SCHEDULE FOR THE FIRST WEEK: Period of Adjustment
For the First Week: House timings: 9.30 am – 10.30 am
Schedule:
9.30am-9.40: Free time & Fun N Brain Time. The child can walk around within the House and feel free.
9.40 am-9.50am: Reading Time. Parents read books from the mini library for their children that interest them.
9.50 am-10.00am: Edutainment Time. The child can choose whatever he likes and play along with his/her parent.
10.00am-10.15am: Montessori time: The children can choose anything from EPL, Sensorial, Lang or Math’s materials and work on mats.
10.15 am-10.30am: Snack Time and Play area. Parents to bring their snacks box too separately.
2.2 For the first two days:
Please note:
For the first two days: Parents stay inside the class till 10.30 am and TAKE PART in the activity like a child. For the next two days: Parents stay with the child, but not get involved in any activity. Do not try to leave the child alone. Try and direct him to Aunty. On the fifth day, tell the child and just wait in the office. The next week depends from child to child.
Parents should neither force the child into any activity nor compare with other children or force them to make friends with each other. Never say ”He is doing it. So do it”.
The objective of these days is to give the child the experience of inside the class environment in the comfort of their own parents. WITH THE CHILD IN CLASS: IMPORTANT NOTES TO PARENTS.
Dear Parents,
Welcome to the Montessori House.
During this important first week, you are here NOT to TEACH anything to the child. Instead you are here only as an emotional support for the child. To enable your child to settle down quickly, to make him/ her independent, kindly follow the following guidelines:
On the 1st and 2nd day:
Involve yourself in doing the activities in the House. This serves as an example of what is expected from the child, an inspiration to get involved and an invitation to join you. If the child chooses to join you, encourage the child to do so.
CDC is an expectation free zone. Please do not push your child to do what you may want, the child may not be yet open to. For Ex: Don’t ask the child to wish uncles and aunties, to sit and do activities and to show socially acceptable behavior. Please do not compare your child with others and ask him to make friends.
Let the facilitator take the responsibility of child`s behavior, participation and learning. If the facilitator will need your help, she will ask for it.
On the 3rd and 4th day:
It would be best if your role is of smiling, physically available, but mute spectator. Be physically available by being ready to hold, hug, kiss, providing a lap and giving encouraging smiles.
Your child has been introduced to an unknown social environment and often reactions are in the form of snatching from others, hitting others, crying etc. Please try not to react to these kind of situations. Preferably, without speaking a word, just give your child required emotional support. Just point the behavior to the facilitator.
Letting the facilitator drive the session, establishes in the child`s mind as to who is the `leader`. If the child comes to you with a request or demand(say, I want that ball), please do not become the spokesperson on behalf of the child .Rather encourage the child to direct the request to the facilitator. The child starts becoming independent.
Finally remember there is no hurry for the child to learn, whether its academic stuff or social skills or any other skills. Become an ardent observer of children and enjoy your child`s and other children`s actions and interactions.
Please do not ask the facilitator questions about your child or about the process during the session. For any of your concerns, you are most welcome to speak to us, but only after the session.
Thanking you for your co operation .
Wishing all of us a great time.
CDC Team
IMPORTANT NOTES FOR PARENTS- MONTESSORI
COMING ON TIME: Coming on time is imperative as the morning routine helps children in settling down in the day’s activities. Coming late puts pressure on the child as well as an additional challenge for the facilitator.
PICKING UP CHILDREN: Please pick up the children on the right time. We have our activities planned in such a way that if a child is picked up say 10 minutes early, he would be missing some part of learning there. Again do not pick them up late. Children tend to see their friends being picked up and may start getting scared/ panicking/ getting upset and lose the whole trust in the House. May create tantrums the next day. However, this is excused under genuine circumstances.
Please let us know in advance if anybody other than the parents is going to pick up the child.
When you pick up your child, allow the child to FIND the footwear, WEAR by self and carry personal belongings. In the process, the child may take LONGER time, may forget his bag or jacket. But the child is gaining confidence to do things by SELF. Your patiently “WAITING IN SILENCE” at the door is worth the wait.
ABSENT: It is the parents` responsibility to inform us if the child is absent from House. If you are planning a trip – please inform us in advance.(in person, or email will do)
FRUITI TIME: Kindly ensure that
The Tiffin box is such that the child can open the same him/herself.
There is a clean and dry napkin daily in the bag along with a water bottle.
Please send vegetarian food (avoid egg, chicken, fish etc). Highly recommended- involve the child in preparing/ packing the snack box.
Please send the snacks what the child likes.
You could pack- fruits and raw vegetables, which the children are generally fussy about. (Like cucumber, carrot, beetroot, sweet potato, fruit juice, salad etc.)
Even if the child is not eating and bring the snack back home- please send the snacks.
Keep the right amount of snacks. If you want to give extra- put in 2 boxes-so that the child is not overwhelmed by seeing the quantity in one box. Also if you have kept more- please do not insist on your child to eat everything. Discuss quantities with him/ her.
Please do not keep food items that flow. (are liquid in nature)
Avoid junk food.
Also send a pair of dress for any kind of misadventures.
If a child spills/ forgets snacks, we always have backup of Tropicana juices and biscuits.
TRAINING: Please note that we at CDC do not aim at giving toilet training to the child. A child who is not completely toilet trained has to be in diapers .Please ensure that the child is in diapers, even If the child is in the process of getting toilet trained. Our staff would certainly pull out the diapers worn by the child and help him/her to pee/poo, whenever felt necessary.
