Keeping everyone safe and healthy is the tag for the school year of 2020-2021. With COVID-19 cases continuing to rise in the U.S., how can you, as educators, provide a healthy environment to welcome students back to school?

Consider that many of the recommendations made here have been made before for other reasons. Maybe now is a good time to implement some educational best practices while keeping students and teachers well.

According to the report Parents 2020: COVID-19 Closures — a Redefining Moment for Students, Parents, and Schools, children spend an average of 4.2 hours per day on remote learning. Parents spend about 2.5 hours per day to support their children’s education.

The move to virtual learning has opened the eyes of many parents about what their children need to learn and how well they learn it. However, 92% report their children are at or above grade level in reading and math, while the National Assessment of Educational Progress shows the real average to be closer to 37%.

Before welcoming students back to school, educators must take time to review, plan, and implement policies to account for the “new normal.” Pay particular attention to local health and government resources and guidelines and be prepared for rapid change.

In fact, make the potential for change part of every policy moving forward. Here are a few policy considerations.

The presence and use of technology by children is an ongoing topic of concern. On one side is the insistence that any exposure to screens is inherently bad for children. On the other is the expectation of advanced education at a young age.

Technology is a tool. It is neither good nor bad; it's all in how you use it. Computers, smartphones, tablets, and TV have received their share of criticism, but there is no turning back the clock to a technology-free childhood.

Technology carries benefits and advantages. It can also be detrimental. Balance is the key.

Though quarantine lock-downs are expiring, many schools are still online, and some childcare facilities are reopening or attempting to get back to a regular schedule.

In the meantime, parents are home with their children for more hours a day than before. To help them keep the little ones busy and learning, offer them some ideas for fun family activities to do at home. You can help their children stay focused on learning while giving everyone a break.

Here are some ideas you can pass along to parents or build on to provide a customized list for your clientele.

The pandemic hit hard and fast, but as a small business owner and expert childcare provider, you need to lead through this crisis. While the world didn’t quite tilt on its axis, everyone is still scrambling to get their feet back under them.

Leading your childcare center through a crisis isn’t easy, but running a business and taking care of children isn’t easy either. You’ve got this. 

Here are some tips and tools to help you along on your leadership journey.

COVID-19 has caused widespread closures of many businesses, including childcare, summer camps, and afterschool care. Communicating with families is crucial for maintaining relationships and ensuring everyone is receiving accurate information about hours of operation, length of the closure, and how they can receive future communications. 

The novel coronavirus, COVID-19, is taking over life as we know it for the time being. Childcare services are being hit from all sides, from parents taking their children out for home care as they shelter in place to essential workers looking for places to put their kids while they work.

The Christmas holidays aren't the only thing to think about this time of year if you are a business owner. It's also time to close the business books and get ready for the New Year. Most of what you need to do is financial in nature.

Ever since the days of “Give a Hoot, Don’t Pollute,” the environmental movement has found ways to include children in the campaign to clean up our Earth. Reducing paper use is one of the easiest and most visible activities young children can understand and participate in. 

Besides teaching your students about the value of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, saving paper in your childcare center means you save money and a few thousand trees. Below are some ways to save paper in your childcare center beyond using found paper objects in art activities.