This entire experience has been such an eye-opening experience to be able to constantly reflect on my journey this summer.
I have learned so much and been through a lot. Even though I have been working at this place for four summers before this experience, this has truly been a different experience from what I have had in the past. I have learned to deal with different situations, went through a director change, helped bring families in, received a grant, made a parade float, and changed the program that we once had before.
I was extremely empowered to love the business side of education and have fell in love with being at a place with the children, but dealing with the management and business side of the daycare. This has been a truly amazing experience for me and I am sad it is over half way down because I have loved this summer so much.
I have worked over 50 hours each week to make sure our summer day camp is the best held day camp possible and have put my heart and soul into this problem.
This class came at the perfect time because I was able to reflect and look back on everything that I have been through and work towards more. I have looked at community involvement and we are still in a push to continue that to this day. This class has helped me understand how important that is.
Sunday, July 14, 2013
Behavior Problems
I had the opportunity to attend one of our field trips this week with the kids and I was extremely excited.
We started off the field trip like we normally do by stating our expectations and making sure they were very clear. When we take them off site, we need to have the behave as best as possible and as well as we have to make sure they are safe.
On this certain field trip, we would not keep our voices off, hands to ourselves, and were very disrespectful to the one leading the trip. I was truly embarrassed. This was the first field trip in about five years that it was like this. I was extremely disappointed in them, but I had to find an appropriate way to handle it and figure out exactly why this happened.
I talked with them immediately as we got back onto the bus and let them how disappointed I was in them and talked about the time that our tour guides give to us and you just wasted their time as well. I made them sit silently on the way back on the bus to reflect on their behaviors and about 50% of them fell asleep :)
I knew there had to be a reason behind it, but I had to figure it out. They went on the field trip the next day and did an excellent job so it was a one day thing of exhaustion. SO GLAD!
We started off the field trip like we normally do by stating our expectations and making sure they were very clear. When we take them off site, we need to have the behave as best as possible and as well as we have to make sure they are safe.
On this certain field trip, we would not keep our voices off, hands to ourselves, and were very disrespectful to the one leading the trip. I was truly embarrassed. This was the first field trip in about five years that it was like this. I was extremely disappointed in them, but I had to find an appropriate way to handle it and figure out exactly why this happened.
I talked with them immediately as we got back onto the bus and let them how disappointed I was in them and talked about the time that our tour guides give to us and you just wasted their time as well. I made them sit silently on the way back on the bus to reflect on their behaviors and about 50% of them fell asleep :)
I knew there had to be a reason behind it, but I had to figure it out. They went on the field trip the next day and did an excellent job so it was a one day thing of exhaustion. SO GLAD!
Sunday, July 7, 2013
4th of July Parade!
Every year in Waverly, we have a HUGE 4th of July parade that I can remember going to as a child when I didn't even live in Waverly. This year about a week before the parade my boss got an idea that we should do it and I fully supported that idea because we haven't done a float since I have worked there and I have been there for five years. This is an incredible way of advertising, but also a great time for the community to know we are here and we support the community in any way that we can.
We worked from last Wednesday--figuring out our idea, beginning to design the products, finding a trailer and a driver, buying all of the materials, and then finally putting it all together. It was truly a task because we had to complete our daily work, but also work very diligently on the float.
We pulled ten to eleven hour days painting, decorating, and shopping to make sure everything got done for the big day. On the morning of the 4th, we arrived at 8 AM to put everything on the float and finish any final touches before kids arrived at 10 AM for a parade start at 11 AM. We had about 15 kids and 10 staff members that helped in the parade. We had the kiddos throw candy, but all the staff handed out brochures, crayons, and bubbles (with our logo and phone number on it). We wanted to stand out and give the kids something else other than all candy, plus it was a way to get our name out.
We have already many compliments from members in the community, thanking us for doing a float. We will wait to see in the next coming days if our advertising worked after we have a holiday weekend. Hopefully it will help A LOT!
Such a great experience!
We worked from last Wednesday--figuring out our idea, beginning to design the products, finding a trailer and a driver, buying all of the materials, and then finally putting it all together. It was truly a task because we had to complete our daily work, but also work very diligently on the float.
We pulled ten to eleven hour days painting, decorating, and shopping to make sure everything got done for the big day. On the morning of the 4th, we arrived at 8 AM to put everything on the float and finish any final touches before kids arrived at 10 AM for a parade start at 11 AM. We had about 15 kids and 10 staff members that helped in the parade. We had the kiddos throw candy, but all the staff handed out brochures, crayons, and bubbles (with our logo and phone number on it). We wanted to stand out and give the kids something else other than all candy, plus it was a way to get our name out.
