I know, I know...another daycare question :rolleyes:

This is my understanding since the "memo" we were given on Tuesday hasn't made it off of the dashboard of Darren's truck yet. :complain:

The new school year starts Aug 30 at Rebekah's daycare. On Friday Aug 27th, we have to take everything home (wipes, diapers, etc) and then bring it all back on the 30th. When we come in on the 30th, we are given the new room assignments.

I don't know what they do to prepare the kids for moving. Rebekah will probably be with most of the same kids, just in the "older twos" room instead of where she is now. I don't even know which room that is, who the teachers are in there, etc. Rebekah sees alot of different teachers every day and she does well with all of them so she'll probably know someone in the room.

All of this is making me uncomfortable. How was the transition when your child moved? Will the older kids (Joe, Lexie, etc) be moving any time soon?

Our daycare moves kids by age, not school year. :dunno: Lexie is in the 2's room and won't be moving up to the next room till she turns 3. When they moved her to the 2's, they transitioned her by having her spend a few hours with the new teachers for about a week or two.

She really didn't have a problem at all.

Brooke, that's really weird they do it like that. Our daycare gives us at least several week's notice when they are moving. They tell us which room they are going to, and one of the teacher's from that room meets with us to go over how things work in the new room, what we need to bring in, answer any questions we have etc.

When they move from the infant to the 1 year old toddler room, they transition them over a 2 week period. When they go from the 1 year old room to the 2 year old room, they usually transition over a week. But Joe moved right after Christmas break, so they just started him in the new room full time, since it didn't make sense to have him adjust back to the old room and then have to move. They also moved his stuff, we didn't have to take it home and then bring it back.

His next move up is to preschool, and they said the earliest that will happen is in January. I'm not sure if they do a transition for that or just move them full-time right away.

If you're uncomfortable, talk to the director and see if you can talk to her new teachers as well.

Dennis

I'm trying to call Darren and see what that "memo" really said. Maybe it gives the details
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OK...

It says "Your child will be graduating from the infant/toddlers program to the 2-yr-old program on Aug 30."
And then it gives a list of things that will change.

Most of the list is about the same things - we still need to bring her blanket, extra clothes, and lunch but they will now provide the AM and PM snacks with drinks.
And the kids will be signed in and out by the teachers (something they do now in her room).

That's all I know. Darren of course, doesn't think it's a big deal at all. :rolleyes:

Brooke... I can't imagine that a daycare would just up and send a child to another room with no transition. There'd be cranky toddlers everywhere. :errr:

I imagine you'll be asking a few questions when you drop Rebekah off next.

Ps. What do you mean to be "signed in and out" ? Where do they go?

Hmn...that is odd...I've never heard of it being done that way before. Ours does it the same way as Dennis's, except that we have more like a 1 month transition period. I would definately talk to the director if you feel uncomfortable.

Ps. What do you mean to be "signed in and out" ? Where do they go?
Meaning when I drop her off, they sigh her in saying she's there. And when I pick her up, they do the same.

Right now, it's very informal, I just go in, get her and her stuff, and leave. I THINK the teachers write down what time I got her but I've never seen it. I also think they keep daily sheets on each kid but I've never seen them either. You guys mention getting daily reports - I don't get those. If something's wrong, they tell me. Otherwise, they say "Rebekah is such a sweetie!" and that's it.

This is a nice center and Rebekah loves it...they are just really different from alot of yours.

I think I'll go there a little early today and talk to someone in the office.

Oh, we don't have that (checking in and out) ... that I know of. ....hmmm.Actually, I have seen a little checklist type monthly sheet that has X's and checks, but the parents don't have anything to do with it.

Yes, we get daily sheet reports. These get put in her cubby at the end of the day. Lexie's has things like:

Activities:
Today my mood was:

Then it's got a spot for if she ate her breakfast/snacks/lunch. They'll circle All ~ Some ~ None for each.

Nap Time: 30 min ~ 1 hour ~ 1 1/2 hr etc... Recently NO Nap has been written everyday. :rolleyes:

Next is Potty Times. They tell me if she went on the potty, if her pull-up was wet and BM info.

There's also blank space for them to write notes for what she needs.. ie wipes, etc.

It's very helpful. :up:

We get daily reports. For the infants they are very detailed - what they ate and when, all the diaper changes, when they napped, etc. For Joe they are pretty basic -just how much they ate (everything, most, some, etc., the menus are posted), how long they napped, and then a space for extra comments. They have sheets in each room where you sign in your child and sign them out.

Dennis

I talked to someone in the office yesterday and she said that they try to make the first day of school an exciting day for the kids every year. Rebekah will not see her new room before the first day but none of the kids will. She'll be moving with all the kids in her class. THe woman said that all of the rooms are very similar so it won't be a huge change, just a different location. And she said that the kids Rebekah's age are all familiar with the entire school so it's not that new to them.

There is an orientation/meet the teacher on the first day at 7:30am for her age group so I think we will go to that even though she's not supposed to be there that day.

She also said the 2-yr-old program is more structured with more consistent teachers. The teachers in the infant/toddler program rotate alot but they don't do that with the older kids.

So, basically, they've done it this way for a long time and never had a problem so I shouldn't worry.

Interesting. I do agree with them that if they did have a lot of problems doing it this way that they would've changed how they do it. But you still can't help worrying.

Dennis

Wow, that is different. I'd definitely go to the orientation. :nod:

I'd talk it up to Rebekah in the meantime and I bet they're doing the same at school. :)

We went to orientation today and it threw Rebekah all off. First, she was very tired because we had to get there early (7:30am). And it wasn't her normal daycare day so she knew she was supposed to go to my mom's house and didn't want to be at school. It was so hectic but most of the kids seemed happy to be there and settled in right away.

Tomorrow is her first full day in the new rooms so we'll see how it goes.

Mason is moving up to the next room on Sept 7th and the school (Montessori) had an open house this past weekend where we went to see the new classroom and meet the teacher. Mason has been dropping in on the next level for a while now.

Miss Sarah his old teacher picked this teacher for him (she seems sort of stiff and aloof, very unlike his other teachers!) and he is going up with a little buddy from his class and two others from his class that I know of. There was a class list posted, but I only know two of the kids on it.

This is a brand new classroom with all new things in it. He also has to wear a 'uniform' of white shirt and blue pants. I'd better buy those! :)

I hope Rebekah does well. Kids adapt well to changes. :)

We received a letter today saying the day care center now has enough children enrolled to open the two-year-old room and separate the "twos" and "almost twos" from the "two-1/2s." They listed the children affected by this move and explained the kids will start spending part of their day in the new room to get accustomed. The new teacher will spend two weeks getting to know the kids before they are separated, and one of their two current teachers will also move with them to the new room. I'm pretty happy with their handling of this situation.

I think it would be hard for kids to start cold turkey in a new room, but maybe they've had good experiences with that. How did Rebekah's first day go?