Changing Tykes

If you are seeking family support services, please explore the options below:

Fairfax County Office for Children:  This agency’s programs include:

Child Care Assistance 703-449-8484
Head Start and Early Head Start Program 703-324-8290
School-Age Child Care Program 703-449-8989
USDA Child Care Food Program 703-324-8100
Child Care Training Programs 703-324-3044

Free Translation Services:  Free, online translation of written communications. You can translate up to 750 words at a time.

211 Virginia: Work with a trained professional who listens to your situation and then suggests appropriate health and human resources in Virginia.  It is available 24/7.  Access online at www.211virginia.org, or dial 2-1-1 on your phone (you must be in Virginia).

Child Development Questions:  For child development questions you would like answered by an expert, all co-op members may contact Dr. Charmaine Ciardi, free of charge, by email at charmaine.ciardi(at)verizon.net.

More information may be found on the main bulletin board at the school. Please let the Staff know if there are other services you require.

It’s so hard to be in the classroom observing all sorts of cute behavior, all while wanting to capture those moments for yourself and other parents.  We know you are excited to share photos of the kiddos, but there are some strict guidelines that you agreed to when joining the preschool.
1.  You are not allowed to take pictures of kids on school property with your cell phones or cameras of any kids except for the ones provided by the school.
2.  You are not allowed to give out the smug mug website information to relatives. that means the passwords Respect the community.
3.  If you download photos let the webmaster (we*******@***********op.org) know that you have downloaded the zip files so he/she knows where to send them to!!

Photographs of the children engaging in every day classroom experiences are an integral part of our program at ACPS.  They are used for documenting children’s growth and development, sharing and communicating with parents, revisiting and remembering experiences with the children, and for many other purposes.  Teachers and co-oping parents take photographs of children using each class’ camera.  Teachers utilize those photos, respecting each family’s stated permission on the photo release form.  When photos are posted on Smug Mug, passwords are used to safeguard privacy.  Children are never identified by name or class in any photograph used on the ACPS website or for any other publicity purpose.

From time to time special events, such as field trips or celebrations occur.  Teachers take photographs of children using each class’ camera. When photos are posted on Smug Mug, passwords are used to safeguard privacy.  Children are never identified by name or class in any photograph used on the ACPS website or for any other publicity purpose.

Parents also often take photographs with their personal cameras at special events. When taking photographs at school sponsored events it is important for parents to remember that families have differing views on sharing those photos, especially via social media.  It is our responsibility to respect those differing views.  Parents are asked to post photographs that contain children other than their own only to Smug Mug with a teacher’s knowledge, using the password protected part of the site.  Parents are further asked not to post photographs that contain children other than their own to any other web based digital sharing or social media site (such as Facebook) unless they have specific permission from that child’s parents.

Thanks for continuing to keep our preschool and safe and happy photogenic place!

With a few weeks of school under our belts, hopefully everyone is settling nicely into the preschool routine.  However, separation anxiety can crop up any time there is a change in routine.  In this “FROM THE TEACHERS” post, our amazing teachers give us some strategies to help ease separation, for both you and your child.

Now that school has started, you and your child are becoming familiar with all the new routines. To aid your child in their transition, please try and follow the same routine when you say goodbye. A good-bye routine builds structure and enables your child to quickly gain an understanding that although you are leaving, you will come back.

Your drop off routine may go something like this:

Hang up your bag,

Give a kiss/hug,

Tell them, specifically, when you will see them again: “I will see you after the Activity Room” or “I will see you after Story Time.”

Sometimes it is hard to leave your child because they are hanging on to your leg and crying. One of the hardest things we as parents have to do is walk away when our child is crying. Although it can be difficult, please smile and say in your most calm, reassuring voice: “I have to go now. You are going to have a great day at school with Mrs._______and your friends. I will see you after _________.” Then, it is your job to hand them over to the teacher and walk away.