We have already many compliments from members in the community, thanking us for doing a float. We will wait to see in the next coming days if our advertising worked after we have a holiday weekend. Hopefully it will help A LOT!
Such a great experience!
Halfway Point!
This blog post is to reflect on my journey as we are about halfway through the summer....crazy to believe!
So far this summer has been truly an incredible experience. It has been a stressful one, but one that I am extremely proud of where we have come from and where we will still go for the rest of the summer. Honestly this experience has really made me understand community needs and figuring out how to fill them and loving the business side of a daycare/summer day camp.
We have achieved so many great things while allowing the children to have an amazing time building relationships and having a great summer.
We have gone on field trips daily, received a grant, went through a new director change, added new staff, and added many new families. We are constantly working to better out program with the community idea in mind.
I can not wait for the rest of the summer, but it also makes me sad to be closer to being done because even though I am working so much, I am thoroughly enjoying this entire experience.
So far this summer has been truly an incredible experience. It has been a stressful one, but one that I am extremely proud of where we have come from and where we will still go for the rest of the summer. Honestly this experience has really made me understand community needs and figuring out how to fill them and loving the business side of a daycare/summer day camp.
We have achieved so many great things while allowing the children to have an amazing time building relationships and having a great summer.
We have gone on field trips daily, received a grant, went through a new director change, added new staff, and added many new families. We are constantly working to better out program with the community idea in mind.
I can not wait for the rest of the summer, but it also makes me sad to be closer to being done because even though I am working so much, I am thoroughly enjoying this entire experience.
Sunday, June 30, 2013
Week 4--Private Post--GRANT!!
Please check your e-mail for this post as I am not allowed to announce this yet.
Sunday, June 23, 2013
Facebook Page
With all of the recent articles that I have been reading about developing the community, I have really been thinking about our Facebook page that I run. Not only does this help us with advertising, but it allows the parents to see what their children are doing throughout the day and the fun places we are visiting. It gives the parents a little bit more comfort to be able to see their smiling faces throughout the day.
In the aspect of bringing the parents more into the center, I think this helps a lot because this is one avenue we are opening up for them to see and experience. They can also share pictures to other family members or leave comments for me to respond to if Facebook is the most convenient way to communicate.
In the approximately six months that I have running this page, we have grown to many more likes and more parents getting involved. I am proud of this page and love getting feedback from parents about the pictures. They absolutely love it.
Here is the address to our page so you are able to explore:
www.facebook.com/pbecc
In the aspect of bringing the parents more into the center, I think this helps a lot because this is one avenue we are opening up for them to see and experience. They can also share pictures to other family members or leave comments for me to respond to if Facebook is the most convenient way to communicate.
In the approximately six months that I have running this page, we have grown to many more likes and more parents getting involved. I am proud of this page and love getting feedback from parents about the pictures. They absolutely love it.
Here is the address to our page so you are able to explore:
www.facebook.com/pbecc
Week 3--Back from Vacation!
Oh the transitioning back from vacation :)
Starting on the plane back from the Bahamas, the phone gets turned on and automatically the voicemails and e-mails start flooding in from work.
I get home at midnight Tuesday night and must get to work the next morning because my boss now has the next two days off. The last three days I have worked 11 or 12 hour days trying to get everything back caught up.
This week's theme is Around the World--how appropriate! I was extremely impressed with the teachers and their execution of this theme. We also had a very special visitor, Lindsay Rogers, from Project Wild come visit on Friday and we were able to hold and feel live animals from Nebraska! The kids loved that experience. We also made candy sushi for buddy time this week and the kids got to have that as a dessert for their lunch that day. The school-agers finished off the week with a trip to the cemetery with Bill Lopez leading the kids around for the afternoon.
Overall, it was a crazy week, but it went pretty smoothly! The kids had a great time and that is what matters and now I have had a weekend to recover and get ready to start again Monday!
Starting on the plane back from the Bahamas, the phone gets turned on and automatically the voicemails and e-mails start flooding in from work.
I get home at midnight Tuesday night and must get to work the next morning because my boss now has the next two days off. The last three days I have worked 11 or 12 hour days trying to get everything back caught up.
This week's theme is Around the World--how appropriate! I was extremely impressed with the teachers and their execution of this theme. We also had a very special visitor, Lindsay Rogers, from Project Wild come visit on Friday and we were able to hold and feel live animals from Nebraska! The kids loved that experience. We also made candy sushi for buddy time this week and the kids got to have that as a dessert for their lunch that day. The school-agers finished off the week with a trip to the cemetery with Bill Lopez leading the kids around for the afternoon.
Overall, it was a crazy week, but it went pretty smoothly! The kids had a great time and that is what matters and now I have had a weekend to recover and get ready to start again Monday!
