority of their playing. I have all of the toys separated into center-like areas and all toys are sorted and organized low to the floor so that the kids can all get to them and put the, away easily. The kids will clean up several times a day and they all participate in the clean up. We call it "Toy Puzzle Time" because all of the toys have a place and we make it a game to fit the toys in their proper places. This room also doubles as our nap room. The kids each get their own blanket which I provide to match their cubby color ...." blah blah blah. I do this for the entire daycare space.

Once we're done with the tour then we sit down and go over the contract and policies and confirm their schedule and information that I got from talking to them during my phone interview (when they initially call). This is where I talk about my rates too to confirm with them what their rates will be based on the schedule that they have given me. I also talk about concerns that I have with their schedule (if they say 6pm pick-up I make sure to say that 6:01 pm means they are late, flat weekly fee etc.)

While we are sitting I give them a printout of my curriculum outline which gives them a general idea as to what we will be working on each month. I also give them a sample of one full day of activities which literally explains word for word what we will do. I also give them a meal sample, Holiday schedule, my resume, my fee schedule etc.

As I'm giving them my curriculum handouts I point out the kids artwork, craft projects etc which I usually hang on my walls before sending them home on Fridays and even go over what we did that day so they get a feeling of what our day is like.

I don't exactly feel like I''m selling my program but I do talk about what we do on a typical day so that they get a feel for it.

[MarinaVanessa]

I will be advertising myself as a "Daycare and Preschool" and although I have no teaching experience I would like to have a somewhat structured day with a themed curriculum. The only problem is I haven't quite figured out how to actually get started on creating my own that will cover all areas of learning. I would love to do child-led and play-based but I don't want it to turn into a day of them "just playing" and me babysitting them. (Plus I think parents would expect more based on my name.)

If you want to create your own curriculum and don't already use some sort of pre-planned out curriculum now but want more of a play-based or open-ended type of curriculum just take any curriculum outline that you can find either from here on the forum or anywhere online that has monthly themes and then plan out activities that are more child-led based on the different development domains, then plan out your "centers" (they don't have to be actual centers, you can set them up just for the activities and take them down later if you wish).

For example (here's how I plan my monthly themes): If my theme is "all about me" I plan to focus on about 3 letters, 1 number, a shape, a color and a community helper per month and incorporate it in my theme.

Circle Time: After going over the letter, number, color and shape of the day, the weather, the calendar etc. Talk about what "I can do" like run, jump, hop, skip etc. Our names. Our addresses. Eye color chart etc etc.

Gross Motor: Relay race or some other activity where they can practice all of the things that they can do.

Fine Motor: Art - paint a self-portrait and a portrait of their family. Make a "Me" book that they can draw in and put together themselves (cut the pages, staple together, cut out pictures from magazines and glue to book etc)

Language: Read books having to about "Me" themes. Sing songs and rhymes about "me" themes. Dance to songs that are "about me" (our bodies, head-shoulders-knees and toes etc.)

Cognitive: Math - Have the kids count the number of people in their family based on their family portrait. Kids can make shapes on geo-boards. Talk about sizes of the different kids as in big and little(works really well in FCC because you can have really young babies and older children). While the kids play with blocks you can ask to measure one of them by using the blocks ... the other kids will want to do it too "Timmy is X blocks long. Suzie is X blocks long". etc.
Science - Use magnifying glasses to look closely at each others hair, eyes etc.

Social Emotional: This is a great theme to talk about feelings "I feel scared when .." I feel happy when .." and show emotion cards/posters.

Self-help/Adaptive: Washing our hands, putting on our shoes/clothes etc.

My Centers:

Blocks: Kids can measure each other with blocks (as above), build their houses etc.

Cooking Center (only set up on particular days): Give kids crackers and cut up veggies and shredded cheese and have them make cracker face portraits of themselves. Talk about how we all have hair, 2 eyes etc.

Dramatic Play: basic housekeeping center. Each child can take turns in pretending that it's their house and the other kids can pretend that they are his/her family etc. and take turns.

Sand/water play: Add soap to the water table and have them wash the play dishes, baby dolls, baby doll clothes etc.

[mamac]

During my interviews I try to control the tempo and then ask if they have any questions at the end. I like to take them on the tour first to show them my space and as I'm walking them through I'm explaining how I do things.

"The living room is our "playroom" where the kids to the majority of their playing. I have all of the toys separated into center-like areas and all toys are sorted and organized low to the floor so that the kids can all get to them and put the, away easily. The kids will clean up several times a day and they all participate in the clean up. We call it "Toy Puzzle Time" because all of the toys have a place and we make it a game to fit the toys in their proper places. This room also doubles as our nap room. The kids each get their own blanket which I provide to match their cubby color ...." blah blah blah. I do this for the entire daycare space.

