Introduction

The day care center „Wirbelwind Münzstraße“ is located at the centre of Bielefeld’s city near the „Rathaus“ (city hall).

Here „Wirbelwind“ takes care of 15 children altogether with and without special educational needs from year one up to scchool age.

We take care of the children in small, mixed age, inclusive groups, i.e. also children with special educational needs are supported and fostered in our group.

Our facility is easily accessible by means of public transport.

Nearby there are shops and a market for buying groceries. There are also playgrounds and the „Ravensberger Park“ you can reach by foot.

Outdoor Facilities

Our outdoor area has been planned and designed close to nature in collaboration with Ideenwerkstatt-Lebens(t)raum e.V. It stretches around two sides of the building and offers enough space for our little U3 children as well as the older Ü3 children to test out their abilities. The outdoor area consists of a sand-box, a playable wooden house, a little slide on a playing hill and an area to experiment or play with mud. There is also a paved area to drive or ride on various vehicles. The garden is planted with edible delicacies so that children can pick and try different berries by themselves.

Rooms

Our facility is located on three floors of a single-family house.

Bright and overseeable rooms offer the children quick orientation.

There is a group room on ground floor that is rounded by an alcove. Here, the children come together every morning. The room is multi-functional and offers opportunities for construction games but also for practising gymnastics.

The two other adjoining rooms on the ground floor are the bedroom and the wardrobe.

The toilet for both children and educators and the baby care room are also on this floor.

On the first floor there is another group room with a broad window facade. It is used for role-play games or as a chance to withdraw with a cuddle/reading corner. Also painting, puzzling and playing games can be done here. Additionally, dining room, kitchen and lavatory can be found here.

The attic floor is used by the team. It is also the location of the director’s office. The outdoor area, which was designed in collaboration with the parents and “Ideenwerkstatt-Lebenstraum e.V.“ at the end of 2011, can be reached from the cellar or the front door.

Daily Schedule

At 7.15 o´clock the day starts at our day care. The day in the group starts at 8.45 with a "morningcirle, where we sing some songs, see, who is there and what is planned for the day. These Rituals give the children safety and orientation. After that we meet for a breakfast.  

After that there is time to play and for different activities (indoor or outdoor) and projects. Here the kids can decide on their own, if they like to participate.

After lunch the children have time to rest. For those, who don´t need a regular sleep after lunch, we meet at the dream hour, where you´ll have dream journeys or storys.

After that time, reserved for relaxation the children either play outside at our playground or in the group. 

The day ends after a small snack in the afternoon at 16:30 fom monday until thursday and at 15.15 on fridays. 

Food

On four of five days the children bring their own breakfast. One day per week we offer a „Wirbelwind – Breakfast“ for all children which we shop for together. Sometimes it’s rolls, sometimes cereal  or other breakfast variants.

Freshly cooked lunch is delivered from a organic vegetarian supplier. This supplier has distinguished themselves by eliminating additives and catering to food intolerances. U1 children are served age-appropriate mash food.

Furthermore, we are supplied with fresh organic fruit and vegetables once a week.

Basics

At the core of our pedagogical work lies the holistic support and companionship of our children! We place great value upon a close, individual developmental support, intensify connection and are oriented towards each child’s needs/requirements. Experiencing emotional security and affection and the highest possible degree concerning freedom of choice are necessary conditions of feeling comfortable.

We see the child as the subject of our work’s focus and aim to identify and meet their needs. There are differentiated observations made in all of the expressions of infantile behaviour: Play, language, movement, behaviour, dreaming, painting and drawing.

It is important for us to accept the child and show appreciation for every single person belonging to our facility, children, colleagues and parents alike. We pick up on questions, ideas and topics coming from children and we intensively explore their different life situations and interests. We give impulses to stimulate and support a child‘s development.

We attend to various different paths of learning and incorporate them into our pedagogical work. Depending on the child’s state of development we give our assistance and show them how they can help themselves. In practice this means not to do things for the children but together with them. What we offer is as diverse as the children themselves are different: open activities (whoever wants to may join), activities targeting children individually and activities for selected smaller groups (according to developmental stages or other criteria) or activities for all children of the group. These activities have the same topic or theme over a longer period of time that the employees choose according to their observation of the situation and the children’s needs. They can be embedded into a didactic sequence, i.e. many activities that build on each other which follow a certain aim. Or they can be project-like and co-determined by the children and have an open outcome. Our employees state which developmental phase they intend to approach and which aims they have in mind concerning the topic at hand.

We support and advise parents of children with and without special educational needs in dealing with the familiy’s everyday life, education and help answer questions concerning child development.

Employee

Currently our team consists of six employees working full and part time.

We are equipped with pedagogic professionals educated as educationalist, social pedagogue and educator as well as one apprentice.

As dedicated as we are – we are not alone. In collaboration with early intervention centres, other daycare centres, schools, offices, counselling centres, doctors and therapists, current and future opportunities for development will be planned and executed.