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
Week 2--Getting into the swing of things!
The first week of anything is always a transition period, figuring out what is going right and what you might need to fix. This definitely applied to our first week too.
Originally I was in our "ratio" for my entire forty hours of my shift. After the first week, we realize immediately that I had more office work to do and I had been working after eighty hours within the last weekend and that first week. We rearranged our entire staff schedule and figured things out so that I can help out more in the office and do the administrative side of my job as well.
This applied the same for the kiddos. We had to figure out who were the right people to put them with and who were the wrong to avoid all possible behavior problems.
Overall, we worked together and brought our teamwork and building a family action back in with our staff to work together as team. We are not only transitioning to a new director, but bringing back staff from the past summer that people are not used to working with again. We are also bringing in new parents and families and need to find a way to keep that community strong and going!
Week 2--Gardening Week
After a week full of team building we moved on to Gardening week! Every year we work together as a group and tend to a garden on the side of our building. The kids are in charge of everything--weeding, watering, and planting the flowers! At the end of the summer, we get to celebrate with a party of everything that we grew over the summer and eat it all! YUM!
The kiddos are finally getting more into the routine and learning behaviors that are appropriate. Even though they have been in school and learning routines throughout the whole year, we still must teach them again because they are testing boundaries of the us constantly. We are constantly trying to reinforce positively and not negatively and I wanted to take some time on this blog post to talk about the positive reinforcements we are doing.
After a week full of team building we moved on to Gardening week! Every year we work together as a group and tend to a garden on the side of our building. The kids are in charge of everything--weeding, watering, and planting the flowers! At the end of the summer, we get to celebrate with a party of everything that we grew over the summer and eat it all! YUM!
The kiddos are finally getting more into the routine and learning behaviors that are appropriate. Even though they have been in school and learning routines throughout the whole year, we still must teach them again because they are testing boundaries of the us constantly. We are constantly trying to reinforce positively and not negatively and I wanted to take some time on this blog post to talk about the positive reinforcements we are doing.
- Brownie Points--I found this idea on Pinterest and fell in love with it! You post a cookie sheet to the wall and print out brownies and laminate them. Everytime a student does something STELLAR or the class they receive a brownie point. Once the pan of brownies is full, I have to bake and bring in a pan of brownies for them.
- "Caught ya being good"--This is a fish bowl that has the phrase "caught ya being good" on the side. Anytime we catch a student doing something good, we put a pom-pom in the jar once the jar is filled they get to have a party! The jar is about half-way filled now!
- Build-A-Bear Field Trip--We have a very special field trip planned at the end of the summer and the kids have to earn their way to Build-A-Bear. We go on a field trip everyday during the summer and after every field trip we decide if we earn a bear or not after that field trip. They have a goal set of getting 40 bears and then we get to visit Build-A-Bear in Omaha. This gives them the motivation to behave when we are off-site.
So far these have been working REALLY well and the kids have liked having goals set for themselves in a positive manner. We will see how it goes for the rest of the summer!
Friday, June 7, 2013
Week 1--End of the FIRST week!
I am completely exhausted.
The first week is DONE!
We have made it through challenges and exciting times for our kiddos.
Each week we have a theme with the kids to keep the learning going in a fun way! This week's theme was "We are Family!" to work on building team-building. We have had many issues during our school year before and after school program with bullying and working together so I added this week into our summer to start it off.
During this week, we played many different trust-building games that I used in TEAC 380, read many books that presented this idea in a different context, and we also completed crafts and different activities to learn more about our friends and the idea of friendship.
For field trips this week, we made tie blankets to show that we are "tied" together as a family (and to use on her movie Fridays), went to Memorial Stadium and had a kick off picnic with Raising Cane's at the park, got rained out of the pool, and visited the town of Ashland and toured the bank, saw the Gallery, and visited the Dairy Cone for some delicious ice cream!
We had some scheduling challenges and some conflicts with our bus and field trips, but we all made it through and had a very successful first week.
The kids definitely have learned more about other friends that they haven't before and have started working together as a team. We have started working on group positive reinforcements so we have to work as a team to get to our goals!
Goal for myself: Learn all parents names by the end of the summer. I have learned a lot that the parents respond so much better if I know their name and call them by that. I know some parents names, but I want to learn them all and call them by name by the end of July.
The first week is DONE!
We have made it through challenges and exciting times for our kiddos.
Each week we have a theme with the kids to keep the learning going in a fun way! This week's theme was "We are Family!" to work on building team-building. We have had many issues during our school year before and after school program with bullying and working together so I added this week into our summer to start it off.
