Childcare Management (CCMC1-CE)

Good communication is a key to building a bridge between home and childcare, and it is critical to the development of trusting relationships. In this course, explore issues of communication, including helpful language and strategies for building relationships. Cultural continuity and techniques for approaching families and staff are discussed. Role-playing is incorporated throughout the course.

Playing stimulates the senses, promotes problem solving and communication, and encourages turn-taking. Learn to encourage developmentally appropriate play, to join children in play, and to teach skills through activities. This course helps teachers, caregivers, and parents to understand play’s relationship to learning and to make children’s activities more creative.

Examine how young children develop competencies that are crucial for success in school and with all relationships. Learn the core factors of and techniques for nurturing children’s social and emotional development, including empathy, self-esteem, positive peer relationships, expression of feelings, sharing, and self-control.

Running your own financially successful professional childcare business, such as family day care, involves challenges as well as rewards. The advantage of being independent is the ability to do things your way, while following legal guidelines and meeting professional standards. In this course, learn how to prepare a business plan, write contracts with parents, keep necessary records, and use forms. Develop your own business plan and contracts in class, explore marketing methods, and discuss tax preparation and insurance.

Learn to help young children express themselves while having fun with art projects. Work with the basic materials of paint, crayons, chalk, and collage to develop projects that are sequential and adaptable to a range of ages. Experiment with printing, puppetmaking, and bookmaking, and discover how simple projects can grow into elaborate ones. Art projects using found objects and materials also are covered.

Seeing children daily gives professional childcare providers the ability to observe their behavior, development, and appearance over an extended period. As such, providers may be the first to suspect maltreatment or child abuse. Using case studies, focus on the nature and indicators of abuse and maltreatment, learn how to conduct objective observation and what constitutes a “reasonable cause to suspect,” understand the responsibilities of a mandated reporter are and the reporting process, and arm yourself with resources to provide to families to prevent abuse. Personal, legal, and moral concerns regarding providers’ obligations are discussed.

In this course, learn to develop movement classes for children ages two to five. Explore the elements of teaching creative movement, including how to structure classes, to plan and pace classes and activities to promote physical abilities, and to create an interactive experience for children and caregivers. Discuss the challenges of promoting progress with the “nonparticipant” child. At the end of the course, have the opportunity to present a movement class.

Caring for children on a daily basis offers many opportunities to help them learn. The caregiver is responsible for engaging them in activities that are enjoyable and challenging and that facilitate intellectual, physical, emotional, and social development. This course focuses on teaching methods that enhance learning and build self-esteem. As a caregiver, learn practical and detailed information about activities that promote the development of young children. Then, observe a child and design a developmentally appropriate activity. Age-specific learning materials also are presented and discussed.

Infancy and early childhood are critical and complex stages of a child’s development. For professional childcare providers and for parents, understanding these stages requires knowledge of basic principles of development and behavior. This course focuses on normal development and behaviors that are expected at each stage, the tasks that are mastered, and the ways in which adults can maximize that development. Examine the physical, intellectual, social, and emotional areas of development with an emphasis on observing children and relating observations to developmental stages.

Working with young children is a joy and a challenge. As children grow and develop, they move through stages that create stress and frustration for parents and caregivers. Through positive limit-setting, meet children’s needs and help them to learn, develop social skills, and build self-esteem. Explore the concept of positive discipline and its relationship to healthy, well-functioning children, and discuss strategies for positive limit-setting. Observe child behavior outside of class, and relate it to limit-setting strategies discussed in each session.

Young children’s health can be measured by their physical, emotional, social, and intellectual development. This development is affected by environmental conditions and nutrition. With a focus on the caregiver’s role in optimizing children’s well-being, this course emphasizes preventing injury and illness and incorporating specific healthful practices into daily routines. Survey hazards that children face and learn how to eliminate them, examine nutrition guidelines, discuss ways to encourage good eating habits and fitness, and design a teaching project. Also, explore environmental risks, the influence of media, and current issues in the field of children’s health.

Caregivers often are the first to identify children with special needs. If you are a caregiver, this course can provide you with techniques for recognizing these children and determining whether their needs can be met in regular daycare settings. Learn skills for managing children, working with parents to obtain the special services that children may need, and coordinating care with the appropriate agencies. Discuss the range of services available and the ways in which caregivers can work with parents and professionals to achieve children’s maximal developmental potential.

Gain an overview of the multifaceted involvement and skills required for administration of programs in early childhood education. Course topics include developing an early childhood curriculum, understanding the needs of children, addressing staff issues, working with parents, handling budget and legal aspects, and interacting with government agencies. Videos of early childhood programs are shown and discussed.

Children learn about themselves and their world through play. A well-designed environment encourages children of all ages to explore, experiment, and interact well with others. A variety of developmentally appropriate toys and learning materials as well as a challenging curriculum are essential to creating such an environment. Discover how to arrange learning and activity centers, which toys and materials are important to buy or make, and how to write curriculum plans that maximize learning.

Gain an introduction to the methods and materials used to teach music to young children, ages six months to five years, in preschool or day care environments. Genres of music covered include classical and folk, traditional children’s songs, and multicultural music. Develop a thematic curriculum to connect music to weekly themes in the classroom. Instruments and movement activities are incorporated into the class. Handouts include songs and articles about children’s early musical experiences.