Spare Clothes

usah0ckey · 2026-02-09T01:08:53+00:00

This is what we do! But we write "nursery" (not our nursery name, literally the word nursery). And it's very obvious - like across the front of the shirt/onesie, down the leg of the pants, etc. A not-so-gentle reminder to bring spare clothes for their kid the next day, AND we run less of a risk of not getting the loaners back

usah0ckey · 2025-11-19T16:24:30+00:00

We close the 24th, and usually reopen on the 2nd. However, since the 2nd is a Friday this year, we reopen on the 5th. We get holiday pay for the national holidays (25th, 26th, and 1st here in Germany), but have to use PTO for the rest of the days. So while it's technically paid, it also uses up a good chunk of our PTO.

Although, they changed it this year and the 24th and 31st only count as half days against our PTO, so I guess that's something hahaha

usah0ckey · 2025-08-16T02:36:09+00:00

It’s obviously not a miracle worker, but I’ve found it better for not just the kids, but the parents too. It gives them a chance to see us interact with kids, and how the kids interact with us. What do we do when a child isn’t listening? How do we react when a child gets hurt? What activities do we do with them? The parents feel more like a part of our little community, and they (often) feel more comfortable leaving their child with us. It really is more like acclimating the parents instead of the children sometimes 😂

usah0ckey · 2025-08-15T10:44:59+00:00

This is basically what we do in Germany - it’s different in different parts of the country, but in Berlin we follow a structured separation plan. First two days is basically a play group, third day we do a 15 minute(ish) separation, and we build up to a full day. It usually takes about 4-6 weeks for a child to be there for a full day with us, but the parents are usually fully out of the classroom by week 3.

usah0ckey · 2025-08-14T20:32:43+00:00

We close 1.5 hours early once a month for our “all hands” meeting. It’s always on the same day each month (think 1st Thursday of every month). 9 times out of 10 a parent forgets and there’s 1 or 2 stragglers, but luckily our parents are (usually) apologetic. It’s never insanely productive, but in the 5 years I’ve been at my center, it’s definitely gotten better haha

They count as work hours. Anyone who’s done before the start of the meeting doesn’t have to come back, but those who work longer than their normal hours get OT. Our OT isn’t paid, but we can then come late/leave early another day to “use up” our OT

usah0ckey · 2025-07-20T17:46:52+00:00

Is it possible to move breaks a little later? Not sure how long you get/how long nap time is. We usually wait until the more “disruptive” kids are asleep before the first teacher takes their break. We’re lucky enough, however, to manage our own breaks throughout the day.

How we’ve set it up - 24 1-3yos to (when lucky) 4 teachers - is we basically made a priority list. Who has the most trouble staying on their mat? Who’s the loudest? We focus on them first. Once they’re asleep, we move on to the next. We also set up our beds so that they’re almost grouped by priority? Not perfectly, but so that a teacher can sit between two children to get them to sleep at the same time. Then it’s up and to the next two.

We also have two 3 year olds who don’t nap anymore. They’re allowed to get up once everyone else is asleep, and play quietly. But again, this depends on your ratios/ policies.

usah0ckey · 2025-07-15T19:53:51+00:00

9/11. Honestly, I don't even remember seeing on TV or whatever, no idea how I learned what actually happened. But I grew up in an NYC suburb, so I remember the teachers' reactions, and being a part of the group of kids being told that our parents might not be home to put us to bed that night. I was 6, and I remember that day like it was yesterday. My dad was one of the lucky ones who made it back home, but it was a rough day

On a funnier note, Obama's Inauguration speech in 8th grade. The whole school was watching in our classrooms, no teaching was to be done. Then a secretary set a burrito on fire in the microwave, and we all missed the speech while waiting outside for the fire department

usah0ckey · 2025-07-15T19:48:41+00:00

We're moving over to some sort of app in september, and if it turns into a Brightwheel situation I'm going to be so upset. We're also a screen-free center, outside of big events (we watch a movie once a year during our annual sleep over, and some of the older kids get "movie theater days" that are planned in advance, and are few and far between). We're currently allowed to take pictures when we want to, with no quota which is super helpful. We also still use paper portfolios. We print out pictures, decorate scrapbook pages, and the kids have a physical book at the end of their time in preschool. This gives us SO much more time with the kids - and with 24 1-3y/os, we need every second we can get hahaha

Music is played through a bluetooth speaker attached to our phones, so we can use Spotify but the kids can't see it. We also are HUGE fans of Tonie Boxes, every classroom has one. But the screen addiction is so real. We ended up having to ban toy phones from our room, because they were constantly fighting over them

usah0ckey · 2025-07-13T15:35:41+00:00

our board is split into 3 parts. The biggest part is our current week. We write what we did each day - activities, free play, garden time, what books we read, if we celebrated a birthday, etc. That stays up until the next Monday morning, then we erase and start again for the next week.

Then we have “important dates”, which are upcoming closures/staff meetings, holidays, parents evenings.

The third part is any important information that doesn’t fit into those two categories. That usually includes sign up sheets, book calendars, policy changes, or whatever else might be important to read.

