Curriculum Highlights
● Plans and activities are age-appropriate to the developmental levels of all the children served
● Toys are rotated regularly and stored in clearly labeled bins
● Tabletops are supplied with interesting items in child-sized baskets to provide new interests on a daily basis
● Open shelves welcome busy hands and provide easy access and choices
● Sunny, well-ventilated play areas with movable equipment for large- and small-motor work
● Indoor and outdoor spaces promote active large motor skills
● Small building blocks promote fine motor skills and hand/eye coordination
● Musical instruments, streamers, songs, and dancing promote self expression and creativity
● Low-level drawers filled with art supplies offer children easy access to create and explore materials
● Sensory table promotes curiosity about science, nature, and spatial relativity
● Individual desk space provided for literacy work/play
● Child-sized bathroom encourages children's independence/use of self-help skills
● Parent bulletin board posts weekly reports on current daily activities
● The use of documentation boards follows the child's discoveries and learning process
● Current work displayed at children's eye level
● Emergency procedures are clearly displayed

Daily Schedule

Time	Activity
7:30 - 8:30	Greeting children and parents, free choice / floor time
8:40 - 9:15	Handwashing and breakfast
9:15 - 10:00	Tabletop activities, bathroom, clean-up
10:00 - 10:15	Group time: stories, songs, finger plays, news of the day
10:15 - 11:45	Walking field trip, neighborhood events at Monroe school, park visits, outdoor play
11:45 - 12:30	Toileting, handwashing, and lunch
12:30 - 1:00	Free choice
1:00 - 2:45	Nap / quiet time
2:45 - 3:00	Transition from nap, blankets, toys away, bathroom and handwashing
3:15 - 3:40	Snack
3:40 - 4:30	Outside or large muscle time
4:30 - 4:45	Parent greeting, children picked up, closing
4:45	Clean-up / vaccuum / toy disinfecting (childcare closed)

Interactions With Children
ABG's daily schedule demonstrates realistic expectations about children's attention spans, interests, social abilities, and physical needs of each child. The provider's interactions with children support them as individuals and promote healthy group relationships. For example, positive behaviors and words are modelled to help guide children. A soft voice and the stroke of an infant's back gently, using words like "gentle touches", can help guide a toddler in the proper interaction with infants.

Assessment and Planning for Individual Needs
Families are involved in assessing and planning for individual children, including children with disabilities, developmental delays, or special abilities. Observational charts are used to document the frequency of behaviors when a problem or learning difficulty is suspected with a child. In the past, ABG has collaborated with a speech clinician for almost two years for a child in care who had limited speech abilities. Free services are available through the Early Childhood Intervention Team and Saint Paul Public Schools. Occasionally, and with parental permission, routine tests are given to children where a specialist comes to ABG to provide private individual sight and hearing exams on each child. They write up a report for parents and can recommend referrals if needed.

Families and Communities
Frequent contact is maintained with families through a variety of communication strategies to inform them about child growth, development, and learning. Public awareness is promoted about early education and care through the education of parents and consumers. Information, newsletters, flyers on upcomming events, and articles written in community papers are posted to a parent board.

Program Planning and Evaluation
Parent orientation and education programs are planned and implemented by ABG. Policies, forms, and standard checklists help ABG evaluate, make changes to, and remain current on issues that affect the families served. Scheduled parent conferences are offered in which many materials are provided to parents, including a sampling of a child's work and check-off lists as a guage of documenting their child's development.

Daily, Weekly, and Quarterly Reports
ABG uses an infant daily report to document diaper changes, meals given, and activities, and offers a space to write notes about the infant's day. It will go home at the end of each day until an infant's first birthday. For older children, activities, daily lunches, books read, and flavor-of-the-day events are written daily, photocopied on Thursdays, and go home as a weekly report in each child's mail tube. In addition to daily and weekly reports, ABG provides a quarterly newsletter for parents, informing them on current events, licensing changes, upcoming celebrations, education information, and more.

Documentation Panels
As part of ABG's Reggio-inspired curriculum, documentation panels are posted. They reflect recent projects or events that document children's learning. I create these for families, use them for curriculum planning and post them to authenticate the children's learning in progress. They include children's verbatim conversations, observations, photographs, condensed versions of work sampling and the Early Childhood Indicators of Progress, highlighting the developmental domain of focus.

Conferences
ABG offers a Spring conference time with parents. This is a way to schedule time (without children present) to report progress, discuss concerns, and explore journey books together. It's also a time to renew annual licensing (and other) forms that need to be kept on file. ABG uses check-off lists, creative curriculum developmental continuum assessments, Early Childhood Indicators of Progress (ECIPS), conference forms, work sampling, and Minnesota 4-year-old and kindergarten standards as tools to provide a balanced picture of a child's progress and areas that need support.

Professional Development and Leadership
ABG actively partakes in career development through an active role as a facilitator in the local monthly provider meetings, collaborating with the West Seventh Family Center staff, and helping to plan meetings. Effective working relationships with early elementary education practicioners have been established to promote continuity in children's development and learning. ABG is currently a member of the North American Reggio Emilia Alliance and meets with a core group of professionals to implement the Reggian philosophy in their classrooms and centers. ABG contributes articles to community papers wherein methods are explored to mentor other childcare providers. As a member of the Wilder Advisory Board for Childcare Professionals, ABG opened its home for touring to other providers and provided a tip sheet to providers on tour. An article was contributed in an MLFCCA paper regarding education for providers, and it was published in their state newsletter.

Nutrition
Cooking experiences are properly planned and implemented with children. Healthy meals and snacks are planned and served in compliance with the Child and Adult Care food program. Helping children get involved in meal preparation is a healthy way for them to learn about foods and where they come from.

Outdoor Activities
During warmer weather, children will go outside twice daily, usually late morning and afternoon. During the winter months when temperatures are above 20°F, children will play outside in the afternoons only. It's important to have warm jackets, hats, and spare mittens and boots. ABG does not supply clothing, seasonal or otherwise. From time to time, with parental permission, ABG may take a city bus trip to the Dairy Queen or the Children's Museum. Occasionally we may walk to the park at Adam's Spanish Immersion school, three blocks up Tuscarora Avenue. When less children are present we may take a wagon or stroller ride through the neighborhood. ABG does not transport children in a car.

Birthdays
Birthdays are a special event in a child's life. We celebrate by having a special snack/cake that the parents provide. Because of food allergies, all snacks must be store-bought. We decorate and sing "Happy Birthday". ABG will provide the birthday child with a small gift. Other families may provide a small gift for their child to give to the friend as well. This birthday policy is subject to change as parents wish.

DVDs, Videos, and TV Watching
ABG believes that children get enough TV time at home, and their time is better suited building relationships and creating their own activities while attending ABG. For this reason, ABG is committed to limit "movie watching" to special occasions like Pajama Day – usually offered twice per year only. Otherwise, ABG is a TV-free zone.