Our Staff

 

Our teachers are dedicated to making sure your child is safe and well cared for while they are in our care, but that is just the beginning. Our goal for each child is to teach them to love to learn. This is a key component in any child's success as they begin their academic career. We do this by using many different techniques starting in infancy. We teach through games, songs, finger plays and many different activities. We also use the world around them and their own interests to spur their curiosity and encourage them to ask questions. We also use art opportunities to encourage each child to use their own limitless imagination and individuality.

 

Our full time teachers take upwards of 30 hours of training every year as well as having a wealth of experience in working with young children and infants. We are a state licensed facility. However, the state minimum requirements for child care do not do much to encourage truly high quality child care or education for children in child care. With that in mind, we also participate in the Iowa Quality Rating System (QRS), and are proud to be a 4 Star QRS rated child care center.  The guidelines for QRS are much more stringent and there are more resources made available for us to attain those key components to high quality child care. We are proud to work with the QRS program and know you can see the constant strive towards excellence which comes from working with them.

 

Employees are required to submit to a background and criminal records check. Once they have been hired our employees are required to obtain CPR, First Aid, Blood Bourne Pathogens, and Mandatory Reporter of Child Abuse training within their first 6 months of employment. Teachers are also required to obtain at least 20 hours of Child Development related training each year.

 

Our teachers plan lessons according to the needs of the classroom. They base their lessons on the Creative Curriculum Standards which is a research based curriculum. 

 

Lead Teachers assess each child's progress several times while they are in their classroom and will collect samples of your child's work and place them in a portfolio. This portfolio will include items such as observation records, samples of creative art work, photos of your child participating in learning activities, and other useful tools for assessing your child.  These are shared with parents twice each year in November and April. When your child moves to the next classroom the portfolio will move with them so that the assessments can continue and your child’s progress can be seen over the time that they are enrolled in our program. Once your child “graduates” from our Preschool Program his/her portfolio will be sent home along with his Preschool Diploma. (Due to the volume of work that is produced in each classroom, you may receive a portfolio after the child completes the 3 year old room and then again upon graduation.)

 

You may request a conference with your child’s teacher or the Director at anytime to discuss any concerns or issues you may have with your child’s progress, behavior, or the things that are happening in the classroom.