It’s Not Goodbye… Just See You Later

In the daycare world kids often come across many many changes and growth during their time in care. Kids are growing so fast it’s hard to believe sometimes. So many different milestones are being met, emotions are evolving, and so many wonderful moments are being created within their classrooms.

As children start to get a bit older, they realize and can really feel the change happening around them. During their time in care, children will be transitioning to different classrooms as they mature. Even at a young age, these kiddos know exactly what is going on. They sense your emotions as parents and ours as teachers along with all of their own.

When your child becomes apart of our classrooms, they become apart of us. We are so lucky to spend a huge chunk of our day with them. They really are an extension of our family, our kids. So when its time to make that transition to a new classroom or maybe you are exiting daycare for ‘xyz’ reason, it is so important to make sure as their parents you are preparing them for these changes.

It is important to make sure they are able to express and work through any feelings they may be having about moving to a different classroom or leaving school. This is such a great opportunity to really engage your child to use words to express their emotions.

In some cases, you may not feel like you personally connected deeply with your child’s teacher. But, your child who has spent weeks upon weeks with their teachers may feel very differently. On the other hand, you may absolutely adore and connect with their teacher, and maybe they did not.. at all-haha! Most importantly, it’s not about us. It is about them. So allowing them the chance to communicate their feelings about leaving should be a priority.

While talking with your child about these changes, it’s great to speak with their current and future teachers. Their current teachers should be discussing the upcoming transition as well. Be on the same page; discuss the child’s hesitations and/or excitements together. That way when either party is speaking with the child about the changes they can both address any concerns that the child may have. If you are able, it’s wonderful to meet your child’s future teachers before they enter the new classroom. As the time gets closer, doing a walk-through together and meeting the new teachers is helpful so you both can get a feel for the new environment.

Most important, allow the child to say goodbye. Let them know of their last day in their current classroom so they can gain a small piece of closure. Allow them the opportunity (if they would like) to say goodbye to friends and teachers. Remember, your kiddo has spent weeks after weeks with the same group of friends (some would say family) and they have made some wonderful bonds. It is a happy, sad, exciting, and scary time for some; transitions can sometimes be hard on all of us. Communication is so key here to see that the emotional needs of these kiddos are being met.

Remember, its not goodbye forever. Just see you soon or until next time.
~ Ms. Whitney
Lead Pre-K Teacher
Curriculum Coordinator

Summer is my absolute favorite season. I love being outside and feeling the sunshine. Even as a child, summer was something I always looked forward to. Not because of the typical reason of “school is finally out!”, but rather because of the fun, easy going times summertime brings.

In fact, I’ve always loved school. As a kid, and especially as an adult, I enjoy learning, progressing, and engaging my brain. One of my hopes as a teacher, and as a mother, is to try and pass on my love of education to my son.

So while it is Summer time and I want him to enjoy every minute of it, I also want to show him that learning can happen year round; and it can be fun! ReadingRockets.org offers some great ideas on how to keep up on curriculum during the Summer.

Here are a few I find very easy and very valuable:

1) Incorporate reading and writing into every day:
I personally think this may be the most important step in encouraging academics during the Summer! For our family, reading stories at bedtime is where we get a lot of our daily literacy. I know that during the Summer, bedtimes may be a bit later, therefore the bedtime routine may suffer. However, incorporating that bedtime story every night can be a vital resource to that growing mind!

Choose smaller books, learn to read books, books about Summer, or any kind of book that fits your needs; just make sure you are still reading! Further, one of my favorite things to do when it comes to incorporating fun writing, is writing with nature. Say you go on a hike, you and your children could collect flowers, rocks, leaves, sticks, really anything and see how many letters/words you can create! Journaling about your fun Summer activities is also a great way to keep writing active.

2) Be an active citizen:
Social and emotional growth goes hand-in-hand with academia. Children who are active within their community gain skills in empathy, self-confidence, and problem solving! PBS kids offers a ZOOM program where volunteer resources are offered, different projects to work on, and stories from other children on how community engagement impacted them.

3) “Make cool things”:
Encourage your kids to be hands on! The world of STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) is being introduced to more and more school programs each year, and it is great! Pinterest some fun projects you can create based around STEAM, I promise there are so many! And, half of the fun is in trying. If a Pinterest fail happens, use that as a learning opportunity and try it again! STEAM doesn’t have to be boring or limiting, see how creative you and your kids can be this Summer!

While these are only a few suggestions on how to keep learning alive in the Summer, I hope they were valuable. Even more, I hope this inspired you to come up with your own ideas on how to engage kiddos while school is out! Summer learning doesn’t have to be as boring or as daunting as it may seem, just be resourceful and remember to have FUN! Tag or comment with us your favorite summer learning activities!

-Ms. Caitlin
Wellness Coordinator