Although we do not like focusing on what not to do, separation it can be tricky. Saying goodbye and then coming back in the room because you hear crying sends your child a mixed message. They might get the message that school isn’t safe or that their teacher can’t be trusted to calm them down. On the other hand, sneaking out doesn’t give your child closure. Please also refrain from comparing them to other children or putting ideas into their heads: “Marie never cries when her mom leaves” or “Don’t make a scene.”

In our experience, most children will calm down after a few minutes. Some children can be redirected with a toy, an activity, or a book. Others might need their lovey (a blanket, stuffed animal, etc.) to calm them down. Some might just need to be alone for a few minutes to calm down and realize they are okay. You are always welcome to call Mrs. Sloane or Mrs. Essig to see if they’ve calmed down or to ask how their day is going.

Remember, all of us (teachers & staff) are mothers and have been teaching for a long time. We promise to give TLC to all the children, especially the ones who are crying. Another benefit of being at ACPS is you get to stay every now and then and co-op!

Changes in routine can cause some children to behave differently. On co-oping days your child might act differently or have a hard time. This is not unusual. It is also extremely important to communicate with us when your child has had a tough morning or if something is different at home, e.g., woke up early, no nap the day before, Dad’s away, Grandma is visiting, etc. Often children regress after winter break or if you’ve traveled. Little things to us are BIG things to children and affect them in different ways. If you feel that drop-off is still difficult for your child after a few weeks, please email/call the teacher so that we may work through it together.

What about when you school aide? Your drop off routine may not vary much. However, you might prepare your child by explaining that you will be helping Mrs. Essig & Mrs. Sloane with some things around the school such as opening the playground, taking out the trash, and vacuuming. Let them know they will probably see you during the day and that you may be able to say hi and give a kiss/hug, but that you have a job to do. Explain that you might have time to eat snack with your child and their friends, but that you will have to get back to work after snack. Always remember to tell them that you will see them after their last activity of the day.

If you remember anything about separation, remember this: Tell them what you are going to do and follow through. Be honest with your children. This carries over into many aspects of their day and lives.

The first week of school is in the books!!!!  Hope it was enjoyable for you and your little ones.  Our teachers and staff are always sharing helpful hints for transitioning our children (and ourselves) to life here at Annandale Cooperative Preschool.  Here is an overview of 20 important things to know to ensure a smooth transition for your child from home to school.

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1. Classroom Routines

Daily classroom routines are planned to help your child feel secure and gain a sense of order about the school environment. Your teacher has developed a unique schedule (daily sequence of events) to provide opportunities for both individual and group endeavors. The schedule is posted in the classroom and each parent should have received a paper copy at the mandatory classroom orientation. Please become familiar with the routine before you assist in the classroom for the first time.

2. Your Role as Teacher’s Assistant/Co-oper

Teacher assistants need to arrive at school no later than 8:45 am to help the teacher set up the room and prepare for the children’s arrival. The rest of the parents and children will not be allowed to enter the room before 9:00 am so please, no early arrivals! It is just as important to stay after school with your teacher until the last child has been picked up and the classroom has been closed for the day; plan on a 12:30 pm departure.

Talk to your child before you co-op about your role as Teacher’s Assistant in the classroom. Gently explain to your child that you are working with the teacher to help all the children at school. This means that you will have many jobs to perform that will take lots of your time. Tell your child up-front that you won’t be able to play only with them and that he or she will be the special helper of the day with important duties of their own. See the Primer for a further discussion on the subject.

3. Pick-Up Time

Pick up time is 12:15 pm sharp.  Please be prompt so your child is not waiting while the teacher and assistant are packing up.

4. Confidentiality

While you’re working in the classroom, the behaviors of other children should be kept confidential and not discussed with other parents outside the classroom. However, you should always share your concerns with your teacher or, if necessary, with Marie Sloane, Director of Education. All qualified parents are required to sign a Statement of Confidentiality.

