Introduction/specifics

Our day care centre consists of three groups, one of which is a crèche group and two kindergarten groups.

The two kindergarten groups, the "shooting stars" and the "sunshine children", can each accommodate 25 children aged three to six years at the same time. This results in a total of 50 places in the kindergarten area, of which we offer 20 places for full-day care and 30 places for care with extended opening hours.

The crèche of our facility with the name "Mondsteinchen" (little moonstone) offers children aged one to three years, distributed over a total of ten places, the care options of extended opening hours or all-day care.

Further special features of the facility; pedagogical and staff conditions; information about the daily routine and the building etc. can be found in the respective articles with the appropriate heading.

Rooms

The municipal day care centre "Am Stadtgraben" in Geisingen has been located in its newly renovated building since December 2019. The listed facility from 1920 was expanded and restored. Among other things, a crèche was added and the interior was restructured/rebuilt.

There are two kindergarten group rooms on the upper floor and a crèche room with separate cloakroom in the basement. Furthermore, the facility includes, among other things, a separate creative area with a wood workshop; a spacious movement room; sleeping and resting rooms, as well as a kitchen for home-based educational activities.

Outdoor Facilities

Our day care centre has a large garden that extends in a "U-shape" around the building. The garden area of the crèche is connected to the garden area of the kindergarten via a passageway. The outdoor area includes three sandpits, a wobbly walkway, a nest swing, a large slide, a wooden house in the form of a tent, and a climbing complex for the crèche children. Since spring 2023, parts of the garden have been redesigned and optimised for the children. Among other things, a raised bed has been created; various shrubs have been planted; wooden figures have been set up, etc.

Daily Schedule

Daily routine of the two kindergarten groups "Sonnenkinder" and "Sternschnuppen"

Morning:

7:30-8:30am: Bring time, free play in the group room.

8:30-8:45 a.m.: Group welcome circle (on Wednesdays there is a morning circle with all the children in the facility in the gymnastics room instead).

8:45-9:30am: Free play in the group room, time for targeted educational activities with small groups within the framework of the partially open concept (e.g. in the garden, in the kitchen, in the gymnastics room, in the wood workshop)

9:30am: Breakfast together

Approx. 10:00-11:45am: Depending on the weather, free play in the group room or in the garden. At the same time, the targeted educational activities are continued within the framework of the partially open concept. In addition, preschool, language support, educational activities for the movement pass and educational activities for the Technolinchen take place on certain days during this period.

11:45 a.m.: The children who take advantage of the hot lunch go to the dining room. The other children have their snack in the group room.

12:45-13:30 p.m.: The children with GT times go to the rest and sleep room. There, a rest period takes place until 1:30 p.m., during which the children have the opportunity to rest or fall asleep and take a nap. The children with after-school hours continue their free play in the group room after the midday snack and must be picked up by 13:30.

Afternoon:

13:30-15:30: Depending on the weather, free play in the group room or in the garden. The children who have fallen asleep in the quiet/sleeping room are woken up at 14:30 at the latest.

Approx. 15:30: Afternoon snack together.

Approx. 15:50-16:30: Depending on the weather, free play in the group room or in the garden.

16:30: The children with GT times must be collected.

Daily routine of the crèche group "Moonstones"

Morning:

7:30-8:30am: Bring time, free play in the group room and time for targeted educational activities.

9:00am: Morning circle

9:20am: Common drinking break

9:20-10:00am: Free play in the gym or outside (garden/walks), depending on the weather.

10:00am: Washing hands followed by breakfast together

10:20-10:45am: Diaper changing time and free movement activities in the nursery's own movement area.

10:45-11:00am: Quiet time (quiet music, room darkening, picture books and other quiet activities)

11:00 a.m.: Joint nap time

approx. 13:00-13:20: Lunch together

13:30: The children with after-school hours must be collected.

Afternoon:

13:45: The children are changed again.

2:00 p.m. - 3:15 p.m.: Depending on the weather, free play in the garden or in the group room; walks; time for specific educational activities.

Approx. 15:15: Afternoon snack together

15:40-16:30: Depending on the weather, free play in the garden, in the group room or in the gymnastics room.

Food

Those children from the Ü3-area who take advantage of the all-day care receive a warm lunch in the kindergarten at fixed times, which is prepared by our supplier "Appetito" and our housekeeper. Ten kindergarten children in the extended opening hours also have the opportunity to take advantage of the hot lunch. The remaining 20 "VÖ-Kindergarten children" eat a "Vesper" from their lunch boxes in the group room.

The crèche children do not have the opportunity to take advantage of the hot lunch provided by the facility. They need to bring three meals a day (one for breakfast, one for lunch and one for the afternoon). Lunch can be kept cold in the refrigerator until lunchtime and then heated.

Basics

The focus of our pedagogical work in the crèche, as well as in the kindergarten, is based on the guiding principle "Help me to do it myself"; on the principle of "participation", as well as on the goals and guidelines of the Baden-Württemberg education and orientation plan. We design our everyday life and the developmental conditions of the children in such a way that they always have the opportunity to act according to these focal points and to implement them according to their development.

