Positive relationships between children and adults encourage each child’s sense of individual worth and belonging as part of a community. When reviewing your relationship practices, here are some key questions to consider:

• What are the most important adjustments that we must make to the frequency and modes of communications with families in order to support strong and consistent relationships? What forms of communications are the most helpful and useful for our families and teachers? 
• As we make changes to classroom schedules, how can we structure the changes to minimize the disruption of relationships between children, families, and educators? How will we communicate these changes and our actions and intentions to families?
• How will we respond in anti-racist and equitable ways to anticipated behavior changes and challenges demonstrated by children who are experiencing trauma as a result of the pandemic? 
• How will we support educators through professional development, keep ourselves accountable for our actions, and communicate about children’s behavior and our responses with their families?

Examples from Child Care Providers

“We have focused on modeling for parents how they can help their children learn through activities and everyday routines. Our families have appreciated short videos of our teachers supporting learning and skill development. It has also been helpful for children to see their teacher with a picture when routines have changed.”

“We have changed drop-off and pick-up procedures and are now having parents drop off at the front of the center. Teachers are relying on daily emails with parents to communicate.”

“We need to be open and honest about the impacts of the pandemic on children and ourselves. We are reminding ourselves that we need to practice self-care also so we can help care for the children.”

Research-based curriculum promotes growth across a range of developmental and content areas, while appropriate and effective teaching approaches optimize children’s learning. When reviewing your curriculum and teaching practices, here are some key questions to consider: 

• How can we support educators to engage in developmentally-appropriate discussions with children about the pandemic, including why they are wearing masks and have to stay away from their friends; and what happens when someone gets sick?
• How can we take advantage of the opportunities provided by smaller group sizes to increase the amount of time educators spend in one-on-one and small group teaching? 
• How can we use changes in meal and snack time routines to increase children’s learning opportunities?
• How can we adapt our curriculum for increased outdoor time, play, and learning, with multiple considerations for changing weather and limitations that may impact our ability to go outdoors safely?
• What changes must we make in order to adapt circle time and other activities throughout the program that typically require particularly close personal proximity or have typically used shared materials?
• How can we adapt supervisory and classroom support schedules and other changes in order to implement health and safety recommendations and allow educators time to focus on curriculum and teaching?

Examples from Child Care Providers

“We created a short social story to share with children about the virus.”

“Our program is now asking parents to send children with their meals and snacks. Now that time becomes one where children can talk about what they brought and learn more about each other!”

“We now have incorporated having the children help put their toys directly into bins for cleaning and have fewer items in the rotation each day. We also rotate toys more often too.”

“We have changed our schedules to have more outdoor time for children. We are taking activities such as art time outdoors where possible and taking advantage of the open air. We are already starting to talk with parents about having more outdoor time, even in the colder weather and sending their children with appropriate gear to go outdoors as much as possible.”

“The children have written a play where superheroes defeat the germ!”

“Our children are learning, dancing and playing. I picked nursery rhymes that we can teach in different languages!”

“We have fewer large circle times and instead now focus on small groups of students with the teacher.”

“We changed our hours to allow for enough time in the morning to prepare and closed earlier to allow time to sanitize and prepare for the day.”

A variety of assessment approaches are used to plan curriculum and tailor instruction and improve program and teaching practices. Assessment results are shared and discussed with families. When reviewing your child assessment practices, here are some key questions to consider: 

• How can we safely conduct child assessments to evaluate for learning and social-emotional changes that may have occurred since the start of the pandemic, soon after a child’s return to the program? 
• In what ways can we expand our understanding of a child’s progress based on what we know of changes in family circumstances as a result of the pandemic? How do we respectfully and ethically determine and act on circumstantial changes that may affect children’s well-being and access to health, food, and education? 
• What policies and practices can we adopt to conduct contactless communications with family members daily (for infants, toddlers and twos) or weekly (for preschoolers and older children), in order to share current information about childrens’ learning, developmental milestones, and care?
• How can we continue to plan for and conduct contactless family conferences remotely, at least 2 times per year, to share children’s developmental and learning progress?
• Who can we partner with in our community in order to update our list of referral agencies that are recommended to families when an assessment suggests that professional follow-up might be needed? Who holds responsibility for confirming that agencies and other referral sources are still operating?

Examples from Child Care Providers

“We have used video conferencing to stay in contact with families and talk about children’s development. Our parents are also willing to share pictures of family engagement moments and interactions with their children. They ask for resources and we send what they can do to support learning at home.”

“While we cannot meet in person, our families have been happy to have a phone call (or video call if they prefer) to talk about their children’s progress. We can also share pictures of what is happening while their child is in care and short videos.”

“We are asking parents to share pictures of children’s creations while at home and including in their portfolios where appropriate.”

Programs promote the nutrition and health of children and protect children and staff from illness. When reviewing your health practices, here are some key questions to consider: 

• What professional development is available and/or required to help educators effectively engage in increased hand hygiene (washing and/or sanitizing), mask-wearing, and social distancing? How can we support educators as they support children to engage in these practices in developmentally-appropriate ways as well? 
• How and how often are we monitoring, tracking, updating and revising our hand hygiene and social distancing practices? How are educators involved and engaged in the decision-making and implementation of these actions? 
• How and how often are we updating our policies and procedures for isolating children and/or staff who test positive for COVID-19 and/or exhibit symptoms of illness? What are our communications policies with families and other staff, and how do we manage a safe return to our facility in ways that ensure maximum comfort among families and staff?
• How can we participate in sourcing, accessing, and maintaining additional cleaning, sanitizing and disinfecting supplies, as well as gloves, masks, and thermometers? Are there ways we can work collectively and collaboratively with others in our community to ensure equitable access to these resources? 
• How are we supporting educators participating in enhanced daily cleaning and sanitizing schedules for indoor and outdoor areas, equipment, toys and materials? 
• Are there adaptations we can make to the implementation of our daily health checks for children and staff so that it becomes a fun and playful part of children’s daily routines?
• How can we support staff in engaging in mandated training such as first aid, CPR, and medication administration if in-person training is not currently offered?