5. Universal Precautions

Diapering, toileting, and hand washing procedures are spelled out in detail in the Primer. We practice Universal Precautions at the Co-op, which encompass basic sanitary steps. When integrated fully into our school’s culture, these precautions can prevent accidental exposure to disease. All parents, legal guardians, and teachers receive training in universal precautions and are expected to follow the procedures. Learn where your teacher keeps the necessary supplies (plastic gloves, bags, etc.) in the classroom. It is important to model proper sanitation skills for the children. When washing your hands or helping the children wash their hands always turn the faucet off with a paper towel when finished. This avoids recontamination of the clean hands.

6. Bulletin Boards

Your teacher’s bulletin board is a key communication vehicle. Look on the board posted outside your teacher’s room for monthly co-oping schedules, news of upcoming areas of study, sign-up sheets for field trips, parent-supported events, and general classroom happenings. When parents read the board, they can help extend at home their children’s in-class experiences. Be sure to note changes on your teacher’s co-op schedule if you change your co-op service day. Teachers need to know in advance who to expect as their classroom assistant.

7. Attendance Sheets

All parents and caregivers are required to initial the attendance sheet when dropping off and picking up your child. The attendance sheets are located outside your child’s classroom. These attendance sheets are used to record daily attendance as well as in the event of an emergency. It is extremely important that these sign in/out sheets are accurate.  If you see a highlighted space on the attendance sheet, that means you or your caregiver forgot to sign your child in or out.  Don’t fret!  Just initial over the highlighted area so that our records are spotless for our accreditation checks.

The attendance sheet is also the place the co-oping parent will record the snack brought for the day. The snack must be recorded before the other children arrive so parents/caregivers can be informed of what is being served that day.

8. Items From Home

Tell your child that the teachers at school have a firm rule: No toys from home are allowed in the classroom. Leave “lovies” in your car or outside the classroom on your child’s coat hook. Be sure your child brings a tote bag to school each day. Backpacks damage precious artwork when it’s folded to fit inside.

9. Change of Clothing and Classroom Dress

Your child will need a complete change of clothes for storage at school. This includes pants, shirt, socks, and underwear. Place this extra clothing in a plastic bag inside your child’s tote bag. It should be brought to school every day. Because the teachers are committed to letting the children learn by doing, they often get their clothes dirty. Please send your child to school in clothes that can get soiled or stained. Rubber-soled shoes work best for your child inside the room and outside on the playground. Wearing sandals, jellies, fancy dress shoes and jewelry is discouraged as it poses a safety risk.

10. Notes to the Teacher

Teachers are not allowed to release a child to an adult other than the parent or caregiver without express written authorization. See the Primer regarding standing carpool arrangements.

11. Illness

Do not send your child to school–or come to work at the school yourself–with any of the following symptoms: sore throat, fever (100 degree or greater), running nose (particularly from a fresh cold), persistent cough, diarrhea, or rash. If your child is too ill to go outside, please keep them at home. Call by 8:30 am, and let the school know that your child isn’t coming.

If your child or any member of your household develops a communicable disease such as chicken pox, fifth disease, head lice, German measles, strep throat, etc. you must notify the school’s Director of Health, Safety, and Transportation and Marie Sloane as soon as diagnosis is made. Please call her directly at 703-978-6127.

12. Allergies

Food allergies noted on the child’s health form are posted in the classroom. Food allergies are treated in several ways. If a child in the class has a dairy allergy for example, the parents in that class may decide to avoid serving milk-based snacks such as cheese and yogurt. Or the parent of the child with the allergy might choose to keep a long-lasting, non-dairy snack alternative in the child’s classroom that the teacher would serve in lieu of dairy.

Any allergies listed on the emergency form requiring medication (prescription OR over-the-counter) require completion of the Medication Administration Authorization form by a physician. This form is available from Marie Sloane, Director of Education. Please stop by the office to receive this form.

Due to severe nut allergies Annandale Co-op is a NUT FREE SCHOOL. No nut products are allowed inside the school at any time.

