Introduction/specifics

The house, which dates back to 1698, impresses children with its wide variety of play options. If you are looking for a "normal" kindergarten, you won't find it here. The facility accommodates just 32 children in seven different rooms on three different levels. As a result, the groups are very small and informal.

This is particularly noticeable in everyday life due to the low noise level. The clear group structure enables the specialist staff to adapt to the needs and personal interests of the children.

There has been hardly any staff turnover in recent years.

Rooms

First floor:

    Ritter - Gruppe

The knights' group can be played in three different playrooms. By hanging up a picture of themselves on a plan, the children can register the rooms in which they would like to play according to their interests or with certain play friends.

    Knights' group room

In the knights' group room, the children will find a painting table that invites them to be creative and a cozy corner where they can rest and relax. They can also listen to the Toniebox or look at a Tiptoi book.

In the center of the room is a large play table for guided activities

z. e.g. rule games, puzzles or pegging exercises.

    Doll's room

The adjoining "doll's room" is characterized by a raised level. In this room, the children will find everything they need for role play, e.g. a dressing-up corner, a fully equipped doll's kitchen with table and chairs.

    Building room / development room

In the construction room, the children will find various materials, e.g. building blocks, construction material, Duplo etc., which the children can use to create different play landscapes.

This room is also where the remedial teacher provides support. Various methods are used here to work on the children's strengths.

1st floor:

    Dragon group

The dragon group has three playrooms, which are divided into different play areas. Here too, the children can use pictures to decide for themselves which area they want to play in and with whom.

    Dragon room

The dragon room is the central location on the second floor of the facility. This is where the daily morning circle for the dragon children takes place. The play content here consists mainly of guided and quiet play. In the cozy corner, the children have the opportunity to look at books or have them read to them, play with hand puppets or listen to TipToi.

A small creative area offers the opportunity to realize their own creative ideas.

    Role play room

The role-play room has a children's kitchen and a store.

The mezzanine level invites children to change their perspective. Various costumes complete the room and offer the children the opportunity to slip into different roles.

    Construction room

In the building room on the first floor, children will find various building blocks, e.g. clicks or wooden blocks, which invite them to stack and build.

A Playmobil doll's house with various rooms offers the opportunity to play out everyday scenes.

The Montessori corner allows the children to act out and develop according to their own needs.

The relaxation room and kitchen are also located on the 1st floor.

Relaxation room

This popular room allows children to immerse themselves in another world in a small group (max. three children). Indirect lighting and an appealing ambience allow the children to listen to the Tonie box unobserved as well as look at picture books themselves or have them read to them.

The self-built wooden house with a cozy mattress and lots of cushions invites children to snuggle up.

    Kitchen

The kitchen is used by both groups to eat their meals. This is also where the children's home economics activities take place.

In the garden there is an annex with two different play areas.

    Ball pool

The ball pool is very popular due to its playful character.

Here, groups of up to five children can build together with foam blocks, test their dexterity on wobble boards or simply relax in the ball pool.

This is also where the remedial teacher promotes movement (psychomotor skills).

    Function room

The functional room is a room characterized by few play materials. Material is offered here according to the children's needs, e.g. Lego, Barbie, Schleich, mattresses and blankets etc.

Outdoor Facilities

Behind the facility is the outdoor area, which connects two levels with a stone staircase.

The sandpit is located in the lower part of the garden, there are various riding devices and a large seesaw that requires a lot of skill. The large mud kitchen encourages children to experiment with different materials.

In the upper area, which is mainly covered by grass, the nest swing and the wooden house invite children to play. A wooden horse stimulates the children's imagination.

At the back of the garden there is a raised bed and a wall-mounted water tank that collects rainwater for irrigation. Strawberries, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and herbs are grown here. In the patio area, the children will find a smaller raised bed planted with strawberries for snacking.

