Food in the classroom

This is a very sore point with me. No, not really sore, but it is something that I stand firmly. I have yet to be swayed the other way and very regularly sway others mine:

Food should ONLY be used in the classroom for cooking projects!

For the most of my career, I have worked in low income centers. There are people out there who can't put food in their child's mouth, yet we send them home with rice glued to the paper. These parents walk in and look at a sensory table filled with macaroni noodles that would last them over a month! But they can't use it because those dirty hands have been all over it, the pieces have flecks of paint all over them, and they are no longer edible.

For those children in a center that don't come from these types of centers, there still is an awareness that other people in the world (other children just down the street) can't put food in their mouths, so we don't play with food.

Another argument for my side that I hear is: we don't play with our food, yet we let them play with their food. That's a weak argument, but it still stands.

My point to every teacher that asks me, "Well, what if we string cheerios on yarn and then they eat the cheerios off the necklace?" is this:

If you want to string something on a string, sting beads. You are getting the same fine motor skills accomplished. Eat cheerios for a snack! Leave the two separate!

There is NOTHING you can do as an activity in the classroom with food items that you wouldn't be able to get accomplished without food. String beads, make collages with pictures, tissue paper, rocks, beads, and all sorts of other things. Put birdseed in the sensory table, not rice and beans!

They don't need to glue macaroni to paper to create art.

You want to do an activity with food? Bake a snack. Cook lunch. Make a fruit salad. You really want to "string" food onto something, make fruit-kabobs (fruit stacked on a long toothpick like thing). You want to "creatively" use food as art; make mini pizzas and let them put the shredded cheese and pepperoni creatively on their dough or english muffin and then eat it for lunch.

Other than that, leave the food for meals!

Parent Teacher Conferences

This is the time of year when we have parent teacher conferences. We do this twice a year (once in the fall and once in the spring). For the preschool child, the parents have one question: Is my child ready for Kindergarten? If the answer is no, it shouldn't be a surprise. You should have already been discussing this all along. What this conference should consist of are the skills their child has mastered in order to be ready for kindergarten. You should also discuss with the parents how to help their child transition to kindergarten. At this time, talk to them about what to expect: when the last day of preschool is, if you are having a special event for the children (we have a carnival day) in celebration of this big step, any paperwork they need to have ready to register for kindergarten, if they are going to public school find out which school the child will go to. The more information you give them, the easier this transition will be for everyone.
If you are in a younger classroom which the children will not be going to kindergarten, you still need to meet with the parents to let them know what to expect as well. Are they moving to the next classroom up? Who will the teacher be? Does your center practice continuity of care? How will the class be introduced to the new environment? This is a time that parents will have your undivided attention and be able to ask any questions or concerns they have.
This is also a time for you to find out anything that may be going on in the home. You need to listen and ask questions about home. You may surprisingly find out that the parents are splitting up. No wonder the child has been acting up suddenly.
The best thing someone once told me was this: A parent should do more of the talking in a parent/teacher conference.
There should be no surprises to a parent in these conferences. They already know you are having problems in the classroom; or that they are being extra great helpers. You should be communicating daily! There really isn't any new information the parent should have to hear. But there is lots of new information that the parent has for you. When they drop off and pick up their child, there are lots of ears around and the parents isn't comfortable discussing private family issues with you. In a conference, you have no one else around; they feel more free to talk.

Parent/Teacher conference tips:
1. Make a private space that is closed off and has no traffic coming through. Even if you have to have parents go through a different classroom to get outside to their children, you need to know you won't be interrupted.
2. Have adult seating available. We may be comfortable sitting in those tiny chairs, but parents aren't. When a 6 foot tall dad is trying to comfortably fold himself into a chair 1 foot off the ground, he isn't hearing what you are saying.
3. Don't have any surprises for the parents. They should already know if you are having issues in the classroom. This is a time to discuss your solutions to these issues, not bring them up for the first time.
4. Get the parents to talk. Ask questions that draw information out of them. "Is she writing her name at home?" "When he gets ready for school, do you pick out his clothes?" "Does he have any chores at home?" "What is your typical Saturday like?" "Who puts him to bed? Do you read him a story?" All these will get them to open up. You will be able to assess how much school work is being tied in at home. You may find out that he can tie his own shoes at home, even though he always asks a teacher to do this at school. The child that you think can't write his name, no less recognize it, may actually be writing his name and every one else in the house as well!
5. Enjoy yourself! This isn't a stressful time. This should be a pleasant experience. You may even find out that dad has a hobby of building things and he is more than willing to build you that new coat rack you have been looking for.
6. Have something to give the parents. Give them a piece of art work, have some pictures, put together a small book of samples. I used to have the children help make a book of their work with a cover, writing samples, pictures of them at play, dictation pages, and other fun things. Keep it small, only about 4-5 pages stapled together. You also might want to have some cookies and lemonade (preferably made by the children) as well.