13. Healthy Snacks

Our state license requires that snacks offer items from two different food groups and if serving juice, only 100% fruit juice. If fruit is one of the two food groups in your snack then water must be served. A complete set of snack guidelines is presented in the Primer. Birthday celebrations are the exception to our healthy snack requirement. Cupcakes or another treat, in addition to a healthy snack, are fine to honor the special day. The sweet item must be served after the healthy snack has been served. You may serve snack on party plates. Party favors, hats, tablecloths, candles and balloons are not permitted. Your teacher can give you additional guidance and you can refer to the Primer.

The co-oping parent is required to bring the snack for the class on the day he/she is assigned as Assistant Teacher (co-oping parent) for the class. Guidelines for healthy snack suggestions are written in the Primer. Parents do not need to bring paper products to serve the snack to the children. The school owns sets of plastic cups and plates to be used in each class. It is the responsibility of the co-oping parent to take home the used plastic ware, wash it in the dishwasher and return it to school the next class day. Please remember to use the clean plastic bin provided to transport the clean plastic ware back to the preschool. Parents will provide napkins. This is a school wide effort to support our environment and reduce unnecessary waste.

14. Emergency Forms

Parents must be vigilant about keeping the contact information on their children’s emergency forms current. If any information changes please give the new information to the Director of Health and Safety as soon as possible so he/she can change the emergency forms. A Change of Information form can be obtained from Marie Sloane, the Director of Education.

On days you intend to spend your morning away from home, jot down the place you’ll be and a phone number on your teacher’s “Where Abouts” pad, which is located outside the classroom. Mention this information to the co-oping parent and/or teacher before leaving the school.

15. Suspected Child Abuse/Neglect 

Under Virginia law, teachers or parents working in the classroom are required to report suspected child abuse or neglect. Co-oping parents who see or hear anything that leads them to suspect a child is being abused or neglected will contact Child Social Services directly. See the Primer for our specific policy. All qualified co-oping parents are required to complete the Child Abuse and Neglect training session. See the Parent Programs Directors, Dorothy Brady and Allison Laskowski, to receive information about this training.

16. Traffic Issues: Congestion

The entrance from Route 236 and the church driveway itself have been the sites of several near collisions and one serious collision. If you have to turn left from 236 into the driveway, visibility of oncoming traffic is very poor, particularly when cars are waiting on the other side of the highway to turn into the community college. For this reason, you must always wait for the green left-turn arrow before turning.

17.  Traffic Issues: Parking Lot Protocol

Drive through counter-clockwise (with the the church and preschool building on the right hand side of your car). Park front-end in using only the spaces assigned to the preschool. No one can park in the center spaces of the parking lot. ONLY spaces on the perimeter of the parking lot that are next to the safety path are authorized parking spaces for preschool families. Please walk your children along the preschool safety path and in through our entrance. No one, including adults, is permitted to cut across the parking lot.

Don’t let children run ahead of you and open the front doors themselves—the doors are extremely heavy and close quickly. If you have other children along, please do not leave them alone in the car. Bring them in with you, have another parent watch them, or ask another parent to escort your preschooler into the building. Please review the parking lot requirements in detail in the Parent Primer. All parents and guardians transporting children to and from the preschool must be informed of these safety procedures. Please review these procedures with nannies, grandparents, or anyone else that will be bringing your child to or from the preschool.

The first three spaces closest to the preschool are reserved for the auction winners from last November’s auction. They paid a lot of money for the privileges to park there so please do not park in their spaces. These three spaces are marked “reserved.” The next two spaces are reserved for parents with very young children in car seats or pregnant moms. We ask that you avoid parking in these next two parking spots so they are available for new parents or pregnant moms. These spots are marked with a “stork” sign.