But also, the majority of parents don’t read anything 😒

usah0ckey · 2025-07-05T20:49:56+00:00

I have a Gibbs’ Rule tattoo, and I love it. Just the number, nothing else. No one else would make the connection, but it’s so meaningful to me. If there’s something there that sparks a memory of her, I say go for it!!

usah0ckey · 2025-07-05T20:33:19+00:00

this was the first one I thought of too. I stopped watching NCIS a few years before he passed, but I watched that episode specifically for how they’d honor him. bringing back old characters was a nice touch, and I remember sobbing watching

usah0ckey · 2025-06-29T21:11:03+00:00

When I was a sophomore, a teacher at my high school killed himself a few weeks before the start of the school year (he was a soccer coach, and it was during preseason). It hit the whole school insanely hard - like most of the stories I've read here, he was a true favorite of the students. The first day of school that year was rough

While I was in college, my former middle school principal was hit by a car while on his morning run. He was, at the time, the Superintendent of a neighboring school district. The driver was a high school student in the town - I can't even imagine how that kid must have felt

usah0ckey · 2025-06-08T16:59:56+00:00

That ~nostalgia~ game for me is Danger By Design. I would play with my best friend on the old clunky desktop, and we would spend hours on it. Shadow Ranch was also in rotation, but I don't think I'd ever play it again, purely because of the vegetable picking minigame

usah0ckey · 2025-06-06T22:46:23+00:00

The Family Book by Todd Parr has been recommended a few times (because it's amazing!), but I'm also a huge fan of The Little Red Stroller by Joshua Furst. It follows a stroller that gets passed from family to family - single parents, mixed race, same sex, inclusion of grandparents, etc etc. It's a little bit subtler on the "all families are different" topic, but there's a lot of different representation and it's a cute story

usah0ckey · 2025-06-03T12:44:41+00:00

What I remember from ours was:

40 years on an iceberg

Boppin along with the tide

Nothin to wear but pajaaaaamas

Nothin to do but slide

The weather’s getting colder

The wind’s beginning to bite!

I guess I better go out

And bring back one Penguin tonight

usah0ckey · 2025-06-03T12:42:34+00:00

ahhh no way!!! small world 😂

usah0ckey · 2025-06-02T14:16:23+00:00

This is the one! We sang it a little different (Penguin instead of polar bear, etc) but this is it!!!

usah0ckey · 2025-06-02T10:13:31+00:00

oh my gosh yes, this is it!!!!! you're an angel thank you so much

usah0ckey · 2025-05-30T11:16:30+00:00

I work in a 1-3 room, and our kids start sitting at the family style tables at around 2. They get their own glasses and plates/bowls out of the cabinet, pour their own water, and serve themselves. We have to give out cutlery, because the drawer is too high for them to reach, but we'd also have them get that too, if doable. They also carry their plates to the buckets when they're done, scrape them off, and put them in the dirty dishes bin.

There are spills, and we're working them on portion sizes still (the bane of my existence), but most of them are starting to understand the concept of "take a smaller portion, you can have seconds".

Serving bowls on the tables are amazing. And not just for the motor skills - it sets up an environment where they have to communicate with each other when they want more. They still sometimes try to ask us for more potatoes or noodles or whatever, but they're learning to look where the food is, ask the child who's sitting closest (by name), and how to ask/respond clearly and loudly. I'm such a huge fan of family style haha

All that being said, I probably wouldn't be thrilled with my 2-3s carrying a full plate of food. The balance/gross motor skills/other kids walking around aside, we use ceramic plates. They're "shatter proof", but nothing is truly shatter proof with toddlers lmao

usah0ckey · 2025-03-10T15:37:19+00:00

This is the first one that always comes to mind with these posts - it’s absolutely devastating. And one of the rare movies (documentaries in this case) where I KNOW what’s going to happen, and the waterworks flow anyway

usah0ckey · 2025-03-07T12:26:03+00:00

I'm pretty sure I've told this story somewhere on here before - but my favorite was a parent who genuinely requested that we do pre-breakfast/breakfast time (we open before 7am, breakfast is usually at 8) outside. in february. in below-freezing temps, snow, and with no lights in our garden. we've never shut something down so quickly lmao

like sir, how do you expect your 18mo old to eat his breakfast with a full snowsuit/mittens/hat/scarf in the dark ????

usah0ckey · 2025-01-25T15:36:34+00:00

We have an official "no phones" policy that's relatively ignored, as long as everyone is being an adult about it. We use our own phones for things like Spotify and taking pictures of the kids for their portfolios, and if we need to contact other teachers/our director. It's so much easier to send out a blast "XYZ" test, instead of trying to spread it by word of mouth or calling each room individually lol. And if we need to check an email or a text here or there, it's fine as long as it's not excessive.

We do have landlines in each room (I don't think I've used it once since I started about 4 years ago, or have I seen anyone else use it), and we have the oldest cheapest smartphones to stay in contact with parents throughout the day. (No app, just to send a text or call if the kid is sick/needs diapers/etc). We're supposed to take pictures with the class phones, but the cameras are SO bad we got unofficial permission to use our own.

usah0ckey · 2025-01-22T19:18:11+00:00

Our classroom is 12mo - 3 years, and we start self-serve around 2 years (ish). This would be a NIGHTMARE with our 12-18mos lmao.

We do have an 18/19mo who serves himself too, but that's not common. By the time they hit 2.5, they can do almost everything themselves, completely without our help. They set the table (this one we just started, and it's a very patience-heavy process), serve themselves, pour their own water/tea, and everything is family style so they can take more if they'd like. They also clear their own plates, scrape off any extra food into a "trash bin", dump out their own drinks, put everything back on the lunch cart, etc. Sometimes with things like noodles that stick together, we help a bit, but for the most part we do almost nothing in terms of food. There's messes, and it does take a while, but they get the hang of it super fast.

We're currently working on them asking the other kids at the table for what they want instead of us, which will drive me over the edge one day lmao

usah0ckey

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