Daily Notes

[Josiegirl]

I have a standard form I use and it seems like it always tells dcps the same thing. Nothing changes except menu.
I was thinking of doing the whole thing over and instead of checking off things they've done, such as puzzles, story time, puppet play, etc., make blocks of sensory, gross and small motor activities, etc., and then fill in what they've done in those areas. It just seems so boring the way I do it and unless I've written something extra in about their child, to me it is blah and a waste.
Can you think of ways to create a daily note to make it more exciting or eye-catching, something the dcps will actually be interested in?
Thanks!!!

[DaveA]

I only do daily reports for infants, so my notes are pretty repetitive. I don't really worry about it as for babies it's mainly to make sure DCPs know when they last ate/ changed/ napped and when they need diapers next. If I'm in a smart alec mode I may throw something silly in the middle of the notes.

I've told DCPs things like:

DCK organized the stuffed animals into a Roman Legion and laid siege to the ancient city of Legos.

DCK attempted to establish communication with the dog in his native language.

DCK made contact with the indigenous population of Endor and secured their assistance in the destruction of the shield generator.

If nothing else I find out who's reading the notes. Otherwise I wouldn't worry about it too much.

[Play Care]

I only do daily reports for infants, so my notes are pretty repetitive. I don't really worry about it as for babies it's mainly to make sure DCPs know when they last ate/ changed/ napped and when they need diapers next. If I'm in a smart alec mode I may throw something silly in the middle of the notes.

I've told DCPs things like:

DCK organized the stuffed animals into a Roman Legion and laid siege to the ancient city of Legos.

DCK attempted to establish communication with the dog in his native language.

DCK made contact with the indigenous population of Endor and secured their assistance in the destruction of the shield generator.

If nothing else I find out who's reading the notes. Otherwise I wouldn't worry about it too much.

I *almost* want to have another child and move to your town just so you could be their provider::::

[Baby Beluga]

I only do daily reports for infants, so my notes are pretty repetitive. I don't really worry about it as for babies it's mainly to make sure DCPs know when they last ate/ changed/ napped and when they need diapers next. If I'm in a smart alec mode I may throw something silly in the middle of the notes.

I've told DCPs things like:

DCK organized the stuffed animals into a Roman Legion and laid siege to the ancient city of Legos.

DCK attempted to establish communication with the dog in his native language.

DCK made contact with the indigenous population of Endor and secured their assistance in the destruction of the shield generator.

If nothing else I find out who's reading the notes. Otherwise I wouldn't worry about it too much.

Hahaha, this is great!

Josiegirl, I do daily sheets. It is something I would greatly appreciate as a parent, so I have chosen to give them to my parents. One mom even saves them in a binder... :: (over a years worth now!)

Anyway, mine has the following info:

Child's name and today's date

Breakfast
Lunch
Snack
(including what each meal was and whether the child ate all, some or none)

Diaper changes and potty attempts for those who are training (once successfully trained, I don't do write potty breaks).

Nap time (slept from x to x time)

Special notes about my day: this is where I write a small synopsis of what we did that day. Usually it says something like "Happy Monday! This week the children are learning about and exploring pumpkins. Today Joe enjoyed reading pumpkin related books, drawing on a pumpkin using markers, participating in a pumpkin roll outside, making pumpkin soup in the sensory bin and making pumpkin hand prints during art. Have a great evening!"

I need: This is where I write reminders for any supplies needed.

It's a pretty simple one page sheet. My husband wrote the code for it on the back page of my website. Everything is automated and drop down menus so it takes all of two minutes to fill out each sheet. The best part is that the sheets are stored on one of our servers so I can go back and look at any sheet that I have sent out. Which has come in handy more then once!

[nothingwithoutjoy]

I only did daily sheets for infants when I took them: meals, diapers, naps.

I spend my time on more in-depth documentation that over time, gives a good sense of what and why we do here. Each day at nap, I write an email to all the families that sometimes gives a quick synopsis of our day, sometimes explains more in depth about something we're working on, and sometimes includes reminders. It also includes a link to our private blog, where I do a post that describes in-depth one specific thing: a moment between two children that demonstrates how we work on conflict negotiation, an example from the morning's play, a summary of a project that's been developing over time, etc. I do not try to include every child in every post; over time, they get a picture of what their children are doing and what all the children are doing; my philosophy and routines; how projects develop; relationships between children; etc. The blog includes lots of photos, occasional video, sometimes transcripts of children's conversations, sometimes scanned children's artwork or writing samples; and descriptions by me. I'd be happy to share examples if you're interested.

[Unregistered]

Hahaha, this is great!

Josiegirl, I do daily sheets. It is something I would greatly appreciate as a parent, so I have chosen to give them to my parents. One mom even saves them in a binder... :: (over a years worth now!)

Anyway, mine has the following info:

Child's name and today's date

Breakfast
Lunch
Snack
(including what each meal was and whether the child ate all, some or none)

Diaper changes and potty attempts for those who are training (once successfully trained, I don't do write potty breaks).