18. Traffic Issues:  Special Stroller Parking Permit

One exception to the requirement that families park along the path and enter through the ACPS door can be made to accommodate stroller use for families managing multiple small children.  If a stroller is necessary, a family is allowed to enter through the church main entrance from a specially designated parking area.  To use the ACPS Staff Parking/Stroller Access Parking Area, families may submit a “Stroller Access Parking Permit” request to the Director of Education.  Stroller Parking Permits are issued for 6 months and may be reapplied for once expired.

The ACPS Staff Parking/Stroller Access Parking area is the last parallel row of spaces nearest the ACPS doors, on the interior of the row.  To maintain safety of the children, the path a stroller must follow to enter the school is from the ACPS Staff Parking Area/Stroller Access Parking is as follows:

1. Families must walk children and  strollers on the inside of the parallel row, away from the line of incoming traffic
2. At the end of the parking row, families will use caution crossing in front of the ACPS traffic flow and up to the sidewalk ramp
3. Follow the ramp and sidewalk into the church main entrance

19. Field Trips

Parents are required to sign-up to chaperone, drive, or both, one to two trips a year depending on how often the class meets. Under school policy, siblings may not accompany you and your child on field trips. See the Primer for additional regulations regarding field trips.

20.  Health and Safety Issues

Safety is paramount at the co-op and we are proud of our excellent safety record. Please review the Primer for equipment safety on the playground and in the activity room. We have an excellent outsourced HR for schools.

In addition, state licensing requires that each class experience a fire evacuation drill once a month. Procedures are outlined in the Primer. The Director of Health, Safety and Transportation will also inspect the facility each month for safety infractions

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It’s a lot to learn all at once, but soon the dos and don’ts will become second nature. Before you know it you will be reciting to new members the preschool protocols as you walk (not run) to school each morning.

Thank you for joining us this year and letting us play a role in your children’s lives.

Welcome to School Year 2014-2015!  We are humbled by the many hours of work put in by so many people here at ACPS. We are especially grateful to be part of a community of parents and staff whose willingness to share their summer months helps us create a more organized and efficient school. Thanks are also due to the teachers and Board of Directors for all of the time and talent they’ve shared with the school.

Reminders:

(1) State licensing and regulations are quite strict. Please be sure you have completed the requirements necessary to be able to co-op in your child’s class. You must be a “qualified parent” in order to co-op.

(2) Each family should have a committee assignment. The committee assignment is your job for the duration of the school year. If you are unsure of your job, please contact the Director(s) of Parent Programs.

(3) Each family is responsible for participating in one work party per school year.  Please ensure that you’re signed up for a work party.

(4) If you are unable to meet your required school aide duty, it is your responsibility to find a substitute when you are scheduled for school aide on the co-op calendar. A list of school aide substitutes and their contact information is available on Big Tent.  These substitutes will school aide for you for a fee of $45.

(5) The school day is shortened the first week of school. Please pick-up your child at 11:30. On your second week of school, the school day will resume its regular schedule (9 am – 12:15 pm).  The Ladybug Class begins on Monday, Sept 8.  The Dragonflies, Spiders, Bees & Grasshopper Classes all begin on Tuesday, September 9.

We realize this is a lot of information, especially for new families. These first few weeks can be overwhelming with all the paperwork and policies. Please direct any questions, concerns or comments to your room parents, any board member, or your Buddy Family. We are all here to help you and welcome your inquiries.

Board of Director meetings are held on the 2nd Monday of each month at 7:30 pm at the preschool. Our next meeting is on Monday, October 13, 2014.  We invite you to join us!

In a co-op, every voice counts and it is our collective voice that makes Annandale Cooperative Preschool stand out as such a wonderful school!

Welcome back. Let’s have a GREAT year!

Spread the word! Annandale Cooperative Preschool is also proud to announce we’ve become an Amazonsmile.com affiliate as a way to painlessly raise money through activities our members (and their families, friends, co-workers, neighbors, etc) would be doing anyway. A portion of each purchase made through the Amazon links sprinkled generously throughout our website will go directly to our preschool.