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Welcome to the Forgotten ECE, the show where before and after school educators, summer

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camp and PD staff and CYWs have a place where they are seen, heard and valued.

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I'm your host, Jamie Wagler, and I'm so excited you're here.

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Hello everybody and welcome to the Forgotten ECE.

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I'm your host, Jamie, and I'm super happy that you chose to listen in to me today.

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Also, if you can tell by my voice and you listened to last episode, I'm feeling better.

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Thank you for asking.

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Also, what a nightmare the last little bit has been because of sicknesses.

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I am so tired, literally sick and tired.

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See what I did there?

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Anyways, I'm so tired of being sick.

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I'm so tired of being surrounded by sick people.

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I'm so tired of everyone being sick.

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And that's not a stab at the kids and that's not a stab at their families and that's not

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a stab at my family and that's not really a stab at me, if that makes sense.

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Because you know what?

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Sickness happens, we all get sick.

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It happens, it happens, it happens.

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But it seems like it's so bad this year.

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And maybe it's been because I've been on a pretty good streak with not getting sick,

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but then the last four weeks it's been nonstop.

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And I can't believe it's been four weeks, but it has to be because it's been two weeks

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since I last recorded.

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Also, maybe three weeks.

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It doesn't matter.

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It doesn't matter.

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It's been a long time.

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So funny story about that.

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Storytime.

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Also, side note, don't worry.

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This is not the meat of the episode.

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So if you want to skip ahead, your loss by all means, but I guess you could feel free

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to do that.

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Also, maybe you just like listening to my voice.

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I know I like listening to my voice.

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So thanks.

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But anyways, so storytime.

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I had to go to the on-call doctor because I was feeling sick.

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So I was sick when I recorded the last episode and then I felt better and then I was sick

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again and now I'm feeling better.

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But this last sickness, spout, sprout time period, I finally felt so sick that I was

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going to go to the doctors.

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But of course we work and the doctors close at four and I don't get off work at four.

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Very, very unusual for me to leave work around then or have free time.

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Okay, sorry.

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I'm seeing, okay.

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How do you listen to me?

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I couldn't listen to myself.

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Okay.

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Starting over.

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I was the on-call doctor on the Saturday and I am such a space case and you can laugh at

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me and you can judge it be, but apparently I have this really bad habit of taking cards

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out of my wallet and putting them into my pocket.

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Like I don't know my health card and I guess I also forgot to destroy my old health card.

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So when I got to the doctor's office, because why does anyone look for these things before?

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I don't know.

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That would be smart.

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I pulled out my health card and gave it to the on-call doctor, which then told me that

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it was super expired.

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2021.

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And I'd have to pay for my appointment.

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What?

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Well, I had already drove from where I live to where my doctor's is, which is like 30

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minutes.

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So I was like, well, I guess I'll pay.

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But they were really nice and I can go get that money back if I get my new health card

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or you know, buy my other new health card that I apparently have, which I should have.

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Anyways, long story short, while I'm at this doctor's office that I now had to pay for,

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the doctor had the audacity to say to me, oh, you work with children.

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I guess that's why you're sick.

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Thanks.

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Yep.

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Know that also, um, you're going to need an inhaler and these pills.

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So are you, do you have coverage?

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No I work with children.

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What part, where have you been?

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Is your head been under a rock?

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Are you a ostrich?

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Do you put your head in the ground and just ignore the things that are going on around

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you?

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ECs don't have benefits.

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Okay.

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Some do, some very lucky ECs and if you're one, hats off to you.

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It's like, no, I don't have benefits.

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And she's like, oh, those people should be giving you benefits.

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Um, what those people are you talking about?

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Are you talking about the little center I work for that should be giving me benefits?

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I mean, I love my center and yeah, I want benefits, but also is it feasible?

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Not really right now.

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The government provides teachers with benefits and doctors with benefits and other social

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service community providers.

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I don't even know what you want to call them.

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They don't cover us with benefits.

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We don't get anything good from there.

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Oh, I'm sorry.

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We get the college of ECs that we pay into that doesn't give us benefits.

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Anyways, I just had a chuckle, not at the time because I was super sick, but I had a

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chuckle because I was like, how, how are you a doctor?

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And you don't understand that we don't have benefits, but it's fine.

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And maybe that's ignorant of me.

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Maybe I just assume that everyone knows about ECs, which is why I'm here because some people

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don't, but if you're listening, doctor, I'm not trying to make fun of you publicly, but

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also I'm glad you're here so you can learn about ECs.

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Anyways, let's get into the brunt of this episode.

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You're welcome for that fabulous storytime.

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Let's talk about March madness.

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What happens in March?

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I realized this episode's like a week late.