Daily Schedule

We attach great importance to a regular and calm daily routine. This should give the children orientation and security during the day.
The facility opens at 07:00 and gathers all the children in the Ritter group by 08:00.
The children then go to their respective group with their group worker.
While the dragon children go to breakfast at 08.30, the knight children have their morning circle. Afterwards (09.00 a.m.) they go to the kitchen for breakfast and the dragon children have their morning circle.
After all the children have eaten breakfast, the preschool "The clever dragon and knight children or the duckland" takes place.
Afterwards, the children in the two groups are divided into eight different rooms, which are characterized by different types of play. They decide according to their preferences, interests and inclinations.
Between 10.00 a.m. and 12.00 p.m., there are targeted activities, free play, project work, gardening, walks and housekeeping activities.
Lunch is eaten together in two groups in the kitchen. The food is supervised daily by a member of staff who looks after the children exclusively in the kitchen.
After lunch, the children spread out around the house and in the garden.
On various days of the week, the children can attend courses such as early music education or English.

Food

We pay attention to a balanced diet and offer unsweetened tea and water from the drinking fountain. The drinks are available to the children at all times to ensure that they can drink enough.

Breakfast:
The children bring their lunch box to the facility every day. We want this to be characterized by a varied, healthy diet. Sweets are not part of it for us. This also includes milk slices and Kinderpinguin.
Children are welcome to eat yogurt, fruit, nuts, bread, vegetables, sausage and dairy products.
It is important to us that care is taken to ensure that as little plastic packaging as possible is used. We send all plastic packaging home with the child.

Lunch:
We obtain our lunch fresh every day from our caterer. Parents can see which meals are available for lunch on the weekly changing menu.

Healthy breakfast:
Every Friday there is a communal, healthy breakfast for all children at the facility. We offer bread, sausage, cheese, fruit, vegetables, muesli and yoghurt. In addition to tea and water, there is also juice spritzer to drink on this day.

Fruit round:

The facility participates in the EU school fruit program. We obtain fresh fruit and vegetables through this program once a week, which the children receive during the afternoon fruit round.

Birthday:

Every child is allowed to bring whatever they like for breakfast in their group on their birthday. Pretzels with fruit and vegetables are welcome. But a cake or muffins are also allowed.

Basics

Our image of the child
We want to see the child as an independent individual who is actively involved in his or her development. In order to give the child the best possible development opportunities, we meet them where they are.
We see ourselves as the child's companion and offer them the opportunity to develop their strengths and work on their deficits. It is important to us to see the child as part of a social community, which encourages autonomy and inner resilience.
We place the child at the center of our work.

Mission statement of the facility
The facility works according to the situational approach. By this we mean that we act in a way that is close to real life and incorporate current events and happenings into our daily work.
We take up the norms and values of society and incorporate them into our everyday life. Key sentences of our education are:
"Everyone is allowed to play, we don't exclude anyone!"
"We are all dragon knight children!"
Through comprehensible, regulated interaction and a recurring daily routine, the children experience stability, which offers them orientation and security.
Fixed rituals both in the daily routine and in the kindergarten year give them the opportunity to develop safely and in the best possible way.
The partially open concept allows the children to develop, expand and implement their own preferences, abilities and wishes.

Employee

Staffing levels are based on the legal requirements (see BayKiBiG) and are calculated on the basis of booking times, the number and age of the children.

Our team is currently made up as follows:

1 head teacher, remedial teacher, nursery teacher

1 nursery teacher

3 nursery nurses / supplementary staff

Early intervention by a remedial teacher

English in the kindergarten by an external teacher

Early musical education by an external teacher

1 cleaner

1 janitor

Qualification

Further training

Further training for educational staff primarily serves to supplement, expand and further develop existing knowledge. To take a closer look at various aspects of educational work and to integrate them into our daily routine.

Each pedagogical employee is entitled to five days of further training per year.

For example, a degree in education, a degree in special education, further training to become a specialist in education, "Jolinchen" team training, further training to become a pleasure ambassador and much more.

Additional Offerings

Preschool
Wuppi's adventure journey through phonological awareness

What is phonological awareness and how is it promoted?
While phonological awareness in the broader sense includes areas such as listening, rhyming and recognizing syllables, phonological awareness in the narrower sense refers to the smallest units, the sounds (phonemes).
The promotion of phonological awareness therefore includes listening exercises, rhyming exercises, syllable games and exercises for analyzing (listening out) and synthesizing (combining) sounds.
 
What is special and new about the language development program "Wuppi's Adventure Journey through Phonological Awareness" is that the exercises are embedded in an action framework.
 