Number and qualification of interns/ trainees changes every year.

Additional Offerings

Our employees observe all forms of expression of child-like behaviour in order to perceive and understand the child’s needs. Finding situations- and needs-oriented activities is based on these observations.

Situations- and needs-oriented learning opportunities take place under the conditions of everyday life as well as specifically in smaller groups or together as a group.

Once a week the children get the opportunity to participate in age-appropriate musical activities and – besides common musical possibilities – may learn about various instruments and get acquainted with the flute an musical notes later on.

Moreover, there are constantly recurring offers like feasts, celebrations or other activities:

• Carnival Monday party (Rosenmontag)
• Easter breakfast
• Afternoons with grandma and grandpa
• Afternoons with parents
• Summer party
• Special offers for children in their last year at the daycare centre
• Opportunity to go on a trip for children in their last year at the daycare centre
• „Lichterfest“ (Festival of Lights)
• Advent celebrations etc.

Quality Assurance

We regard the qualitative enhancement of our work as a matter of the heart. By means of differentiated observation of the children by pedagogic professionals the children’s developments are documented in portfolios. This documentation facilitates our employees‘ supporting and assisting of the children. These portfolios are regularly reviewed and discussed with the parents and are handed over to the families at the end of their child’s time here.

At the beginning of each year we start with a conception day. Results from this are incorporated in our work with the children and will form our concept.

A further attribute of our facility is the intense involvement of our work with children under the age of 3 and their familiarisation. In this we are guided by attachment theory and closely orientate ourselves towards the “Berliner Modell“, and we developed a parent questionnaire which portrays the development and life stages of the child as well as possible.

Another attribute integrated into everyday life of our facility is language promotion. A foreign Wirbelwind employee educated  as a language professional in everyday speech (state program “Frühe Chancen. Schwerpunkt Kita Sprache und Integration“) trained and advised our team. Regular evaluations are taking place.

What is more, all of our employees are constantly trained by a child safety professional from “Wirbelwind“.

Biennially, there are courses for “First aid with children“ mandatory to all of our employees.

During the 10 months before school starts our language therapists perform the BISC-Test (Bielfelder Screening) in order to detect reading and writing disabilities at an early stage.

We also highly value the regular advanced training of our employees so that we always have new impulses concerning developmental psychology and social pedagogy.

Cooperations

The family center Brackwede has written agreements of co-operation with

• The Educational consulting centre Bethel
• The Hedwig-Dornbusch School
• The Early Intervention and Counselling Centre, which now belongs to “Wirbelwind“
• The Idea workshop „Lebenstraum“
• The Office for Language/ Speech Therapy, Dagmar Ludwig, Nicola Gronemeyer
• The Westphalian Department for Developmental Support (WIE)

We as one facility of “Wirbelwind“ also use these co-operation partners. Moreover, we work together interdisciplinary with other early intervention centres, therapists and counselling centres.

Teamwork with parents

A partner-like dialogue between the guardians and our facility is very important to us.

That is why we make sure that parents and co-workers regularly discuss their child’s life situation and development. It is vital to develop an understanding for each other and to agree on measures of education and support. To make this possible we arrange „Elterngespräche“ (parent talks) as an addition to the in passing exchanges when the children are brought and picked up.

Each year we arrange a talk with all of the parents of the children.

This enables a detailed exchange between facility and family. Parents will be informed on developments observed here and can get advice concerning certain issues. All parent talks will be logged. The resulting protocol is signed by all participants of the talk. When necessary, a number of appointments can be arranged individually with the families.

Parents may sit in on the daycare so they get a direct impression of life and work in the facility. Furthermore, parents‘ theme nights enable the intense examination of pedagogic, facility-specific and social issues.

We appreciate the parents‘ collaboration and support in preparation and execution of parties, in caring for the outdoor area and other projects. Our house shall be equally inviting for both the children and their parents.

Projects

There are many different forms of play. “Each has its own function and particular effect on children’s experience.“

In our facility, we explore the diversity of the following forms of play (we also include them in projects, extensively experience and deepen our understanding of them):

• Discovery and perception games;
• Production games; for designing
• Free play during which time personal experience can be re-enacted and processed;
• Role play as active representation of self-awareness and awareness of others;
• Fantasy games in which children experiment with (their own) thoughts and feelings;
• Construction and building games which enable children to create products from their own playful thinking;
• Rule games are important for a child’s social and moral development;
• Strategic games let children discover cognitive problem-solving;
• In aggression games children may let loose and experience physical sensations;
• Motion and dancing games let children experience the joy of rhythmic sensations;
• During theater play, children can test out and experience what it is like to slip into a role;
• In glove puppetry they can identify with certain characters;
• Skill games challenge children motorically;
• Finger games and
• Music games

Above all, such projects are meant to mirror – not to by-pass – children’s needs.

Description and Stations

You can reach us by bus or tram in just a few minutes‘ walk from Jahnplatz/ Rathaus station.