Early Beginnings Multicultural Child Development Centre
"Program Statement":
As a Ministry of Education licensed childcare facility, Early Beginnings Multicultural Child Development Centre of Ottawa-Carleton follows the regulations stated in the Child Care and Early Years Act, 2014.
Also in 2014, the Ministry introduced a new pedagogy for early learning. It’s called “How Does Learning Happen?”. Early Beginnings has adopted the philosophies and thoughts about learning that are outlined in this pedagogy. All educators have read the document and will apply those philosophies and thoughts in the classroom and to their curriculum.
“How Does Learning Happen” reminds us, as educators, that children are competent, capable, curious, and rich in potential. It also believes that there are four main conditions that are necessary for all children to thrive in an early learning environment and in all other areas in their lives. These four foundations of “How Does Learning Happen” are:
- Belonging
- Well-Being
- Engagement
- Expression
Early Beginnings believes that children learn best through action and play. Our educators will create classroom environments, both physical and emotional, that encourage and support play-based learning as well as actively promote the development of the four essential conditions of belonging, well-being, engagement, and expression.
We ensure a welcoming environment that is respectful of the diversity which exists within our center.
Early Beginnings’ Goals:
Our goals for the children and our program are consistent with those of the Child Care and Early Years Act and How Does Learning Happen in the following categories:
- Health, safety, nutrition, and well-being of the children:
The health and safety of our children is of utmost importance to us. We strive to provide a clean and safe environment where the children can play and explore.
Early Beginnings is proud to maintain a kosher kitchen, which is a dietary requirement for many of our families. While our menu is kosher, it is also consistent with the guidelines of Canada’s Food Guide. We have an on-site full-time cook who prepares all of our meals and snacks. We gladly provide food substitutions for any children with allergies, food sensitivities, or dietary restrictions.
The overall well-being of our children is something that all Early Beginnings employees do their best to promote by being warm and compassionate people who accept every child in our care as an individual. The educators develop close relationships with the children. Through formal and informal observations they are able to meet their individual needs in all areas of development.
- Support positive relationships with children, families, and staff:
Early Beginnings strives to develop and maintain open and positive relationships with the children and their families. In doing so, we promote and foster a sense of belonging and partnership with them and their children.
The educators engage in daily face-to-face communication with the parents; answering questions about their child’s day, telling them about a milestone moment their child may have had during the day, or simply listening to a parent’s concern about a particular issue.
The Director maintains an open communication with the parents both verbally as well as via email, always letting them know that they are welcome to reach out at any time with a question or concern.
Encourage children to interact and express themselves in a positive way and support their ability to self-regulate:
The educators at Early Beginnings will promote, actively encourage, and when necessary, assist the children to express themselves (thoughts, feelings, and needs) and communicate with their peers and teachers.
We provide a learning environment which is play-based and allows the children to have some input and control into what they want to do and learn about. The teachers will observe the children and what they are interested in and follow their cues. Many of the daily activities will be child driven and teacher supported.
This kind of learning environment demonstrates that children are indeed competent, curious, capable, and rich in potential.
Activities such as “Show & Tell” will give the children an opportunity to verbally share with their peers something from their world at home. It also helps to create the four conditions outlined in “How Does Learning Happen” that are crucial to a child’s healthy overall development: belonging, well-being, engagement, and expression.
Learning to self-regulate is a process and can be very difficult for some children. “How Does Learning Happen” describes self-regulation as “how a child is able to deal effectively with stressors and then recover.” Assisting a child in regaining a calm and peaceful feeling after an emotional outburst or some other kind of stressful situation is one way our educators can foster self-regulation. It could be something as simple as showing the child how to calm his/her breathing, counting to ten, or squeezing a stress ball.
Our goal is to empower children by teaching them strategies and giving them tools so they can eventually learn to cope with the stressors in their environment and be in control of their emotions.
Foster the children’s exploration, play, and inquiry and provide child-initiated and adult supported experiences:
Our educators are observers. They will take note of what sparks the children’s interest and what they are curious about. Knowing that the children are competent, curious, capable, and rich in potential, we want them to feel that their thoughts and ideas are valued. We can give them that sense of belonging by allowing them to have input in what they want to learn about. When planning the daily and weekly activities, the educators will reflect upon what they have observed and provide opportunities and materials for the children to engage in and explore.
The teachers give children the freedom to choose what activities they want to take part in and what area of the class they want to play in. They are there to support their play and engage with them as they learn. The teachers will use resources such as books, photographs, or a computer to enhance/accompany the materials in the classroom.
Plan for and create a positive learning environment and experiences in which each child’s learning and development will be supported:
We believe that the foundation of every positive learning environment is the positive relationships between the educators and the children. By spending time with them, both one-on-one and in a group, and through formal and informal observations, the educators will develop these relationships and bonds with the children. They will get to know their individual personalities, likes/dislikes, and who each child is as a person.
The educators recognize and respect that every child is unique and therefore learns and develops at a different pace. All children will be encouraged to feel like they are a valuable part of the group, regardless of any special needs or learning issues.
