Better
Kid Care Satellites
Aug 2005- Aug 2006
Problem:
Providing
the best education that utilizes current research for people that care
for children is an ongoing problem in Boone County. Finding the time
for staff to attend and getting the best presenters are common restrictors.
According to the latest US census over 67% of the children under the
age of 6 have both parents working outside the home in Boone County.
This puts additional responsibilities on the day care provider to do
the very best they can while the children are in their care.
Response:
Boone
County ISU Extension offers day care providers and day care center directors
educational opportunities via satellite. These classes are offered in
the evening when providers are most likely able to attend. Five sessions
were held; two in the Fall of 2005 and three in the Spring of 2006 with
54 day care providers in attendance. The satellite programs had some
of the nation’s best possible presenters for the topics being
discussed. The “Better Kid Care” satellites were offered
in the ISU Extension office with promotion provided by our partners
at the Child Care Resource and Referral and the Teaming together for
Children coalition.
Impact:
Following
are some of the post meeting evaluation comments to the question: What
ideas or practices do you plan to try as a result of this workshop?
-
I am going
to find more sensory items.
-
I am going to
try and make some new circle time items.
-
Use more movement
activities, dancing follow the leader, etc
-
Use more music
and songs
-
I’ll use
the ideas to make transitions easier.
-
I’ll have
fewer requirements from me and more self-control from the children.
-
The emergency
information – what to have emergency plans prepared for.
-
I’ll use
the information to communicate to and help educate my staff regarding
emergency preparedness.
-
I especially
liked the staff development ideas and the challenge to be a leader
in the center.
-
I thought it
was great – helped me to listen to the providers’ stories
to see real life situations.
-
I will try to
understand better how the parent is feeling when they come to me with
concerns.
-
I think the
parent development worksheets will be quite useful; I notice a lot
of similarities between the sheet and some of my parents.
-
It really is
important to not judge a parent – need to look at the situation
through their eyes.
-
I will try to
listen to my parents better before I offer a solution too quickly.
-
The facilitator
did a wonderful job; very easy to talk with and ask questions. I enjoyed
this workshop.
-
Thanks for the
Extension workshops!
-
Thank you, it
was very informative!
Providers consistently
rate the workshops in this series as a positive training experience
and comment that they incorporate the ideas they’ve learned into
their child care programs. The facilitator for the programs states:
“As a trainer myself, I really appreciate these workshops because
they show video clips of the discussion topics; this is hard to do with
a live training.”
Contact:
Rich Wrage
Boone County ISU Extension Education Director
603 Story Street, Boone, IA 50036
Phone 515-432-3882; Fax 515-432-3883
Email rwrage@iastate.edu