Education/Experience Required:
Two years of college with minimum of 9 hours of Early Childhood Education courses with 1 year recent teaching experience or Current Child Development Associate (CDA) Certificate with 1 year day care experience

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities Required:
Basic computer skills Ability to communicate verbally and non-verbally with children, families and associates. Emotional maturity when working with children Listening skills, availability and responsiveness to children, families, and associates. Ability to provide an environment in which children and coworkers feel comfortable, relaxed, welcomed, and involved. Ability to plan, implement, and evaluate activities/learning experiences for the children
N/A

Major Responsibilities:
Educational Program Development and Implementation: Responsibility for planning and implementing curriculum activities and primary caregiving based on the educational program goals/guidelines utilizing observations and recording of children’s behavior.

Uses Illinois Early Learning Standards/Guidelines, NAEYC developmentally appropriate guidelines and Environmental Rating Scale when planning curriculum and activities.
Seek ongoing training and professional development through attendance at professional seminars, workshops, conferences and/or early childhood related college classes. Implement practices learned at conferences and share acquired knowledge with coworkers. Earns required in-service hours annually, updates Professional Development Record, and provides documentation of hours earned. Works towards earning Early Childhood Credential (Level 3 or above) and/or maintaining credential through Gateways.

Makes changes to classroom environment and activities as a way to continually improve quality of care and education. Demonstrate ability to adopt and embrace new direction and goals and communicate support for their relevancy to other associates through the understanding of the change process as a means to increase the quality of the curriculum and program.

Use observations and recordings of children’s behaviors and development in planning the curriculum, lesson plan, and activities and completing progress reports, developmental checklists. behavioral plans, individual goals for children and portfolios. Through direct observations, plan for continuing growth and development for each child supporting and responding to their physical, cognitive, social, and emotional needs in a timely and appropriate fashion. .

Completes Environmental Rating Scale and reviews annually. Attends/completes ECRS trainings and other trainings as assigned and are required.

Develop and ensure that the daily curriculum, learning activities, and environment meet the needs, abilities and interests of the whole child.

Consistently improve knowledge of possible disciplines within the curriculum and implement age-appropriate activities based on new knowledge. (i.e., music, movement, science, math, literacy, etc.,). Provide information to coworkers and assist in developing these disciplines as a means of increasing and adding on to learning opportunities for children and families.

Prepare for, lead and attend classroom team meetings and all other assigned meetings. Continue to develop an understanding of the program philosophy and goals by listening and contributing to discussions and to continue to develop a professional knowledge base.

Develop, plan, prepare and implement age appropriate curriculum and learning activities by providing weekly lesson plans for use by the entire classroom staff to implement cohesive learning activities to further the growth and development of each child. Plan for children with special needs, utilize and assess equipment, environment and interactions.

Demonstrates positive interactions with children, families, and associates through verbal and non-verbal communication within the expectations and guidelines of the Day Center, Advocate's Behaviors of Excellence as well as Advocate's Be Safe Behaviors and Tools.

Responsibility to monitor the safety of assigned group of children at all times.
Continually asses the classroom environment and create and implement classroom arrangements that meets the developmental needs, abilities, and interests of the children.

Implement child health and safety practices that include head counts, name-to-face checks, sleep room checks, ratio sheets, and attendance sheets along with conducting daily safety checks within the classroom. Completes and turns in weekly classroom health and safety checklist

Adheres to, follows and coaches others in Advocate's Be Safe Behaviors and tools. Reports safety issues and concerns to Supervisor in a timely manner. Follows Day Center policy regarding children's accidents and injuries.

Avoids distractions that interferes with supervision of children. Refrains from gossip, personal conversations, checking cell phone and usage, use of computer while children are awake.

Maintains active supervision of children by engaging, interacting, and role modeling appropriate behaviors.

Maintain appropriate adult/child ratios at all times. To maintain a safe and responsive environment for all children by adjusting and monitoring the number of adults responsible for the group of children being supervised and where the adults are placed within the classroom group.

Parent-Family Relations: Responsibility for maintaining relationships with parents through daily contacts and open communication, parent-teacher conferences, and orientation to classroom and Day Center.

Team Collaboration/Communication – Demonstration of cooperative relationships and open communication with teaching teams, administration and co-workers. Resolve conflicts directly with co-workers in professional manner and address issues/concerns with team as they arise and in team meetings following Advocate's Behaviors of Excellence. Model appropriate behavior at all times. Takes appropriate action to resolve problems with children, families, and/or coworkers.

Orient, train, and mentor new staff and be a positive role model and resource for all staff.

Communicate with co-workers regarding children, parents, staff, schedules, routines on a daily basis. Share important information to facilitate the planning of curriculum and activities and the communication to families to increase the ability to individualize programming.
Demonstrate flexibility with teaching team, daily schedule, routines and classroom assignments.

Maintain a safe, clean and welcoming classroom environment based on the educational program goals/guidelines.
Orders supplies/equipment based on budget.
Plan and implement child safety practices.

Physical Requirements and Working Conditions:
Lifting: up to 11 to 50 pounds frequently and/or up to 10 pounds constantly. For lifting over 35 pounds assistance is required. Ability to stand, stoop, bend, and carry children, sit without back support for 15-20 minutes at a time Requires unusual hours and flexible work schedules. Ability to communicate with children at an age appropriate level. Ability to handle multiple tasks and complete work within short timeframes. Ability to work in a fast-paced environment with established time constraints. Ability to physically respond quickly to unsafe conditions which may put children at risk. Ability to demonstrate understanding of developmentally appropriate practice
If position has direct patient care or direct patient contact the following lifting requirement supersedes any previous lifting requirement effective 06/01/2015. Ability to lift up to 35 pounds without assistance. For patient lifts of over 35 pounds, or when patient is unable to assist with the lift, patient handling equipment is expected to be used, with at least one other associate, when available. Unique patient lifting/movement situations will be assessed on a case-by-case basis.

This job description indicates the general nature and level of work expected of the incumbent. It is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities required of the incumbent. Incumbent may be required to perform other related duties.