Rooms

The daycare center "Alte Schule" is located in the district of Rodheim in the old town center. Our house is a listed building, which used to be a school. Since August 2001, the building has been used as a kindergarten.

We have 4 large, thematically designed group rooms and a total of 4 additional rooms for individual support of the children and for small group work. In addition, two square annexes are attached to the old school building, which house the cafeteria for breakfast and lunch on the one hand and the gymnasium on the other. The link between the old building and the new rooms is a bright hallway with a glass roof and the new entrance door.

Since 2015, we have been caring for up to 100 children aged three to six in four mixed-age home groups in a partially open concept.

Outdoor Facilities

The Alte Schule daycare center has a large outdoor area with a variety of playground equipment (swings, climbing tower with slide), a waterway, a large sandbox and a mud and muddy corner.

Daily Schedule

7h Opening of the daycare center with an intergroup of children, with play opportunities in the gym and in the play hall of the daycare center.

8h Start in the fixed groups (Owl, Fox, Beaver and Squirrel groups) with free play.

8:45h - 10:15h Open breakfast buffet in the cafeteria and parallel play in the group rooms, as well as the start of additional activities.

11h - 13h Group phase with group circle, lunch, offers, walks and playground visits

13h- 14h Rest period in the groups or playing in the outdoor area

14h -15h Inter-group room activities - each child is allowed to choose the room in which to play.

15h -15:20h Snack in the cafeteria

15:20h - 17h Group play in the gym, in the garden or in one of the group rooms.

17h The day care center closes!

Food

At the Kita Alte Schule, the children are offered a daily breakfast buffet in the cafeteria:

A breakfast buffet is offered in the cafeteria. We pay attention to a varied, balanced and healthy offer. Your child has the opportunity to decide individually when and how much he or she would like to eat within a time window of 1 1/2 hours. Every day, your child will find cheese and sausage sandwiches, raw vegetables, fruit, muesli and yogurt or similar. Quark dishes. Once a week there are egg dishes or waffles for breakfast as a highlight. In addition we serve water and tea.

Lunch is provided by the company Green Times and is also very varied and oriented to the DGE standards. Your child can also decide for himself/herself what and how much he/she would like to eat. For the main meal, dessert is served daily in the form of fruit, curd or milk dishes and pudding.

The afternoon snack for all children who are registered until 4:00 p.m. or 5:00 p.m. will again take place in the cafeteria. Each child may bring a lunch box with a small snack from home.

Basics

We see ourselves as a family-supplementing institution that accompanies, promotes and cares for children in an age- and developmentally appropriate manner in their mental, cognitive, social and physical abilities. Every child has a right to education and upbringing, regardless of his or her origin, religion or ancestry.

Education and upbringing can only succeed in a joint cooperation between the family, professionals, day care providers and others. The different places of education and learning interlock and complement each other. In this way, children can grow up to become independent and socially responsible individuals.

This is also emphasized by the Hessian Education and Development Plan (BEP), which forms the basis for our pedagogical work. It describes how the child and the adults are actively involved in the educational process together and thus represent co-constructors in the educational and upbringing process.

The BEP names basic or key competencies, as the "fundamental abilities, skills, attitudes and personality characteristics" (BEP, p.41).

They form the "basis for the child's physical and mental health, well-being, and quality of life, and facilitate living together in groups." These basic competencies, which enable the child to cope with life and are the basis for lifelong learning, must be strengthened and promoted together.

Employee

The Kita Alte Schule employs trained educators, social pedagogues, semi-skilled additional staff, trainees for the profession of educator and FSJ students.

We offer apprenticeships for educators and PIVA through qualified professionals as training officers.

Furthermore, there are educators in our house with additional qualifications in the areas of Reggio pedagogy, integration, systemic counseling, movement promotion, language promotion, experiential education and environmental education.

Additional Offerings

Forest day

Once a week the forest day of the Kita Alte Schule takes place in the Beinhardswald at the Rotkäppchenhütte. The children are brought to the edge of the forest by city bus in the early morning and picked up again for lunch.

During the adventure time in the forest, your child will learn to actively engage with nature and become acquainted with the laws of nature. They practice their gross and fine motor skills, their body awareness and coordination, their cooperation with other children, and how to put their ideas and fantasies into practice. At the same time, the forest day has a very calming and balancing effect on all children.

The forest days take place in the group with the reference teachers and are occasionally accompanied by the forester.

Nature education

Living and moving outdoors is very important to us. Our daycare groups are often out and about in Rodheim, in the fields and meadows, in order to experience nature in addition to the forest day.

In the spring, we begin to design and plant our raised beds and produce some of our vegetables for our breakfast buffet. Other flower planting events take place quarterly with Blumenhaus Wien. All children who enjoy it may participate in both activities.

Preschool work

Our preschool work starts in the kindergarten year after the Hessian autumn vacations and takes place once a week in the gym and the preschool room of the Kita Alte Schule. Together we work on age-appropriate topics, fill out worksheets, learn how to use a binder, pencil case, hole punch and sharpener, and plan and follow up on field trips.

Self-assertion and resilience course

A special highlight for all preschoolers is a two-week self-assertion and resilience course at the daycare center. Your child will learn how to classify and express his or her feelings, how to distance himself or herself, how to find his or her own strength, how to stand up to other children and adults, and how to ask for help and support in difficult situations.

This course is financed by our support association and a small contribution from parents.

Reading mentor

Our reading mentor visits us once a week. He reads and plays picture books and stories to our 5 year olds in our daycare library.

Specifics

Our pedagogical concept is based on Reggio pedagogy and partially open work.
The needs of your child are a central aspect of our pedagogical concept.

In Reggio pedagogy, the child is the actor, constructor and protagonist of his or her educational process. We know that every child comes to kindergarten with his or her own personal history, which we build on and pick up from. We look at the individual resources available to each child and promote their strengths. At the same time, individual weaknesses are to be overcome.

By working independently and cooperating with others, children of kindergarten age learn how problems can be solved constructively. In addition to individuality, community experience is an essential aspect of Reggio pedagogy. Helping children to help themselves is an important guiding principle in our daily activities - your child should become a mature personality, capable of finding his or her way even in a very fluctuating social structure.

In our home, your child will have the opportunity to express his or her "hundred languages" in a variety of ways. Whether through speech, gestures and facial expressions, dance, movement, design, in performing play, through pictures and much more, your child can express his or her thoughts and feelings.

To encourage children to speak, think and form their own opinions, we listen attentively; we return questions and embark on a journey of discovery together with your child.

    We give your child space to be a finder and inventor of the world.
    We take your child's perspective every day and ask ourselves what he or she feels and what he or she thinks.
    We are role models for your child and align our own behavior patterns accordingly.   

Therefore, our house is a partially open house, where your children can choose their own play partners, space and materials.