If there are children who have special needs, whether they be physical, emotional, or otherwise, they will be supported by the teachers. In certain cases and with the parent’s permission, we may call upon the assistance of community partners such as Children’s Integration Services or the Ottawa Children’s Treatment Center.
Incorporate indoor and outdoor play, as well as active play, rest, and quiet time, into the day, and give consideration to the individual needs of the children receiving care:
Along with daily indoor activities, each day (weather permitting) the children will spend a minimum of two hours outside. We believe that it is crucial that both a child’s mind and body need activity.
On days that the weather does not allow us to spend time outside, the teachers may set up an obstacle course in the hallway or bring out riding toys, balls, and other gross motor equipment.
Just as we feel that children’s bodies and minds require exercise, we also recognize that they need time to recharge. Each child will be allowed to rest, relax, and/or sleep after lunch. During the second hour of the two hour rest time we provide a “waker’s program” for children who have outgrown their nap and do not sleep and for children who may have slept/rested in the first hour and are now awake. This program allows the children to engage in quiet activities and is run by one of our educators.
Foster the engagement of and ongoing communication with parents about the program and their children:
At Early Beginnings we strive to keep an open and ongoing communication with all our families.
The parents and educators communicate face to face daily during the drop-off and pick-up times. This is an opportunity to pass along information about the child’s night/day and share any concerns, issues, or questions they may have. It’s also a time to share the child’s successes and milestones. If a parent or one of the educators has something they want to discuss that would require a bit more conversation than what is feasible during the drop-off or pick-up time, we will schedule phone meeting or a time for them to meet.
Aside from this daily communication, we offer parent/teacher meetings twice a year. This is a time to discuss in a bit more detail the children’s progress and development.
Early Beginnings always welcomes feedback and input from parents. The Board of Directors asks the families to participate in a parent satisfaction survey in order to learn what they think about our program, our educators, our menu, and other various parts of our center. Gaining this feedback helps us to better serve our families.
We also encourage parent feedback/communication in regards to some our How Does Learning Documentation. The educators post observations and photos of the children in the classroom as part of their programming. Periodically, photos of the children engaged in play will be emailed to the parents.
Involve local community partners and allow those partners to support the children, their families, and staff:
Early Beginnings works with a variety of community partners from both the Jewish community and broader Ottawa community.
Our center is located on the campus the Soloway Jewish Community Center and we have access to their facility to use their gymnasium as well as their swimming pool.
Our Senior preschool and JK classes participate in a “Reading Buddies” program at a Jewish school located on campus. The children go for library visits where they are read to by the school’s librarian are able to browse through the library and check out books to bring back to their classroom at Early Beginnings. These children also visit the residents at the long-term care center for Seniors on campus.
Early Beginnings also partners with the Early Childhood Education Program at
Algonquin College. We accept students on field placement and our educators get the opportunity to guide them while they are with us. We are proud to be a part of the Early Childhood Education mentoring team.
We have an awareness of what services and programs are available locally for our children and families so we are able to guide parents to them when necessary.
Support staff or others who interact with the children at our center in relation to continuous professional learning:
At Early Beginnings we take tremendous pride in being a high quality child care center. There are many things that contribute to making a child care center one of high quality, but at the core of any great center are the educators. Our educators are warm, caring, hardworking, and enthusiastic professionals who truly take pleasure from being able to work with young children.
We feel that it’s important for the staff to engage in professional learning. The educators will be encouraged to participate in information sessions, workshops, professional discussions, or webinars that may aid in building their knowledge and understanding of child care related topics such as the new pedagogy “How Does Learning Happen?”, working with children who have special needs, or learning how to communicate positively and effectively with Toddlers. The Director shall share any upcoming opportunities for professional development with the staff via email and/or posting flyers for them in the staff room.
Our teachers who are Registered Early Childhood Educators (RECEs) and are members of the College of Early Childhood Education, they will be able to participate in the Continuous Professional Learning Program that the college offers.
To help support the teachers with their ongoing learning, Early Beginnings will cover the cost of any workshop or training opportunity.
During staff meetings we will continue to discuss and reflect upon “How Does Learning Happen” and how we will apply its philosophies to our program.
Document and review the impact of our Program Statement:
Early Beginnings’ Program Statement will be reviewed and signed by all staff, students, and volunteers before commencing employment and annually thereafter.
The Program Statement will continue be a topic of discussion at staff meetings in order to ensure that the educators have a good understanding of it and how to successfully deliver it to their program. During the meetings, the staff will also have the opportunity to discuss with the Director and their co-workers any issues they may be encountering when carrying out what is outlined in the Program Statement. This can be a forum for all staff to share ideas, brainstorm, and reflect upon “How Does Learning Happen” can unfold in their classroom.
The Program Statement is meant to be a “living document” which will grow and change as time goes by. After gathering feedback from staff and parents, we can re-evaluate our Program Statement; perhaps adding to it, taking things away, or modifying some areas of it. We will adjust it accordingly so that it truly represents how we at Early Beginnings feel about how learning really happens.
