Director’s Group
Meeting Minutes
Meeting Date: April 14, 2011
Made possible through the support of the Deluxe Corporation Foundation
1. No First Children’s Finance Presentation
2. Kevin Terrell presents Shared Services proposal
a. Advanced search
b. Site profiles
c. “Angie’s list” of resources for child care providers
d. Jobs board
3. News and Updates
a. Nicole’s new position/role with RCC
b. New Early Childhood Director’s Group blog http://ecdirectorsgroup.blogspot.com/
i. Meeting reminders will come through Constant Contact to directors in 7 county metro area.
ii. Reminders will also be posted on the Director’s Group blog, you can subscribe to the blog and receive email updates of all new postings
4. Week of the Young Child ideas
a. Have volunteers or student teachers plan WOYC events
b. Kids hand out pencils with activities around them
c. Focus on “stories, snacks, and crafts”
d. Carnival for the kids
e. Faith-based programs - hand out children’s handprints for prayers at chapel time
f. family breakfast
g. Special lunch
h. Launch special program features (i.e. lending library for parents)
i. Super jumper
j. Art fair of students’ art work
k. Make and Take flower pots
l. Focused on Earth Day (following week) for nature based program (Earth/Spring/Environment)
m. Preschool Prom
n. WOYC planning guide at NAEYC.org
5. Teacher Appreciation - First week in May
a. General observation - centered on food
b. Personal note as director to each staff member and a small gift
i. Step into the classroom for teachers for 15-45 minutes and give them an extra break
ii. Chair massages to staff?
c. Breakfast/lunch for staff
i. Can have parent volunteers fill in over naptime (not very successful but gives them an idea of what teachers contend with daily)
d. Provide families information to contact teachers and provide words of appreciation
i. Work email addresses
ii. Make notes (“I love my teacher because...”) or bulletin board available to parents
iii. Have teachers post a list of favorite things (candy, soda, etc)
iv. Parent volunteered scrapbooked picture boards for teachers
e. Another option - Year-round appreciation, sign-up board located in public area and parents sign-up for a week.
6. Field Trips (In-house and off-site)
a. Puppeteer (Colleen, from Eden Prairie, ??) recommended
b. Sara Waters (Babytimefun.com) recommended
c. Merlajean the puppet lady, not recommended
d. Science museum (very expensive, got the time wrong), not recommended
e. Como Zoo (affordable, good programs), recommended
f. MadScienceMN, recommended
g. The Reptile Experience (affordable) recommended
h. History Center (bad experience but provided some compensation)
i. Step Up to Soccer via Children’s Learning Mgmt Services (very popular with families, depends on who teaches the class, parents pay separately) - recommended
j. City of Richfield free reading program (access via city website, may not have to be in Richfield to participate) - recommended
k. Humane Society (haven’t used, thinking of trying)
l. Underwater Adventures, recommend
m. Rob Ellos (didn’t catch what he did or spelling but he was a “crazy guy, kept kids attention)
n. Bruce the Bug Guy (kind of expensive)
o. Will Hale (really cool, very expensive)
p. The Alphabets (more affordable than Will Hale, also fun
q. Jody Blindaur- Yoga for kids, teachers, parents. Recommended - jodylbee [at ] yahoo [dot] com
r. Wayzata HS String Orchestra came and did a concert at one center, even if not for your center, explore local public schools
s. Mike Mann the Baker (Gardening, Santa Claus), recommended
t. Utilize businesses within walking distance: Farmer’s Market, DQ, McDons, Chuck’E’Cheese, library
u. Landscape Arboretum (OFFSITE), highly recommend for preschoolers
i. Other offsite field trips: apple orchard, Children’s museum, Como zoo
ii. Renting Bus (Can share with other centers)
7. Other/Future Meetings
a. Children are not permitted to use water bottles except on field trips (licensing rule regarding children having access to water “in cups”)
b. May meeting - Sue Fischer will come to talk about employment law (experience with child care and rule 3)
c. June meeting - First Children’s Finance (non-profit board recruitment); discussion topic: TBD
d. July meeting - Site visits? (let me know if you would like to volunteer your site for a visit)
Seeking to improve child care quality by enhancing the professional development of early childhood director's through monthly training, networking and resource sharing.
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Meeting Reminder
This month's director's meeting will be Thursday, April 14th at 10am at Resources For Child Caring's West Metro location in Minneapolis. We will be talking about Week of the Young Child, Teacher Appreciation Week, Summer Programming Planning and Special visitors/field trips.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
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