We implement the principle of "participation", more precisely the children's right to self-determination and co-determination, in our daily educational routine, for example, through the morning circle that takes place once a week for the entire house. Among other things, this provides the framework for "children's conferences". In the rest of the day, too, the children always have the opportunity to openly express their concerns and decisions and thus help shape the day.

Under the guiding principle "Help me to do it myself", the children receive the necessary professional guidance and patience from the pedagogical staff on their way to becoming a self-confident and independent personality. For example, depending on the children's interest and stage of development, "action trays" are regularly integrated into free play, which the children can use to learn about the world and all its contexts.

The acclimatisation process in the nursery school and crèche is based on the "Berlin Acclimatisation Model". In addition to a fixed structure or a fixed guiding principle, the acclimatisation is always individually adapted to the child. Parents are informed in advance about the exact procedures for the start of the day care centre by means of a registration folder and a detailed admission interview.

Employee

Our day care centre currently employs 12 educators and nursery nurses, a housekeeper and an external language support worker. All pedagogical staff regularly take part in further education and training in order to constantly ensure the quality of their professional work. As a rule, we train one trainee, one school trainee and/or one "PIA trainee" every year. During the course of the year, weekly and one-day interns are also welcome to complete their school internship at our facility.

Additional Offerings

In addition to the free play time, the language support of our external, professionally trained language support worker is integrated into the week; the pre-school work; as well as offers on the topic of the "House of Little Researchers" and the "Movement Passport". In January 2011, we were awarded the distinction "House of Little Scientists" by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research in Stuttgart. Through regular further training and a detailed "portfolio" as proof of the experiments carried out, we are entitled to apply for this award every two years. In the meantime, we have received the fifth award.

Cooperations

Our facility is always in contact with other institutions and authorities in case of need. Examples of this are the District Office; the Youth Welfare Office; speech therapy and occupational therapy facilities; early intervention and other support services.

Teamwork with school

The educational team works together with the Geisingen primary school, among others. Within this framework, there is cooperation with the teacher Mrs. Lutsch, who visits our preschool children several times a year at the facility and works with them in view of their upcoming entry into school. The preschool children of the municipal kindergarten "Villa Kunterbunt" are also involved in these cooperation sessions, which allows the children to get to know each other better before they start school.

Teamwork with parents

A trusting, positive and well-connected cooperation with the parents is very important to us and therefore an important part of our pedagogical work.

Parts of the work with parents in our day care centre are, for example: theme-specific parents' evenings, joint festivals and celebrations, as well as fixed meetings with the parents' council.

On the basis of well-founded observations and professional exchanges among the pedagogical staff, child-related development discussions take place with the parents once or twice a year. Reflection meetings, for example after the child has settled in, are also prepared and conducted professionally at the parents' request.

In addition, a "portfolio" is created for each child upon entry into the facility, in which pictures of the daily routine; developmental progress; pedagogical offers and projects and much more are recorded. At least once a year, during the summer holidays, the portfolios are taken home. In addition, parents have the opportunity to view them at any time. Upon leaving the facility, each child is given his or her personally created portfolio as a reminder of his or her time in the nursery and kindergarten.

We always take the concerns, wishes and wishes of the parents seriously. These can, for example, be submitted via anonymous letters in our "feedback boxes" next to the entrance doors; openly communicated during fixed meetings or expressed in writing within the framework of the annual feedback forms. After each settling-in period, both in the crèche and in the kindergarten, parents are also asked to give us written feedback on a feedback sheet prepared by us. This enables us to constantly optimise our pedagogical work, to generate quality and to maintain a trusting cooperation with the parents.

Specifics

In our facility, the work is partly open and the core groups are maintained. In the period from 8:15 am to 11:45 am, one or two permanently assigned pedagogical specialists offer educational activities and projects in different areas according to the educational and developmental goals of the Baden-Württemberg orientation plan. These are carried out parallel to the free play time, which takes place in the group rooms. The children who are interested in the respective activities can participate in small groups. The entire facility with all its rooms, such as the wood workshop, the large gymnastics room, the kitchen or the garden, is used for this purpose.

Projects

From 2023 onwards, it is a fixed goal of our day care centre to establish a forest week in the course of the year, which is to take place in the spring. During this week, the centre will only be open during the extended opening hours. Projects will also be implemented throughout the year, for example in 2023 on the topic of "blue light". Every summer, our facility offers so-called "bathing fun days" in the garden, where the children can cool off and refresh themselves in very warm temperatures.

Holiday Care

The children who leave the facility after the summer holidays (the pre-school children) will have their last day of kindergarten from 2023 onwards on the last day before the summer holidays. Consequently, they will no longer be allowed to attend the facility on the August days after the summer holidays. In this regard, we would like to draw your attention to the holiday care provided by the town of Geisingen, which the pre-school children can attend instead during this period. The flyers for this are handed out in the kindergarten every year a few weeks before the summer holidays.

Overview

Children are admitted to the kindergarten when they are three years old.

In the crèche, children are admitted when they reach the age of one.

A further criterion for the admission of all children to the facility is proof of complete measles, mumps and rubella vaccination. The registration data filled in by the parents before admission must also be complete and correct.