Nap time (slept from x to x time)

Special notes about my day: this is where I write a small synopsis of what we did that day. Usually it says something like "Happy Monday! This week the children are learning about and exploring pumpkins. Today Joe enjoyed reading pumpkin related books, drawing on a pumpkin using markers, participating in a pumpkin roll outside, making pumpkin soup in the sensory bin and making pumpkin hand prints during art. Have a great evening!"

I need: This is where I write reminders for any supplies needed.

It's a pretty simple one page sheet. My husband wrote the code for it on the back page of my website. Everything is automated and drop down menus so it takes all of two minutes to fill out each sheet. The best part is that the sheets are stored on one of our servers so I can go back and look at any sheet that I have sent out. Which has come in handy more then once!

This is how I do my daily notes also. The majority of my parents read it at pick up and the rest read it within a day (parents not together). They know that is where I write reminders and notes to them regarding their child. Sometimes they actually come back or call me when I forget to give them their daily note.

[Ariana]

I use a private FB group to show pictures and talk about everything we did that week. I used to do those written reports but also felt it to be a waste and most parents after the first couple of weeks were not reading it. The FB page shows my menu, activities and then some pictures which capture the kids having fun. Everyone loves it. I give specifics to parents at the door. Unless a parent requested a detailed written report I wouldn't provide it. I only give details about something out of the ordinary like "little johnny didn't drink anything today" or "sally didn't have her usual afternoon poop so that might be coming your way" or something like that. I have one parent who wants to know more than the others so I just make a mental note of what she ate and how she slept.

[Unregistered]

I always thought the daily sheet my son's preschool teacher sent out was awesome (he was in a daycare center, and attended full day daycare with preschool). She wrote out one sheet for the whole class each day, saying what books they read that day, what crafts they did, what activities they did, what snack was etc.), then would make photocopies of it for each child in the class. She'd then mark on each child's sheet if they are none, some, or all of their lunch, and if they napped that day, as well as anything specific to my child I might need to know.I loved it because then I could talk to my son about what he did at school that day (if I asked him without reading the note he'd say "I don't remember" or "I played with so and so", but this would help him remember what they did and he'd tell me all about it). His pre-k teacher at the same center had a white board outside the classroom where she would list out on Monday mornings what they'd be doing each day, what books they would be reading each day etc., which I also loved. These might not work for smaller daycares, but just an idea! When my son was an infant I'd get the daily sheet with feedings, diaper changes etc., but I think a lot of times she'd fill it out at the end of the day (which I definitely understand not having time during the day to do so), but I'd really only look at the time of his last feeding on those.

[Febby]

I always thought the daily sheet my son's preschool teacher sent out was awesome (he was in a daycare center, and attended full day daycare with preschool). She wrote out one sheet for the whole class each day, saying what books they read that day, what crafts they did, what activities they did, what snack was etc.), then would make photocopies of it for each child in the class. She'd then mark on each child's sheet if they are none, some, or all of their lunch, and if they napped that day, as well as anything specific to my child I might need to know.I loved it because then I could talk to my son about what he did at school that day (if I asked him without reading the note he'd say "I don't remember" or "I played with so and so", but this would help him remember what they did and he'd tell me all about it). His pre-k teacher at the same center had a white board outside the classroom where she would list out on Monday mornings what they'd be doing each day, what books they would be reading each day etc., which I also loved. These might not work for smaller daycares, but just an idea! When my son was an infant I'd get the daily sheet with feedings, diaper changes etc., but I think a lot of times she'd fill it out at the end of the day (which I definitely understand not having time during the day to do so), but I'd really only look at the time of his last feeding on those.

That's what we do at my center, although ages 3+ we don't mark what/how much they ate at lunch. Ratios get too high for us to keep track of that. Obviously if a child isn't eating well (who normally eats), we'll make a note of that or anything else unusual.

Diaper changes and potty tries are on a white board next to our bathrooms; parents are welcome to check it. I think it's on the daily sheet for under 3s. If a fully potty trained child has an accident, we'll note it on the daily sheet with the circumstances and time (e.g. Johnny had a potty accident today while asleep during nap).

A lot of that has to do with the fact that it is a center, though. Each room normally has 3 staff members. An early person, a late person, and a day person. There is overlap between everyone's shifts, but not everyone is in the room at the same time. A good portion of our late staff are floaters (they provide extra help and do breaks during the day in various rooms), so they spend a lot of time NOT in the room they close.

[spedmommy4]

I wish my kids could have attended daves childcare program too. . I don't write notes for any of the kids. (Not even under two) I talk to parents about what happened each day but I don't have time to write notes.

I maintain a private Instagram and parent Shutterfly group. Parents can check for pictures and updates there if they want to know what we are up too. I can see who accesses the parent Shutterfly group so I know only about 50% of the parents are interested in what we're up to. I figure it saves me time because I post from my phone and I only post one time.