Early childhood educators can ease the new school year transition for young children and their parents using creative ways to integrate the children into activities and ensuring families feel comfortable by building trust through routine and relationships. It’s also important to create a culture where all children and families are accepted, including those with special needs and/or dual language learners.
This blog focuses on how positive guidance, an inclusive environment, and icebreakers can help children to transition into a new program and feel at ease with their new peers and teachers.
Kesley Shaw, senior manager of Instructional Design at the Council, suggests, “I believe that by using activities, positive guidance and inclusion it provides the child the opportunity to increase their social and emotional competency while at the same time promoting a caring classroom community for the child. Creating this type of classroom community is essential when it is the child’s 1st day of school.”
Foster Positive Guidance
Early childhood educators can create environment where positivity thrives starts with the little things during the everyday routine.
As Katorra Enoch-Longshore, the Council’s manager for Strategic Alliances, remarks, “Two things I found always worked when using positive guidance strategies is to offer the child specific choices that lead to logical consequences, e.g. selecting art materials, toys, etc. For this to be effective, try not to compromise on the agreement already in place.”
Use these tips and positive guidance as part of your “back to school” strategy to help all children succeed in the classroom and develop trust to help them feel at ease in a new classroom2:
Create an Inclusive Environment
CDA Candidates are required to obtain 120 clock hours of education based on 8 subject areas that include the need for acquiring knowledge on children with special needs.
Inclusion is not a choice of a preference, it is a social justice issue –all children with disabilities have the right to live, learn, play, and work alongside their typical peers. When teachers acquire knowledge, they develop empathy and awareness and become more comfortable and prepared to work with children with special needs and their parents,” says Vilma Williams, senior manager of Multilingual and Special Programs.
To welcome children with special needs into your program, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) and Health and Human Services (HHS) encourages ECE programs and families to work together to ensure children have access to inclusive high-quality early childhood programs3:
Have Fun with New School Year Activities
Children love any opportunity to laugh, be silly, and have a good time, and what better way to make new classmates feel comfortable than with activities to get to know more about each other and their new classroom. Kim Cephas, Council manager and ECE professional, shares some ideas on how you can incorporate some fun activities for new preschool students4:
Ideas adapted from: Khan, Tanya. “Teacher Ideas for the First Day of Preschool” accessed August 17, 2018. https://classroom.synonym.com/teacher-ideas-first-day-preschool-7842801.html
These tips can help you oversee how the new school year will go and how the children under your care will potentially respond. Fostering relationships since day one can encourage a positive start for new students. It can also bring perspective to current students who will be adapting to having new faces and personalities around the classroom. It is in your hands to make children feel empowered and confident about themselves, so they can freely develop and reach the necessary milestones to succeed as they grow.
Sources:
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Andrew Davis serves as Chief Operating Officer at the Council. In this role, Andrew oversees the Programs Division, which includes the following operational functions: credentialing, growth and business development, marketing and communications, public policy and advocacy, research, innovation, and customer relations.
Andrew has over 20 years of experience in the early care and education field. Most recently, Andrew served as Senior Vice President of Partnership and Engagement with Acelero Learning and Shine Early Learning, where he led the expansion of state and community-based partnerships to produce more equitable systems of service delivery, improved programmatic quality, and greater outcomes for communities, children and families. Prior to that, he served as Director of Early Learning at Follett School Solutions.
Andrew earned his MBA from the University of Baltimore and Towson University and his bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland – University College.
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Jan holds a CPA from the State of Virginia and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Lycoming College. She resides in Alexandria VA with her husband and dog.
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Janie Payne is the Vice President of People and Culture for the Council for Professional Recognition. Janie is responsible for envisioning, developing, and executing initiatives that strategically manage talent and culture to align people strategies with the overarching business vision of the Council. Janie is responsible for driving organizational excellence through strategic talent practices, orchestrating workforce planning, talent acquisition, performance management as well as a myriad of other Human Resources Programs. She is accountable for driving effectiveness by shaping organizational structure for optimal efficiency. Janie oversees strategies that foster a healthy culture to include embedding diversity, equity, and inclusion into all aspects of the organization.
In Janie’s prior role, she was the Vice President of Administration at Equal Justice Works, where she was responsible for leading human resources, financial operations, facilities management, and information technology. She was also accountable for developing and implementing Equal Justice Works Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion strategy focused on attracting diverse, mission-oriented talent and creating an inclusive and equitable workplace environment. With more than fifteen years of private, federal, and not-for-profit experience, Janie is known for her intuitive skill in administration management, human resources management, designing and leading complex system change, diversity and inclusion, and social justice reform efforts.
Before joining Equal Justice Works, Janie was the Vice President of Human Resources and Chief Diversity Officer for Global Communities, where she was responsible for the design, implementation, and management of integrated HR and diversity strategies. Her work impacted employees in over twenty-two countries. She was responsible for the effective management of different cultural, legal, regulatory, and economic systems for both domestic and international employees. Prior to Global Communities, Janie enjoyed a ten-year career with the federal government. As a member of the Senior Executive Service, she held key strategic human resources positions with multiple cabinet-level agencies and served as an advisor and senior coach to leaders across the federal sector. In these roles, she received recognition from management, industry publications, peers, and staff for driving the creation and execution of programs that created an engaged and productive workforce.
Janie began her career with Verizon Communications (formerly Bell Atlantic), where she held numerous roles of increasing responsibility, where she directed a diversity program that resulted in significant improvement in diversity profile measures. Janie was also a faculty member for the company’s Black Managers Workshop, a training program designed to provide managers of color with the skills needed to overcome barriers to their success that were encountered because of race. She initiated a company-wide effort to establish team-based systems and structures to impact corporate bottom line results which was recognized by the Department of Labor. Janie was one of the first African American women to be featured on the cover of Human Resources Executive magazine.
Janie received her M.A. in Organization Development from American University. She holds numerous professional development certificates in Human Capital Management and Change Management, including a Diversity and Inclusion in Human Resources certificate from Cornell University. She completed the year-long Maryland Equity and Inclusion Leadership Program sponsored by The Schaefer Center for Public Policy and The Maryland Commission on Civil Rights. She is a trained mediator and Certified Professional Coach. She is a graduate of Leadership America, former board chair of the NTL Institute and currently co-steward of the organization’s social justice community of practice, and a member of The Society for Human Resource Management. Additionally, Janie is the Board Chairperson for the Special Education Citizens Advisory Council for Prince Georges County where she is active in developing partnerships that facilitate discussion between parents, families, educators, community leaders, and the PG County school administration to enhance services for students with disabilities which is her passion. She and her husband Randolph reside in Fort Washington Maryland.
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