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It's not late as in my schedule late, but it's late because March break just ended and

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I love it.

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I don't think I can describe to you how much I love it because I do.

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I love it so wholeheartedly.

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My whole being, my whole fiber loves March break almost as much as summer.

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Not quite, and I'll get into why, but March break is my jam.

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The school age students are there every day, all day, and they just fill the center with

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so much joy and curiosity and wonder and magic and attitude and language and spunk, I guess

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what I would say.

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I just love it.

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And I love seeing interactions between the educators and the school agers.

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And I love seeing the interactions between the younger kids and the school agers because

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God, school agers are so wonderful, especially when you give them the chances to show their

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responsibility and their independence and their amazingness.

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They're just incredible.

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So I wanted to jump in and talk a little bit about why A, I love March break and B, what

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benefits there are to March break, what your March break could look like, and maybe just

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jump on how you can kind of deal with some challenging behaviors that might come up over

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March break.

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So first and foremost, I love March break, like I said, because of those reasons.

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I'm not going to dive into it all over again because I would just be boring for you.

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But there's so many benefits to March break.

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Like the children get to stay and socialize for the whole week instead of, I don't know,

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going to a babysitter.

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They might get to go to their grandparents.

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What I'm not saying is a bad thing because who doesn't like to visit their grandparents?

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Okay, I know some people don't like to, but that's, I don't have grandparents anymore.

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So I would love to go visit my grandparents.

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And I did love to go visit my grandparents when I had grandparents.

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But anyways, but this socialization they have with kids of their own age, but from different

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schools, from different areas of the city that all confined into one makes this amazing,

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oh, I don't even know the word, this amazing, I wish you could see my face right now and

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my hands.

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Cause I, I'm doing a really good job of showing it with my hands and not such a good job showing

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it with my mouth, which is poor because this is a podcast, but it just makes this recipe

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for amazingness.

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Like the kids working together with kids that they might not interact with at their schools

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or, oh my gosh, even better.

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The children who might be from the same school that don't interact or from two clicks or

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different clicks or whatever, interacting wholeheartedly in a program together that

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they talk and laugh and play and join in games together.

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It's honestly my favorite.

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Then you incorporate physical activity every day.

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They have physical activity.

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And if you don't have physical activity at your program every day, I'm sorry, you're

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doing it wrong and you can come at me for that, but you are.

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I am a huge believer in physical activity being important and getting outside and getting

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in nature.

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And I honestly can't stand when people say, uh, the weather's bad.

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I can't go outside.

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I understand when it's too cold and we actually can't go outside, but you can go outside in

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quote unquote bad weather.

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Okay.

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And schoolagers still need outside time.

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These programs promote a healthy lifestyle and help children stay active during the break.

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Can you imagine if they're just staying at home, sitting on their iPads or watching TV?

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Or do people still watch like actual TV or just all schoolagers in the entire world or

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at least in Ontario, wherever you're listening to me, just watch YouTube.

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That seems like a global phenomenon, which is not the greatest.

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Other people playing games or talking or doing these silly skits or whatever.

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But then I think, uh, we watched Amanda Biden show and which was people doing silly skits.

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So maybe I'm wrong.

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Okay.

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So I'm going to digress going back.

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The creative exploration that these, these, um, campers get to do is incredible.

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Like music, dance, art, freeze dance, the crafts that they come up with, the, the free range

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that they have.

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It's not just coloring sheets or it's not just worksheets.

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It's actual free range process art.

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It's the process, which we all know to be the most important part.

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Anyways, it's also a break for parents, which if you are a parent, you know that that's

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necessary and then skill development, looking at skill development, children can learn new

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skills and hobbies through these March break programs.

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So I am curious to know, sorry.

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I'm curious to know if your program bases the week on a theme and then if you run the

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week based on that theme.

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So I have mixed feelings about this.

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And like I said, I would love to hear other people's interpretations of this or their

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opinions, but I so strongly believe in emerging curriculum.

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It's hard for me to wrap my head around putting a theme out there for weeks, but I also know

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that themes sell.

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So when you're looking to, I don't know, like market your March break program that parents

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look for specific themes to sign up for or something looks good.

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It's like summer camp, but we'll get into that in another episode.

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So we did around the world, which was awesome.

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But then I highlight to all my families that sign up that just because the theme is around

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the world doesn't mean that for all five days, that's all they're going to be talking about.

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There will be an activity or something related to the theme offered each day or a section

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in the room.

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Cause we, we set up our place in sections.

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So there'll be a section in the room that's dedicated to the theme, but the rest of the

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room is based on emergent curriculum.