Reviews

We do evaluations twice a year all at the same time, no matter what your anniversary date is. Well, reveiws were done yesterday around here and I discovered some tips during some reviews that I think are helpful to everyone; so I am passing them on to you:
First, you should set goals at every review. On the annual is when the goal should be reached, the mid-year should be when they are looked at and updated or changed if needed; depending on the individual's circumstances. Everyone should have goals or room for improvement. This doesn't mean you are doing a bad job, it just means these are areas of improvement needed. My staff hits the spectrum of options on this. I have one teacher who, at any review (classroom or evaluation) actually doesn't want a great score. She wants to be dinged on something: "I can always improve somethine." So making goals with her is real easy because she is receptive to them. Then on the other end, I have an employee who thinks that making goals means she is not doing something right. "So, I'm not going my job?" is literally the question she asks me everytime. No! You are doing your job, but to get better at your job, these are the areas we are going to work on this year. After a long discussion, I finally hit on a point that, I think, drive it home: "Even our exacutive director, the man who runs the company, sits down every year and makes goals for himself. He even looks to see where he can improve!" So, on this first helpful hint I leave you with this: a review is only a tool to help you become better in your field, no matter what your field is; it is not necessarily a reflection that you are doing a bad job, only a reflection on ways to make you a better person in the end.

Second helpful hint: When doing a review remember that this is a reflection on soley on person. So, no matter what the questions are, the answer needs to be that, taking away all other people in the department, does this person meet this requirement? Of course you do have to take into considerations other when it deals with communication and teamwork, but even that can be brought to the same point: does this person does everything in his or her power to meet the teamwork, even though someone else isn't meeting that requirement? When you are the reciever of the review (i.e. my teacher or assistant) don't bring up the point that "Miss J does this and this". I, as a supervisor come back with "Yes, but you know your job, and it is your responsibility to do your job, no matter what anyone else is doing." Worry about your own job, I see what others are or aren't doing and that will reflect on their review. Now, if you want to, at a time seperate from your review, discuss with your supervisor what "Miss J" is doing; then make a time to do that. An evaluation is not the time, it only makes you look bad.

Another helpful tip: As an evaluator, don't have any surprises for your evaluatees. They should know why you are scoring them the way you are. When I have someone with a low score, I simply say "You got a moderate on your attendance. We talked about that last week; and we made a plan to improve it which you have been working on." Leave it at that; unless of course it isn't getting better.

Tip for the evaluatee: As an evaluatee, be honest with yourself. Do you really deserve a 5 or is that wishful thinking? Do you actually go above and beyond your job duties? That's when you get a 5. Do you come to work everyday without fail, give your supervisor at least a 2 week notice of doctors appointments, call the night before when you are sick, and make appointments around your work schedule? Or do you come in the day of an appointment and say "I need to be off at 10 for an appointment today that I've had for a month and forgot to tell you." Or do you call in sick 30 minutes after you were supposed to already be there? This reflects on you. How about teamwork? Do you do everything in your power to keep the communication open with your classroom or department? Or do you 'forget' to tell them things leaving them to answer to a parent at pick up for a child's chipped tooth that they came in with? I'm telling you now the patterns I see are as follows: an employee who deserves the 4's and 5's will turn in their self evaluation with 2's and 3's because they honestly believe that they don't deserve those scores, they see where they need to improve. The employee who gets evaluated with 2's and 3's, without fail, turns in their self evaluation to me with all 5's marked. It is a rare occasion, and a rare person, who will actually turn in their evaluation with the same or close to the same marks that I give to them. An evaluation is a tool for you, not your employer. It will only help you in the end become a better person, not just a better employee at this company.

If you go into an evaluation with these things in mind, on both sides of the desk, you will have succesful evaluations. What you really have to think is: what is the pupose of this (or any) evaluation? And the answer is simple: to become better!

What tips do you have?