CLOTHES AND FOOTWEAR: Kindly ensure that
. The child wears daily wear clothes which are very comfortable and not anything expensive/ new. The children here in the House work on mats. So please avoid Jean pants or anything which discomforts the child. . The footwear should be such that the child him/herself can take them off and put them on- at least for all 3+ children. The idea is to encourage independence.
. The child does not carry any personal belongings in clothes/ bag/pockets- except for when the child brings something under “Thematic learning units.”
CHILD BIRTHDAY: It’s an exciting day both for the child and the parents. However to keep focus on the child, rather on how expensive/inexpensive the celebrations are
Parents please send ONLY max one toffee/ chocolate (within Rs 5 each) for each child. Check numbers with us in advance.
In case you wish to, you could get the Birthday pastry and get the child cut it at 11.00 pm sharp. The cut pieces would be distributed amongst the children and given to them in the paper plates before they leave.
CDC will run a set of small activities that CELEBRATE the birthday child and make the child feel special. If you want you can participate in this. This usually takes 10 minutes.
LOST AND FOUND: If your child leaves anything in CDC like water bottle or socks etc- we put everything in a basket and the basket is kept at the office. At first step we would like you to encourage the child to look for him/herself. OR you can look for it in lost and found.
CHILDREN FALLING SICK: With the child going out of protected environment of house and getting in touch with their children , and different environment – child is prone to catching mild infections leading to cold, cough, fever, stomach upset etc.
We do take sufficient care to make sure kids wash hands before they eat, running nose is cleaned up with tissue paper and disposed in dustbin. We also make use of sanitizers and liquid soaps which are kept in the washrooms.
However, getting unwell is part of going out and getting exposed to new environment- as such no worry but parents can take few precautions to avoid further spreading the infection to other children. We request parents NOT to send the child if the child has
Severe cough/ cold
Fever
Any other infection which can spread to other children.
YOUR DOUBTS:
If you want to speak to us regarding anything related to CDC, please come 20 minutes before the child`s pick up time and speak to us in the office
Please do not speak to us after receiving the child. At that moment the child needs your attention.
We do not discuss about the child in front of the child.
If you wish to give any message to the faculty regarding your child- please write a note at the office. Verbal instructions tend to get missed hence not encouraged. All the notes would be read at 9.45 am. In the same way, if faculty has to give you any message they too will follow the same procedure- they will send a written note / send an email to you or put up on the notice board, if the message is general.
EASING SEPARATION ANXIETY (to school)
Every Mom or Dad likes to see their child go smiling to school. Yet for the little ones, just stepping out of their secure homes, morning transitions are tough to handle. Here are some great ideas what we have seen working:
KISSES TO KEEP: Leave a pocket full of kisses which the child can USE whenever the child misses mummy. Or while the child cries just keep kissing her.(instead of trying to pacify or talking to her.). Every time the child clings-kiss. What a reassurance! This has worked out with amazing results.
SECRET PICTURE: Tape a laminated picture of mom or dad with the child with a handwritten “I love you” etc onto their bag, Tiffin etc. Now they will always have you with them, and can look at the photo for support whenever they need it.
A REWARDING MOMENT: Sometimes if children are super clingy, let them BE CLINGY for 5-10 minutes without creating a fuss (believe me; parents can be fussier than the child.)- Actually holding or hugging while being MUM is best.
BRAG BOOK: A parent suggested us this: “We bought a small plastic photo album and filled it with pictures of our family. When we drop off our son at school, if he starts to cry, his teacher says, come show me your pictures. He says goodbye to us and brings his album for his teachers and friends.
THE REASSURANCE: Sometimes, a simple reassurance works wonders. One day- We told our daughter, “You know, Mom and Dad always come back”. We did this like a chant and repeated this phrase a few times. When we say goodbye, she chants along with us “mom and dad always come back” and waves as we leave.
ONE WHO COMES ALONG: We generally suggest parent with whom the child is very possessive about, (generally moms/ dads) not to come along to drop the child to the school. If you have somebody else at home, say grandparents or uncles or aunts, it`s always better.
TALK ABOUT YESTERDAY: What works best with many kids is to talk to them about what all interesting things they did yesterday at school. Also remind them how they were picked up yesterday. This reassures the child that you will come back today too.
ESPECIALLY FOR YOU: Keep a surprise for them when they return back and say, when you return there is a surprise for you at home. And that surprise could be kisses etc. Then the child is reassured that he is going back after the school to his home.
RELAX: A relaxed parent leads to a relaxed child. A tense parent makes the child tenser and hence makes the child cry more. The less you make an issue out of the crying and separation, the less time the child will take to settle down. Relax, smile and leave. Avoid, don’t cry, go inside etc. Thus we say, a closed mouth is a better pacifier, a smiling mouth is better, a kissing mouth is wonderful.
SOME FAVOURITES: You could send some favorites’ along with the child. Say a doll/ toy etc to start with. This worked very well with my child. I used to send a doll along with the child to school in her bag and used to tell the doll,”Doll, don’t cry. Didi is going to be with you. There is nothing to cry. This is not a big school. It is just children`s home.” This used to keep my child happy until she came back.
Have a great time………..
IF YOUR CHILD HAS SPECIAL NEEDS
This note is for parents who think their child has special needs (LD, Dyslexia, Autism etc) and are considering CDC for their ward.
CDC is not a special education House. Neither we are equipped to nor do we have any expertise in working with children with special needs. We do not have any special educators in our team. None of us are qualified to work with the special needs of special children. We do not even claim to be an integrated or inclusive school. These are just the classes where we work with children and put in little efforts to make the foundation strong.