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Building, if building has an example of like the Great Wall of China and then there's blocks

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to see if the kids are interested in building their own Great Wall of China or whatever

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else they're interested in building.

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There's, there's, but that would be the aspect of the theme that day.

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But then there'd be so many other things offered in the room or other invitations and provocations

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to get children interested in other things that it might not necessarily stay on around

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the world, on around the world for March break that it could turn into something else.

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Could it turn into outer space or whatever they're interested in.

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St. Patrick's Day is always a huge one because it's coming up in some kids, especially in

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school now build leprechaun traps and such.

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So we had kids that were interested in that when they came into the March break week,

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especially near the end of the week.

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So I think it's important that even if you're one of those centers like myself, my center

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that has a theme for the grand scheme of things on the week, that that theme is just loosely

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used to hold options for the children that week.

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But you have other things and other ideas and are flexible to follow the children's

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lead in this area.

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All right.

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So I just wanted to touch a little bit on like challenging behaviors because we know

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that challenging behaviors happen in school age all the time or quote unquote challenging

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behaviors.

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But March break seems to be, and I'm just talking from experience, not as intense on

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the behaviors as summer camp because it's one week.

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So it's fresh and new and exciting for that one week and the children, they're not going

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to be there for long periods of time.

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They're going to be there for five days and that's it.

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Whereas other like other programs like summer camp, some of those kids unfortunately are

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signed up for the whole summer, which is amazing because I mean, I love having the kids there,

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but also we need, they need a break.

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That's exhausting.

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They have to be on all the time.

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It's like if you worked 24 seven without a break five days a week, not 24 seven, 24

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five without a break nonstop.

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And then you finally get out of school and yes, childcare is so much better than school

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and these programs are so much better than school, but it's still, you have to mentally

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be on.

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But I find that if you use the first day to introduce clear expectations, so like setting

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clear and age appropriate expectations for the program and communicate these expectations

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with both the children and the families, or that could be putting up a big sign in your

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area that you're hosting your March break in, or it could be writing a quick message on

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whatever communication device you use, whether that be like bright wheel or hi mama or email

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or Insta message or Instagram or whatever.

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And just letting them know like, Hey, these are the rules we came up with together as

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a group.

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It's super important.

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I find that these rules are coming up together as a group that you're not just implementing

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rules.

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It is easy for us to sit there and be like, no running in the gym, but if children come

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up with these rules, there's their own or these guidelines, these boundaries, then they're

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more likely to follow them.

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Also I'm huge on positive reinforcement and redirection.

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So obviously there's no scolding or negative reinforcement, but make sure that when kids

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are doing something good that you are saying, when I, when I mean something good, I mean

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like they take the initiative to push all the chairs in or wash the tables or wipe down

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the tables after lunch or, or use, or you see a kid that they might not have been playing

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with those toys, but they clean them up.

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Make sure you tell them like, Hey, I'm super impressed that you clean those toys up even

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though I didn't ask you because Hey, that helps someone else out.

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I also think consistency is huge.

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So in March break programs, depending on how big your program is, sometimes you have 26

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children in a room with two educators.

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And then if you have, if you're lucky enough to have a resource educator or a program assistant

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in there, that's three staff that all have to be on the same page when it comes to these

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guidelines or rules that you've set.

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There has to be consistency throughout them.

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And then when you have the other educator come in to cover March break, sorry, the breaks

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for the staff, that they are consistent and they know the rules.

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Cause you know what these students are going to do.

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They're going to be like, teacher a told me I could do this.

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So I'm just making sure that you say it's okay.

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Or I didn't ask them.

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I'm just asking you.

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Once you find out who might have a more flexible boundaries, but staying consistent will help

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ensure that children know that these are the expectations and this is what has to follow

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understanding where your conflict resolution skills are and how you can guide the children

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in that way is also a huge help because you want to allow children to come up with these

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conflict resolution skills or ideas and see how they're acting them out positively, hopefully

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and hopefully effectively.

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Yet you also want to be close by to understand if you have to step in.

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So knowing when you think is a good time to step in or when that you can tell that the

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children are getting to their, their limit is super important.

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Providing individual support if you can.

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I know two educators with 26 children is outrageously outrageous, but if you have that time to,

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while other kids are engaging in play, as long as you're back as to the wall, you have

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that time to build that one-on-one rapport with children, that's huge.

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And then obviously collaborating with the parents.

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It's hard when you have new children in your program and they're only there for a week

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to get to know all of the families and the parents, but make sure that they know they're

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welcome to come into your program.

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They're welcome to look around, check out the room, check out the, the experiences that

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the children did each day.

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It doesn't change between when children get to preschool and then go to school age.

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We still follow those four core values of how does learning happen, expression, belonging,

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engagement and wellbeing.

