< back to welcome page 1 Recruitment 2 Eligibility 3 Selection 4 Enrollment 5 Receiving (or Providing) Services

5.1Screening & Compliance Requirements
5.1.1Prior to Day 1 5.1.230/45/60/90 Day 5.1.32.5-Year-Old 5.1.4Education Staff Yearly Timelines 5.1.5Family Worker Yearly Timeline

5.2Center/Classroom Startup Planning
5.2.1Language Services 5.2.2Family Orientation
5.2.2.1Siblings and Non-Enrolled Children
5.2.3Child Files 5.2.4Center/Classroom Environment Set up 5.2.5Daily Schedules 5.2.6Curriculum Planning 5.2.7ECERS/ITERS Rating Scale

5.3Classroom Engagement
5.3.01Opening Checklist (EHS/HS) 5.3.02Set up Morning Environment 5.3.03Pedestrian Safety 5.3.04Drop-Off/Pick-Up Procedures 5.3.05Greeting Children & Families 5.3.06Daily Health Check 5.3.07Daily Logs (EHS) 5.3.08Child Supervision 5.3.09Handwashing Procedures 5.3.10Attendance Policy & Procedures 5.3.11Meals (EHS/HS)
5.3.11.1Special Dietary Needs
5.3.12Bottle Feeding/Introduction to Solid Foods (EHS) 5.3.13Bathroom Procedures 5.3.14Diapering 5.3.15Tooth Brushing 5.3.16Free Choice Time 5.3.17Small Group Time 5.3.18Large Group Time 5.3.19Outside Time 5.3.20Facilitating Lessons 5.3.21Napping Procedures (EHS/HS) 5.3.22Cleaning & Laundry 5.3.23Closing Checklist 5.3.24Challenging Behavior Tracking Packet
5.3.24.1Behavior Incidents
5.3.24.2Referral for Observation/Consultation 5.3.25Planning Activities
5.3.25.1Creative Curriculum Studies
5.3.26Unusual Incidents/Accidents (Ouch Report) 5.3.27Administering Medication 5.3.28Off-Floor Planning Time 5.3.29Center-based Program Year Shutdown Checklist

5.4Ongoing Assessment
5.4.1Observational Notes 5.4.2Desired Results Development Profile (DRDP) 5.4.3Individual Child Goals (ICG) 5.4.4Portfolio Collection

5.5Family Engagement
5.5.1Home Visits 5.5.2Family Conferences 5.5.3Parent Center Committee Meetings (PCCM)
5.5.3.1Web Planning Process
5.5.4Family Partnership Process
5.5.4.1Family Opportunity and Interest Assessment (FOIA) 5.5.4.2Family Partnership Agreement (FPA) Family Goals
5.5.5Parent Cafes 5.5.6Positive Behavior Support and Child Success Team 5.5.7IEP/IFSP Meetings 5.5.8Inclusion Planning (Disabilities Plan of Action)
5.5.8.1Service Providers at Center
5.5.9Attendance Study Teams (AST) 5.5.10Raising a Reader 5.5.11Make Parenting a Pleasure – Parenting Groups 5.5.12Records Request and Enrollment Verification 5.5.13Policy Council 5.5.14Name and/or Family Change Procedure 5.5.15Registered Sex Offender Procedure

5.6Weekly Home Visits
5.6.1Home Visitor Timeline 5.6.2Preparing for Weekly Home Visits 5.6.3First 11 Weekly Home Visit Records 5.6.4Personal Visit Planning Guide and Record 5.6.5Home Visit Tracking Form 5.6.6Developmental Domains 5.6.7Home Visitor Curriculum Planning and Training 5.6.8Travel File 5.6.9Parent Binder 5.6.10Scheduling Home Visits in Outlook 5.6.11Home Visits in Child Plus

5.7Home-based Socials
5.7.1Socialization Site 5.7.2Group Socialization Plan 5.7.3Home-based Socials: Meals

5.8Overview of State Programs

5.9Reporting
5.9.1Family Worker and Home Visitor Monthly Summary Report
5.9.1.1Using Childplus To-Do Lists 5.9.1.2Supervising ChildPlus To-Do Lists
5.9.2Reporting Suspicion of Child Abuse 5.9.3Head Teacher/Site Supervisor End of Month Checklist
5.9.3.1Site Meetings

5.10Prenatal Services
5.10.1Prenatal Enrollment 5.10.2Prenatal Home Visits 5.10.3The Postpartum Visit

5.11School Readiness Goals

5.12Internal Monitoring
5.12.1Child File Monitor 5.12.2Teaching Pyramid Snapshot 5.12.3Monitoring Chronic Absenteeism 5.12.4Personal Visit Observation Tool and Home Visit Rating Scale (HOVRS)

5.13Food Service
5.13.1Kitchen Basics 5.13.2Menu and Menu Planning 5.13.3Foodservice Shopping 5.13.4Food Safety and Handling
6 Transition 7 Admin/Operations 8 ChildPlus 9 Learning Paths

5.3.05


Greeting Children & Families

Everything you do to get to know families will help you welcome them. Families who feel welcome in your classroom are likely to return and to become involved in the program. The classroom environment you create and the ways you introduce the program can make families feel that they belong and that you appreciate their role in their children’s development and learning.

When greeting children & families:

  1. Make the child/family feel welcome
    • Greet each child and family member by name
  2. Say something positive and specific to each child/family
    • At drop-off, share details of an activity that is planned for the day
    • At pick-up, share details of something that happened today
  3. Solicit family members for advice about their child
    • Share details of something observed about the child, then discuss/ask for input
  4. Give support to families when needed
    • Offer to help a child/parent if they’re having trouble separating at drop-off
    • Follow up with the parent on how things went during the day
  5. Be a good listener
    • Active listening skills convey that families’ concerns and ideas are taken seriously
    • Refer families to their Family Worker if they need additional support

For more helpful information on greeting families and children, refer to the SOP ECERS/ITERS Rating Scale which includes:

  • An introduction to the ECERS/ITERS Rating Scales and why they are used within the Head Start Program
  • An overview of the related procedures that are performed and who performs them.

References

  • Refer to Volume 1, Chapter 5: Partnering with Families in the appropriate references listed below.
    • The Creative Curriculum for Infants, Toddlers and Twos (EHS)
    • The Creative Curriculum for Preschool (HS)
    • The Creative Curriculum Solutions on the Teaching Strategies website
  • Refer to Personal Care Routines (Subscale) » Greeting/Departing (Item) in these books available at each center:
    • ECERS book (HS)
      • For further detail, refer to All About the ECERS (full version)
    • ITERS book (EHS)
      • For further details, refer to All About the ITERS (full version)
    • Related SOPs: