I've been put as room leader and im stuck!!

[Sarah Youssef]

Hi everyone, I have just been promoted to room leader of the 2-3 room. I'm pushed into the deep end as my original room leader was not doing her job properly. Does anyone have any Ideas that i could take on to get my room back up and running again. I have never been in this situation before and i just want to do what is best for the children and the staff in my room. I am excited to have this opportunity but i am a little scared! If anyone has anyone has any advice they can give i would really appreciate it.

Thanks heaps in advance

[Lorina]

First off, the toddler room (2 - 3 years olds), in my opinion, is one of the hardest rooms to run. I spent almost 2 years as a room leader in the toddler room and you're in for a fast, action roller coaster ride! As you have probably experienced there is not a chance to yourself when you step through that door!
Even though, the children are just beautiful and melt your heart. You form such a strong bond with each and every one of them they are just too cute to resist!

Toddlers will be toddlers they are defiant and independent and sometimes drive you crazy. They don't mean to be this way it is all part of their development however it's your responsibility to guide them. Saying No, Don't, Stop over and over doesn't help and how many times can you say it as well as the children listening to it. You need to set up some clear easy to follow guidelines that the children understand so they know what is expected of them. It's a great idea to have a class discussion about this at group time. The older ones will be able to participate and the younger ones observe. For example "Sophie I liked the way you packed away the blocks when you finished, that lets us know that someone else can play what else do we do that helps out our friends in the room" then you can talk about putting books on shelves, walking inside, etc. You could also act it out. For example: if one of the behaviours was throwing toys on the floor, you can start playing with the toys then after a few seconds start throwing them everywhere and walk but to the group and say something like "is is safe to throw toys on the floor, why, what will happen" etc. Conversations like these will be grasped by the older toddlers and once they know what is acceptable and what is not then you will see an improvement. You could also make colour rules. Choose 5 rules one for each colour, display them on the floor on the shelf for children to see along with a photo. These should be discussed regularly. For example: red rule - walking feet inside, blue - pack away toys etc. Children will begin to remind each other. Re-directing their behaviour is also helpful and it just quickly diffuses the situation and just move onto the next.

How are you going with programming and planning?

,
Lorina

[Lorina]

The following may also help:

Behaviour Management In Childcare
Group Time With Children

,
Lorina

[Sarah Youssef]

Hi Lorina, It is such a roller coaster ride but im loving every minute of it. You have some really good idea's that i could do with my kids!
Programming im going ok with it but planning is where im struggling a little bit. I can't seem to find the time to plan things and it can be frustrating at times as i got chucked into this with out knowing what to do.

[Lorina]

Programming and planning can get difficult especially when you have your hands full with the children but remember to share the workload with the other educators in the room. Set up a obs timetable just so you can get use to observing children each day. You don't even have to really plan which children to observe as such just give each educator 2 children which they have to write observations for during the day, including yourself. If you and your room educators are able to do this by lunch time itself then you don't have to worry about it in the afternoon. Also are you doing a weekly program? If so, always have the following weeks program handy that way you can add to it during the previous week itself. Any OB follow ups, parent/child input, interests, extension ideas whatever it may be you can start filling it up from the previous week so it's ready for the following week. Have a list of outcomes and sub outcomes handy that you can refer to when writing programming and obs. Maybe have these at your desk if you have one or create a programming and planning folder... you can find a lot on here itself so let me know what you're looking for or where you need help and I'm happy to guide you!

,
Lorina

[Lorina]

Another thing you could do a letter to the parents in the room introducing yourself as the room leader and your excited to be given this opportunity and that if parents will like to discuss their child's progress with you that they can do so etc. It's a good way to build relationships with parents...

,
Lorina