Examples from Child Care Providers

“Resources from the local public health department have been helpful to us.”

“Teachers are now wearing masks at all times in the school.”

“We developed a social story about mask wearing for the children. We also worked to find fun masks so they feel less scary for children.”

“Our school has decided to implement daily temperature checks as part of our routine. We have designated one employee who is supporting extra cleaning throughout the day.”

“We have created a quarantine room in case a child or staff member becomes ill. The room is stocked with supplies needed for care for that individual if needed.”

“Our program has revised its visitation policy.”

Staff have the competencies needed to create high-quality learning environments.

Programs provide ongoing support, supervision and professional development to their qualified staff according to their needs. When reviewing your practices related to staff competencies, preparation, and support, here are some key questions to consider:

• Where can we seek out professional development to support educators and staff on preventing the spread of COVID-19 and trauma-informed practice? 
• How can we build additional support for educators’ psychological well-being? Where can we create physical and virtual spaces where staff can take physical and mental breaks, while maintaining social distancing as needed? 
• Where are there new or existing philanthropic opportunities we can help our educators pursue or take advantage of, to support their efforts to gain credits, competencies, and degrees during this time? 
• Have we reviewed our staff sick leave policies so all staff understand, if they exhibit physical symptoms related to coronavirus, when they must seek testing, when to stay home, and when they can return to work?

Examples from Child Care Providers

“We are supporting our teachers to pursue their professional development hours through online courses at this time. They can take courses to support them before they return to the classrooms.”

“I am doing yoga for self-care but it is also good to do with children.”

“Taking time each day to breathe and find a moment of quiet in your day.”

“Polling staff to understand what helps them the most - mentally, emotionally and physically during the day.”

Staff establish culturally sensitive and collaborative relationships with families of all types. Staff also link families and children to community resources and establish a partnership within the community. When reviewing your family and community practices, here are some key questions to consider:

• What are some alternative virtual and in-person approaches and relationships we can explore and develop in order to engage with community resources if field trips, festivals, holiday events, and performances are limited or not available?
• How can we support positive connections between families in the context of revised drop-off and pick-up procedures that limit the number of families in an area at any given time?
• How do we work with families to assess possible additional risk to children with underlying health conditions, and determine their ability to be safe in our programs?
• Are there opportunities and staffing patterns we can explore to more comprehensively meet families’ needs?
• What opportunities can we explore to support family members in engaging in the daily activities of their child’s class (such as reading to children, sharing knowledge or cultural experiences) when adult visitors in the program are not recommended?

Examples from Child Care Providers

“Our drop off procedures ensure interaction with the family with one of our staff members every day. It’s a good opportunity to check in and see how the family is doing in addition to the daily health check.”

“I am recording read alouds along with virtual field trips that the family can participate in. Sometimes I take a video when I am on a walk that I can share with my class and parents. ”

“We are encouraging parents to share videos of special occasion celebrations that we can show and share with the class.”

Safe and well maintained materials, equipment and environments promote appropriate play and learning for children of all abilities. When reviewing your physical environment practices, here are some key questions to consider:

• How can we use our revised classroom layout, designed to maintain and promote physical space, to support developmentally-appropriate conversations about bodily autonomy and to promote additional big-body play?
• What types of creative use of materials and manipulatives can we promote to bring a sense of play and joy to physical barriers that increase safety and separation?
• How can we adapt our toy and material storage to rely on bins, cubbies, and bags that allow each individual child to keep belongings and bedding separate? 
• How can we maintain sensory development and exploration time and activities when sandboxes and sensory tables are off-limits? 

Examples from Child Care Providers

“We have reduced the number of toys in our bins and also limiting them to those that can be easily cleaned.”

“We are having children help create picture cards using magazines and art work. They can work together but separately and they love doing creative projects.”

“Each child has their own play dough and art supplies.”

Leadership and management effectively implements policies, procedures and systems to support children, families and staff. When reviewing your leadership and management practices, here are some key questions to consider:

• How are we planning to identify and regularly monitor up-to-date COVID-related instructions from state education and/or licensing agencies, the local health department, or other regulatory bodies?
• Do we need to adjust hours of service, ratios and group sizes, number and/or age of children accepted, and other major operational factors due to COVID-related changes in our ability to operate as we did previously?
• How and how often will we monitor and adjust our budgets and revenue projections to account for COVID-related changes in enrollment, income, and expenses?
• How can we adapt our tours and visitor policies in order to provide a contactless alternative?
• When, how, and how often will directors and administrators actively and intentionally collaborate in a shared-decision making process with educators and other staff on the development, implementation, and evaluation of new policies and procedures?

Examples from Child Care Providers

“We are following the state guidelines and have adjusted for smaller groups in the classrooms.”

“Parents who are interested in our program can do a virtual tour or with one of us through the video feature of the phone.”

“We have changed our group sizes due to local health guidelines.”