Who is Wuppi?
Wuppi, son of King Wuppix from the planet Wupp, is supposed to become king himself later on, but he has a problem. He can't listen, he can't rhyme, recognize syllables and all the things you need to learn to read and write. A king who can't listen and perhaps also can't read or write? That's not possible, says the villain Bösix from the neighboring planet and wants to become king on Wupp himself.

Plauderhaus - Practice for the language course for kindergarten

The workbook supports pre-school children in various language areas that are important for language development. With the help of the varied exercises, the children consolidate and develop their vocabulary, form new words, look for plural forms, organize sequences of actions and gradually get to know the learning structure of our language.

Stories from the land of numbers

The stories from Numberland are aimed at all number lovers. Each number has its own story. They encourage children to deal with numbers in an imaginative and friendly way.

Swinging exercises

Holding a pencil requires coordination of eyes and hands. This must first be learned. Swinging exercises promote fine motor skills and concentration, among other things.

The half-siblings

Our half-school program is made up of various modules and is designed to prepare the middle school children for their preschool year. The content of the program is

    Graphomotor skills
    Speech drawing
    Scissor driving license
    Movement games for holistic preparation for school

On a fixed day each week, the various modules are worked on alternately.

Graphomotor skills

includes all processes in which graphic signs and shapes (pictures, writing) are applied to a surface with the help of writing utensils. Graphomotor skills can therefore be described as a peak performance of fine motor dexterity. Graphomotor skills belong to the area of fine motor skills. It refers to the motor skills of the hands and includes all the movements required for drawing and writing. Good graphomotor skills lead to a relaxed pencil position and therefore also to fluent control of the pencil.

Speech drawing

In simple terms, speech drawing involves both speaking and drawing - as the name aptly suggests. In practice, of course, it is somewhat more complex. The purpose of such exercises is to normalize muscle tone and achieve deeper breathing. To a certain extent, the motor and creative activity encourages children to let the language (words and individual letters) "flow out". Speech drawing is a clever way for children of kindergarten age to work on language weaknesses individually and lose them by the time they start school.

Scissors driving license

Handling scissors is not always easy for children. In fact, cutting with scissors is a certain motor challenge for children that requires and promotes hand-eye coordination, concentration, spatial vision, fine motor skills and logical thinking.

Movement games for holistic school preparation

In addition to gross and fine motor skills, movement games also promote social skills, motivation and improve children's general well-being and body awareness. The promotion of motor skills in particular also has a positive effect on cognitive skills.

Entenland

Our Entenland program is made up of six different learning areas and is designed to prepare our little ones (3-4 years) for the half-siblings (4-5 years).

    Learning area 1
    Colors and inside/outside (sorting and orientation in space)
    Learning area 2
    Flat shapes and flat shapes in combination with colors (sorting)
    Learning area 3
    Counting, dicing and simultaneous counting (sorting and ordering)
    Learning area 4
    Spatial figures, top/bottom, weight (classifying and spatial orientation)
    Learning area 5
    Front/back, left/right, heights and lengths (orientation in space)
    Learning area 6
    Before/after, seasons (orientation in time)

Six learning fields

The design of the six learning areas is primarily characterized by the following four educational principles: holistic approach, children's self-activity, social behavior and learning in contexts.

Educational goals

- Sorting and organizing

- Orientation in space and time

- Language development

- First experiences with numbers

Quality Assurance

All child day care facilities funded by the Free State of Bavaria are legally obliged to carry out suitable annual quality assurance measures. This is done by publishing or providing open access to the facility's concept and conducting a parent survey or other equally suitable quality assurance measures.
We use the following tools to ensure the quality of our work:
- Description of key processes
- Parent survey and thorough evaluation
- Updating the concept
The concept represents the current status of our work. However, as the external and / or internal conditions for the facility are constantly changing, we too must constantly reflect on, question and rethink our work. This concept will therefore change and develop with us.
- Team meetings
- Further training
- Specialist literature
- Website
- Flyer
- Annual appraisal interview

Cooperations

Cooperation partners / collaboration with specialist services
Cooperation and networking with various agencies is a central task of daycare centers. In this way, local resources can be used locally. A network of different institutions such as daycare centers, specialist counseling services and elementary school offers the opportunity for collegial consultation and the use of the respective services. An important goal here is to ensure the well-being of the children and their families. Children at increased risk of development and impending disability as well as families under particular stress receive help in good time. Opening up to the natural, social and cultural environment also enables education close to the real world.