Once we're done with the tour then we sit down and go over the contract and policies and confirm their schedule and information that I got from talking to them during my phone interview (when they initially call). This is where I talk about my rates too to confirm with them what their rates will be based on the schedule that they have given me. I also talk about concerns that I have with their schedule (if they say 6pm pick-up I make sure to say that 6:01 pm means they are late, flat weekly fee etc.)

While we are sitting I give them a printout of my curriculum outline which gives them a general idea as to what we will be working on each month. I also give them a sample of one full day of activities which literally explains word for word what we will do. I also give them a meal sample, Holiday schedule, my resume, my fee schedule etc.

As I'm giving them my curriculum handouts I point out the kids artwork, craft projects etc which I usually hang on my walls before sending them home on Fridays and even go over what we did that day so they get a feeling of what our day is like.

I don't exactly feel like I''m selling my program but I do talk about what we do on a typical day so that they get a feel for it.

I have had a few e-mails asking about what my program has to offer. They are calling based on my name, not my business name, because I haven't gotten that out there yet, but I feel like I should be emphasizing the fact that I'm not just going to be watching their children. I wasn't sure if I should have examples of my curriculum ready to go for them to see, but I guess I better get that started before I officially open my doors. At least now I have a feel for how the interview and tour should go. My dh and I decided that I will be taking this summer off to spend with our own kids so I've got a few months to get my butt in gear! I'm going to be using a number of your ideas for advertising so hopefully by the time September rolls around I'll have enough clients.

If you want to create your own curriculum and don't already use some sort of pre-planned out curriculum now but want more of a play-based or open-ended type of curriculum just take any curriculum outline that you can find either from here on the forum or anywhere online that has monthly themes and then plan out activities that are more child-led based on the different development domains, then plan out your "centers" (they don't have to be actual centers, you can set them up just for the activities and take them down later if you wish).

For example (here's how I plan my monthly themes): If my theme is "all about me" I plan to focus on about 3 letters, 1 number, a shape, a color and a community helper per month and incorporate it in my theme.

Circle Time: After going over the letter, number, color and shape of the day, the weather, the calendar etc. Talk about what "I can do" like run, jump, hop, skip etc. Our names. Our addresses. Eye color chart etc etc.

Gross Motor: Relay race or some other activity where they can practice all of the things that they can do.

Fine Motor: Art - paint a self-portrait and a portrait of their family. Make a "Me" book that they can draw in and put together themselves (cut the pages, staple together, cut out pictures from magazines and glue to book etc)

Language: Read books having to about "Me" themes. Sing songs and rhymes about "me" themes. Dance to songs that are "about me" (our bodies, head-shoulders-knees and toes etc.)

Cognitive: Math - Have the kids count the number of people in their family based on their family portrait. Kids can make shapes on geo-boards. Talk about sizes of the different kids as in big and little(works really well in FCC because you can have really young babies and older children). While the kids play with blocks you can ask to measure one of them by using the blocks ... the other kids will want to do it too "Timmy is X blocks long. Suzie is X blocks long". etc.
Science - Use magnifying glasses to look closely at each others hair, eyes etc.

Social Emotional: This is a great theme to talk about feelings "I feel scared when .." I feel happy when .." and show emotion cards/posters.

Self-help/Adaptive: Washing our hands, putting on our shoes/clothes etc.

My Centers:

Blocks: Kids can measure each other with blocks (as above), build their houses etc.

Cooking Center (only set up on particular days): Give kids crackers and cut up veggies and shredded cheese and have them make cracker face portraits of themselves. Talk about how we all have hair, 2 eyes etc.

Dramatic Play: basic housekeeping center. Each child can take turns in pretending that it's their house and the other kids can pretend that they are his/her family etc. and take turns.

Sand/water play: Add soap to the water table and have them wash the play dishes, baby dolls, baby doll clothes etc.

Thank you! This is exactly what I was looking for. These examples really give me an idea how to go about incorporating everything into my curriculum. lovethis

[mamac]

Yay, I get really excited to talk about play-based curriculum for preschoolers.

If you want to call your program a preschool, I really suggest that you look into what standards/expectations your state has for early childhood education. Here in Minnesota, we have Early Childhood Indicators of Progress which lay out what young children should be working towards. For example, one standard is for the children to develop critical thinking skills. Then when you plan a play-based activity, you should go to your standards/guidelines and match up a standard to an activity. This helps you plan enough activities to cover all the different areas children need for healthy development, and it also is a great way to show parents that you are actually teaching and they are actually learning.

Read all you can on play-based learning. You could follow or "like" some play-based programs on Facebook. Try out Explorations Early Learning, LLC. They are a family daycare with play-based learning.

You could also look into Creative Curriculum, which is structure for setting up play-based learning programs. They have a book specific to family day care settings. I know here in MN my state offers training for providers interested in Creative Curriculum. Maybe you have training near you, too? The benefit of this approach is that a lot of the work is done for you already. It even comes with forms and information you can pass along to parents to inform them on play-based learing.

