Week 2 – Discussion 1

Early Learning (4 -5 years).

Prior to beginning work on this discussion, review Standard #5 in the NAEYC Early Childhood Program Standards document (Links to an external site.). You did such a fabulous job helping your facility get into tip top shape! Now it is time to take this a step further and help your parents become active members of their child’s education.

Choose the age-level classroom that is ideal for you (please be consistent throughout the course and choose the same age group): Infancy (birth -12 months), Toddlers (1-3 years), or Early Learning (4 -5 years). Please be sure to list your choice of age-level in the subject line of your discussion post.

Once you have chosen your classroom level, create or find a game or activity that can be played at your Parents Night. This game or activity should teach your families about the importance of one task or skill such as hand washing, cleaning toys, or snacks and meals, etc. Your activiity should reflect NAEYC Standard # 5. In your discussion post, include the age level of your classroom, title of the Activity, the lesson you will take to teach/present this to your parents and why you think this is important. Your activity must involve both your parents and their child. You must also include music to compliment or enhance your activity.

Guided Response: Review your classmates’ activity plans and choose two posts to respond to. Review this plan from the perspective of both the director and a parent. Share what you liked about this activity, explain any possible issues, and state how you think the children will respond. Include one suggestion to enhance this activity.

Week 2 – Discussion 2

Early Learning (4 -5 years).

Prior to beginning work on this discussion, review the Illness Flyer example.

Using classroom age group you chose in the Parents Night Out discussion above, create a flyer or poster to share with parents addressing the following standard: There is a clear plan for responding to illness, including how to decide whether a child needs to go home and how families will be notified.

Based on the information in Chapter 6 of the Gadizikowki (2013) text, create a classroom poster relaying the information necessary to let parents know the policy and procedures if a child is sick at school. Use Microsoft Word, Publisher, PowerPoint, or another program of your choice to create this poster.

Be sure your poster includes the following items:

• All possible symptoms that would warrant a call (including temperature).
• The amount of time parents are given to pick up their child after they receive a call.
• A clear plan that will be followed if the parents cannot be reached.
• How the child will be cared for until pick up.
• Consequences for parents who are non-compliant.
• Be sure to include one image to represent the content.

Be creative with your poster, but also be sure to develop your content in a professional classroom manner. Make sure it is organized, colorful, and is easy to follow. As a reminder, this will be distributed to parents and displayed in the classroom, therefore it must be free of grammatical errors. Please see the attached PDF to see an example of this flyer.

In your response, attach your illness flyer and write: how did you make decisions surrounding your policies? Explain your choices and justification in your written response to give your peers a better idea of your rationale. Additionally, explain how you made the flyer and your experience with the actual development of the flyer.

Guided response: Review your classmates’ illness flyer and choose two posts to respond to. Review this plan from the perspective of the parent. Share what details you appreciate as a parent, what concepts are confusing, and overall feedback regarding the flyer. Additionally, try to give your peer at least one piece of advice to make the flyer even better.