During this week, we played many different trust-building games that I used in TEAC 380, read many books that presented this idea in a different context, and we also completed crafts and different activities to learn more about our friends and the idea of friendship.
For field trips this week, we made tie blankets to show that we are "tied" together as a family (and to use on her movie Fridays), went to Memorial Stadium and had a kick off picnic with Raising Cane's at the park, got rained out of the pool, and visited the town of Ashland and toured the bank, saw the Gallery, and visited the Dairy Cone for some delicious ice cream!
We had some scheduling challenges and some conflicts with our bus and field trips, but we all made it through and had a very successful first week.
The kids definitely have learned more about other friends that they haven't before and have started working together as a team. We have started working on group positive reinforcements so we have to work as a team to get to our goals!
Goal for myself: Learn all parents names by the end of the summer. I have learned a lot that the parents respond so much better if I know their name and call them by that. I know some parents names, but I want to learn them all and call them by name by the end of July.
Week 1--May 28th--First Day of Day Camp!
Over four months of preparation and the day is finally here. The kids will be walking in at 6:30 AM, ready to have some fun!
Let's take it back a couple months to start off my experience of the summer of 2013:
January 2013:
Begin talking with my boss about planning the field trips that we go on daily for the summer. I decide to completely revamp the field trip schedule and begin contacting many organizations to plan fun activities for the children.
February/March 2013:
E-mail and contact many different businesses in Lincoln to start putting together our field trip calendar. Slowly the calendar gets closer and closer to being done! We also experienced a director change in the midst of all of the chaos. In these changes, I was offered and accepted the position of Summer Coordinator. A position that was in charge of all registrations, staff, and all activities of the school age summer program.
April 2013:
Published field trip calendar for parents to see.
Beginning of May 2013:
New director begins. In a conversation we were having she stated she did not know exactly what my job was since I was hired before she was brought on. Since this is a lutheran day care center, she had a meeting with her boss (the pastor) and they decided on me being the Director Intern so that I could learn what it is like to be a director of a child care center and still organize the summer program.
As soon as I got out of classes, I was in full swing at the center getting ready for the summer time. I was answering questions from parents and organizing all staff and of course, many other odds and ends that you do not think of until the time of the event.
Weekend before Summer Day Camp begins (Memorial Weekend):
I was at work about 40 hours the week before the weekend and then I spent all day Saturday including Saturday night with friends creating stuff for the center, all day Sunday, and all day Monday preparing for the next week.
6:15 AM May 28th:
I was at work finishing decorating for before the kiddos got their decorating the sidewalks with chalk and pinwheels to welcome them in to our summer time!
Even though all that work was a lot and I was completely exhausted starting the week, I got many hugs and thank yous for decorating and doing what I did. This made it all worth it. After my fourth summer of working at this program, I have made many long lasting relationships with families and love their children dearly. I was ready to head up the program this summer and absolutely ready for the challenge that it was going to entail.
Let's take it back a couple months to start off my experience of the summer of 2013:
January 2013:
Begin talking with my boss about planning the field trips that we go on daily for the summer. I decide to completely revamp the field trip schedule and begin contacting many organizations to plan fun activities for the children.
February/March 2013:
E-mail and contact many different businesses in Lincoln to start putting together our field trip calendar. Slowly the calendar gets closer and closer to being done! We also experienced a director change in the midst of all of the chaos. In these changes, I was offered and accepted the position of Summer Coordinator. A position that was in charge of all registrations, staff, and all activities of the school age summer program.
April 2013:
Published field trip calendar for parents to see.
Beginning of May 2013:
New director begins. In a conversation we were having she stated she did not know exactly what my job was since I was hired before she was brought on. Since this is a lutheran day care center, she had a meeting with her boss (the pastor) and they decided on me being the Director Intern so that I could learn what it is like to be a director of a child care center and still organize the summer program.
As soon as I got out of classes, I was in full swing at the center getting ready for the summer time. I was answering questions from parents and organizing all staff and of course, many other odds and ends that you do not think of until the time of the event.
Weekend before Summer Day Camp begins (Memorial Weekend):
I was at work about 40 hours the week before the weekend and then I spent all day Saturday including Saturday night with friends creating stuff for the center, all day Sunday, and all day Monday preparing for the next week.
6:15 AM May 28th:
I was at work finishing decorating for before the kiddos got their decorating the sidewalks with chalk and pinwheels to welcome them in to our summer time!
Even though all that work was a lot and I was completely exhausted starting the week, I got many hugs and thank yous for decorating and doing what I did. This made it all worth it. After my fourth summer of working at this program, I have made many long lasting relationships with families and love their children dearly. I was ready to head up the program this summer and absolutely ready for the challenge that it was going to entail.
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