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So you shouldn't stop trying to have or incorporate those values into your program.

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There's no reason for it.

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This is, this is what we live by here in Ontario, the how does learning happen document.

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So you should not stop trying to engage as parents.

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You should not stop trying to make the children and the families feel welcome.

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You should not stop allowing children to feel like they belong in your programs.

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And a huge way to do that is to have that rapport with the families, to have that engagement

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set up.

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I also really want to stress, this is probably the last thing I'll say about this.

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I also want to stress how important it is for children to be children.

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And I want to stress how important it is that these programs should a hundred percent be

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play-based programs.

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There should not be the same structure that there is at school because we know as early

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childhood educators and childcare staff that children learn best through play.

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They do, wholeheartedly.

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And there's so much research out there to back this up that it blows my mind that people

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don't all know that.

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So please, please, please in these programs, just remember, regardless of behaviors, regardless

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of your week long, regardless, sorry, regardless that it's a week long program, regardless

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of the fact that you do a theme or you don't do a theme, please remember that it should

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be play-based.

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That children should be allowed to explore and should have opportunities to build their

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curiosity and ask questions and not be afraid to make mistakes or get messy.

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Ms. Frizzle taught us that.

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So please, please, please, please, if you don't take anything else away from today, please

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take away this.

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Enjoy the children on March break and remember that they're children.

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Amazing.

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Thank you.

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That's not all though.

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I am super excited for our question time.

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I gotta get someone to like incorporate my voice into fun, like song and dance for these

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sections.

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Anyways, okay.

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I have a super special guest here that I'm going to introduce.

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I would like everyone to say hi to my special guest who's also going to say hi now.

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Hi.

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00:19:07,720 --> 00:19:08,720
Say hello.

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00:19:08,720 --> 00:19:09,720
Hello.

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And my special guest has a question today that will...

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Actually, my special guest asked me a question a few weeks ago when she was listening to

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my podcast and she wanted to come on in and ask her question.

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Okay.

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What's your question?

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Why do you have more fun at your own school?

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Than you do at school?

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That is an excellent question.

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Do you want to know the answer?

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Yes.

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I have more fun at my job because my job believes that children learn best through play.

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So instead of sitting at your desk and doing math on a worksheet, do you do that?

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Yes.

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It's boring.

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It's boring?

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I believe that children learn best by building and manipulating material.

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So that's like moving materials around and exploring things.

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Wouldn't it be better if you learned math through baking?

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Do you like to bake?

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Yes.

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So wouldn't it be better if you learned math through measuring and adding the ingredients?

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Wouldn't it be better if you learned number patterns by putting materials out and counting

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them?

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Yeah.

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What else do you like to play with?

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My bird.

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Your bird?

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Wouldn't it be amazing if you learned science by interacting with real animals?

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Yeah.

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I would love that.

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See?

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This is why my work is more fun than school.

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Do you have any more questions?

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Yes.

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00:20:32,920 --> 00:20:33,920
Okay.

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What's your question?

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Do you have more toys than mine?

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More playing, like playing with toys at my school.

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Because, as early childhood educators, that's what I do, right?

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You see?

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00:20:50,000 --> 00:20:51,000
Yeah.

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00:20:51,000 --> 00:20:52,000
Yeah.

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Because we believe-

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I work with kids too.

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Pardon?

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00:20:55,000 --> 00:20:56,000
I work with kids too.

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Would you come help me?

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Because we believe that children learn best through these materials.

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Would you rather go to a school that you play to learn all day or sit in a desk?

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Play to learn all day.

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High five.

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With animals.

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00:21:12,440 --> 00:21:13,440
With animals.

387
00:21:13,440 --> 00:21:14,440
Me too.

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You take after me.

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All right.

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00:21:18,120 --> 00:21:20,640
Thank you so much, Miss Anonymous.

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00:21:20,640 --> 00:21:23,440
Do they want to say anonymous?

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00:21:23,440 --> 00:21:24,440
Goodbye.

393
00:21:24,440 --> 00:21:26,000
All right, everyone.

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00:21:26,000 --> 00:21:28,680
Thank you so much for listening.

395
00:21:28,680 --> 00:21:32,680
I am so... immaculately?

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00:21:32,680 --> 00:21:35,120
That's not your word.

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I am so thankful for you tuning in.

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I hope you have an amazing, beautiful, hopefully by the time you listen to this, spring day

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ahead.

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00:21:47,000 --> 00:21:48,000
Bye.

401
00:21:48,000 --> 00:21:49,000
Bye, everyone.

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00:21:49,000 --> 00:21:58,000
Thank you.

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00:21:58,000 --> 00:22:15,160
Bye.