Our Blog: October 21, 2016
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Meet Ms. Jen, lead Junior Kindergarten teacher at our Tutor Time school in West Chester, OH. She has been at Tutor Time for three years but has 10 years of experience in child care and 10 years as a nanny as well as her CDA. Read on to learn more about October’s featured staff member!
How do you explain our Junior Kindergarten program to prospective families?
I just explain to them that the program is to introduce kindergarten. What they will be doing in the classroom will get them ready and prepared for kindergarten. And then I explain things that we do – I do large group, which is a group of all of our friends in our classroom, and then I do a small group where I get a handful of friends and work with them on sight words and we have a little book that we read and we discuss the beginning, the middle and end of the story. And then I also work individually with them. During that time, we also “Self Center Time” where they are learning to work by themselves like they would do in kindergarten. It’s wonderful because in the beginning of the year you’re really teaching them they can do this by themselves, and they get so excited when they put something together and they understand it.
Why did you decide on a career in early education?
This is going to sound funny. I love children and animals, but I’m allergic to most animals! So I thought, “I’m going to go work with children!” That’s the reason why. And also, I love the joy in the expression on their face when they finally realize, “hey, I understand that!”
How is it rewarding to teach Junior Kindergarten every day?
As long as I am happy coming into work, I feel that’s a reward. They teach me every day, and that’s rewarding to me. For an example, we were outside looking at the clouds, and the way they were describing the clouds, I would have never looked at it that way. I learn something from them every day. They just make me happy.
Why are early education programs so important for young children?
Their brains are like little sponges. They pick up so fast on things and I’m so impressed by how fast they learn. I think it’s very important that you start at a young age. I’ve had several kids that started the program at the beginning of this year that didn’t know how to spell their names, and now they do. It’s just so fast.
Could you share one of your favorite Tutor Time accomplishments?
The most recent one was I just had a parent tell me that her daughter made the 94th percentile over the whole state in math. And she knows it was all from me because she didn’t work with her daughter at home on math. That was the biggest accomplishment. Just when I hear from parents that they appreciate what I do for their children – that makes me feel good.
Overall, how would you describe your experience at Childtime?
Going back to the parents, you really have to have a good relationship with your parents in the classroom, because if you don’t have that, I don’t think it would work. If I didn’t have the communication that I have with my parents, and if they didn’t work with me and they didn’t care, I think I’d be sad all the time. And the parents at Tutor Time are really, really good with communication and that’s what’s good about Tutor Time.