Also, check out this provider's site in Wisconsin. I find it really inspirational to how a family daycare provider can run a play-based, educational program.

http://www.appleton-child-care.com/

I have actually looked into finding the standards for my area but I haven't had any luck. Everyone that I have called has no idea where I can get that information. I've gotten the idea that all the schools have their own "standards". :confused: I haven't had much luck finding anything online, either.

[mamac]

For now just think about basics that you want to focus on in your preschool. Examples: ABCs, 123s, shapes, colors, music and movement, arts and crafts, circle time/ group reading, gross/fine motor skills, emotional literacy, communication/ social skills (like manners and etiquette), basic health (hand washing), safety (in my state a fire drill is mandatory every 6 months), and anything else you offer or want to teach them that is age/developmentally appropriate but still may stand out a bit from what others in your area teach. Do you know how to cook? Can you speak another language? Do you have any other hobbies you can teach the kids?

For now I would just list the subjects you plan on teaching the children I think most parents don't necessarily want an outline of how you teach them they are more interested in what you plan to teach. after you have more parents enroll and start teaching I would probably take some pictures of the activities you do (just finished work or hands working no faces) and document it on a poster board or make a portfolio so that other future parents can see some of the things your class does.

I've gotten the basics down for now. I have had both my kids home with me and I know they will be kindergarten ready by the time they go to school (ods just started this year at 4) so I know I can teach them what they need. It's just a matter of getting everything into a cohesive structured day that I'm having a problem with. Sitting down and putting it all together is driving me nuts because I don't know where to begin. Marina's post was essentially what I was looking for so hopefully once my basement is finished I can start focusing on my curriculum again. Once I get some clients I will definitely be making a portfolio though. That sounds like a good idea.

[Starburst]

Also, check out this provider's site in Wisconsin. I find it really inspirational to how a family daycare provider can run a play-based, educational program.

http://www.appleton-child-care.com/

I think that provider is a new member on this forum

[Meeko]

I think that provider is a new member on this forum

Yes, she is! Amyskidsco

[Laurel]

What do parents expect from you during their interview beyond the basic information such as rates, times, etc.? Do any parents want to see the actual curriculum that you will be teaching or do you automatically show them examples of what/how you teach? What do you have prepared to "sell yourself" to the client that separates you from other dc's?

I will be advertising myself as a "Daycare and Preschool" and although I have no teaching experience I would like to have a somewhat structured day with a themed curriculum. The only problem is I haven't quite figured out how to actually get started on creating my own that will cover all areas of learning. I would love to do child-led and play-based but I don't want it to turn into a day of them "just playing" and me babysitting them. (Plus I think parents would expect more based on my name.)

I don't do a preschool program per se but my children are all 'kindergarten ready' by the time they are that age.

I don't run my home like a center or preschool. No centers, no circle time, etc. because I feel that I want their day to be non school like at such a young age (infant to 4). They have plenty of time for school when they are in school.

However, I don't want parents to think we don't learn at my house. We just approach it differently. We do "teachable moments" throughout the day and I explain to them what that means. I explain to prospective clients that we don't just sit around and watch t.v. but learn as things come up.

I have about 20 photos of children at my house that I have taken throughout the years which I hand to the parents to look through. When they ooo and ahhh over them I explain that the spaghetti and meatballs that the children are eating on the photo are the meatballs they rolled themselves. When they see the picture of children counting out stone counters on the floor that we are learning hands on counting. They see pictures of arts and crafts, cooking, math, letters, outdoor activities, etc. It is also obvious that all races are welcome just by looking at the pictures. I really think these pictures sell my program besides my sweet disposition. ::

Laurel

[TheGoodLife]

Yay, I get really excited to talk about play-based curriculum for preschoolers.

If you want to call your program a preschool, I really suggest that you look into what standards/expectations your state has for early childhood education. Here in Minnesota, we have Early Childhood Indicators of Progress which lay out what young children should be working towards. For example, one standard is for the children to develop critical thinking skills. Then when you plan a play-based activity, you should go to your standards/guidelines and match up a standard to an activity. This helps you plan enough activities to cover all the different areas children need for healthy development, and it also is a great way to show parents that you are actually teaching and they are actually learning.

Read all you can on play-based learning. You could follow or "like" some play-based programs on Facebook. Try out Explorations Early Learning, LLC. They are a family daycare with play-based learning.

You could also look into Creative Curriculum, which is structure for setting up play-based learning programs. They have a book specific to family day care settings. I know here in MN my state offers training for providers interested in Creative Curriculum. Maybe you have training near you, too? The benefit of this approach is that a lot of the work is done for you already. It even comes with forms and information you can pass along to parents to inform them on play-based learing.

Also, check out this provider's site in Wisconsin. I find it really inspirational to how a family daycare provider can run a play-based, educational program.

http://www.appleton-child-care.com/