Early Social Skills: Joint Activities with Peers

Encouraging simple peer interactions within familiar routines and activities can be an effective first step toward helping children to: attend to their peers, share attention with their peers, respond and initiate simple exchanges. A first step may be having the children non-verbally participate in the interactions, and later adults can model appropriate language that the children can use with their peers. The important part for these early interactions is that each child has a clear “role” in the interaction, and that an adult is nearby to help each child to take their turn. 

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Doorway to Success

At our childcare MIFO des Pins, we have implemented a way for toddler, preschool and school age educators to encourage one another by posting words of encouragement and thank you messages to colleagues. This enhances our sense of belonging and motivates and values our strengths as a team.

Beyond the Book Story Kits

Beyond the Book Story Kits are a great way to make stories come to life. The story kits are geared towards the toddler and preschool age groups. Each story kit comes in a soft bag which is labeled with the name of the book and the specific contents. Each kit contains a book, a tip sheet and concrete objects that relate to the specific story. Each tip sheet describes implementation strategies, considerations when using the story bags, benefits of including props or concrete objects during story time and tips on how to expand the story experience beyond story time to create more opportunities for learning.

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Communication Strategies at Centre éducatif Cœur des Jeunes

Communication is key to a successful early learning and care environment. Le centre éducatif Cœur des Jeunes has recently leveraged some communication strategies such as emails, ClassDojo, DigibotGo, Zoom virtual meetings and in-person meetings.

Before March 2020, verbal communication was ever-present in our daily practice at Coeur des Jeunes when parents had access to their child’s classes and premises. The centre’s staff and educators were then able to communicate in person. Obviously, daily face-to-face verbal communication is by far the best means of communication and contact with parents when it comes to sharing their child’s daily routines and development. However, the unusual circumstances we are facing since the beginning of 2020 require the use of other methods.

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Transition to School

Resource Consultants at CISS are fortunate to support parents with transitioning their child to school. This year, when mentioning the word “enrollment” more parents than previous years have been questioning whether their child should begin their journey to school. We empathize with parents that the uncertainty of what September will bring can be daunting. We recognize that this year is definitely more overwhelming than most for families to work through the transition to school process. But overwhelming doesn’t mean impossible!

We are here to support you. In addition to our newly improved Transition to School Toolkit, we’ve created a tip sheet addressing common transition to school concerns. Please see the links below to related articles and resources and connect with your Resource Consultant to begin the transition to school conversation.

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Take Turns with your Child to Build Strong Communication Skills

Communication starts at birth. Parents who talk to their baby, observe, follow, and play with their children play a crucial role in supporting communication development. One important skill is turn-taking. Turn-taking skills are an integral part of communication in young children.

What exactly is “turn-taking” skills?

Turn-taking skills can be compared to the ultimate “ping-pong” communication game.  It involves the back-and-forth interaction between two people, between you and your child.  Turn-taking skills are the foundation to healthy attachment and communication skills.  Turn-taking skills are built into “serve-and-return” interactions that are so important to build a child’s brain. When you and your baby are actively engaged and practice taking turns during sound play imitation, a peek-a-boo game, chatting, you are laying the foundation for later conversation. 

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Outdoor Winter Heavy Work Activities for Kids

Providing deep proprioceptive sensory input through heavy work is a great way to calm your child’s body and there are lots of different heavy work activities that your child can do.

But maybe you’re looking for something new for your child to do since it’s winter?

This list of winter heavy work activities for kids to do outdoors in the snow is a great starting point if you are looking to sneak in some extra sensory diet activities this winter. So bundle those kids up and head outdoors for these simple, yet effective heavy work ideas!

Here’s a list of 20 fun ways for kids to sneak in some heavy work while playing outdoors in the snow:

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