I will be speaking at a school-age child care conference and I wanted to add a blog about school-age programs.
School-age programs are important for working parents that are not able to pick-up their children from school or drop them off at school in the morning due to work or other obligations. Not all parents have family or friends that are able to help with their children. This is where before school and after school programs come into play. School-age programs are also important for children. Therefore the school-age program should be more than an extension of the school day where the children complete home work and sit at the tables in the cafeteria with nothing to do. There should be activities for the children to participate in both inside and outside. There should activities that are designed for school-age children to grow and mature.
The teachers should have games, a book area, arts and crafts, if possible gardening activities, themes, cooking activities, science, imaginative play, and outdoor activities. Teachers should incorporate these activities into their lesson plan and because school-age children have ideas; teachers should talk with the children and find out what they like and incorporate the children’s ideas into the activities. You can also have the older children interact with the younger children by reading stories and engaging them during activities in a leadership role. This type of school-age program will also reduce the discipline issues that could arise when the children do not have a structured environment.
Some may say, why do school-age children need a lesson plan and a developed program; because, they are in school all day and they just need down time right? The reason school-age children need a developmentally appropriate program is that if the children are left to their own devices; they would play video game and utilize their social media during the time that they are in the program. Where it is true that there are positive components to video games and social media, children are in school-age program at best for a few hours before and after school. Therefore, we as early childhood educators should make sure that the children are provided with developmentally appropriate activities that will help them to grow and mature outside of the computer world. Social media and computer time can wait until they get home. The children should actually socialize with each other and the adults that are with them in the moment.
So school-age teachers make your classrooms engaging, fun, and supportive for your children.