Our facility cooperates with various training centers. We would like to open up the practical field of "social work" to young people. For this reason, we offer various opportunities to get to know the profession of educator or childcare worker. (Taster internship, orientation internship or training as a childcare worker / educator)
Thanks to many years of experience, we offer well-founded guidance with reflection on one's own actions, a great deal of scope for trying things out and gaining experience, as well as respectful interaction with all interns and trainees.

Cooperation and local networking:

    Christian Maar School (Sprengelschule)
    Roth-Schwabach educational counseling center
    City library
    City museum
    Schwabach puppet theater
    Playgrounds in Schwabach
    Nuremberg Zoo
    Planetarium Nuremberg
    Technical college Schwabach
    Vocational school for childcare Schwabach
    Vocational school for childcare Nuremberg
    Specialist academy for social pedagogy Nuremberg
    Bfz - Vocational Training Centers of the Bavarian Economy
    Intelligence node Nuremberg
    Karl Dehm Middle School Schwabach
    Johannes Kern Middle School Schwabach
    Rummelsberg Vocational Training Center

Cooperation with specialist services / institutions

    Roth Health Department Schwabach
    Youth welfare office of the city of Schwabach
    District of Middle Franconia
    Various therapists e.g. occupational therapy or speech therapy
    Interdisciplinary early intervention center / practice for curative education Martina Greil / Spalt
    Interdisciplinary early intervention center of Lebenshilfe Schwabach
    Elementary school
    Clubs
    Doctors e.g. dentist

Teamwork with school

The Kindergarten am Berg is part of the Christian Maar School, Galgengartenstraße 3, Schwabach.

Once a year, the pre-school children visit the school and can look around the rooms and experience a day at school.

The pre-school German course is also held here for children who still need support with the German language.

Teamwork with parents

Parent work

Parent work refers to all measures and activities by professionals that are aimed at or involve parents. The child's development is co-constructed together. This intensive parenting and educational partnership is important in order to create a level of equality in which the child's well-being is always at stake.

    Parents' evenings:

Parents' evenings are offered in various forms.

Topic-related parents' evenings, usually led by specialist speakers, give parents the opportunity to learn more.

Parents' information evenings make our work more transparent, provide parents with new information and encourage them to get involved.

    Parents' Council:

The parents' council sees itself as a link between parents and specialist staff. We see it as a planning partner for events and as a point of contact for families and staff in difficult situations.

    Festivals and celebrations:

Festivals and celebrations allow parents to socialize with other families and create a relaxed atmosphere in the educational partnership.

Door-to-door talks:

During drop-off and pick-up times, short conversations about the child's current situation can be discussed or any questions clarified.

    Parent/development talks/acclimatization talks

Regular parent/development meetings give parents an insight into their child's current stage of development. They also enable an exchange between the two people involved in the child's upbringing.

    Open day:

On the open day, potential parents can gain an initial insight into our facility. This day is scheduled in advance and can be attended by all interested parties.

    Letters to parents:

Letters to parents are sent out regularly by e-mail. Parents are informed about any information, news and activities. All letters to parents are also displayed on the information board in the entrance area.

    Weekly letter:

At the end of the week, parents receive an overview of the coming week by email. This makes our work transparent and parents can ask their children specific questions about the day.

    Admission booklet:

If children are admitted, parents receive an admission booklet in advance. This contains all the important and necessary information and documents that are important for both the specialist staff and the parents.

Parent survey (evaluation)

In the annual parent survey (anonymous questionnaire), parents can express their wishes and suggestions, as well as criticism and complaints.

Specifics

Project work
Only when a topic takes place over a longer period of time is it referred to as a project. Here, the most diverse possible approaches to a particular topic are sought.

What does project work look like in our facility?

At the beginning of a new kindergarten year, on the planning days, a joint decision is made with all employees as to which topic will be discussed for the coming year - the so-called "annual topic". The theme takes place every month in the last week, whereby planning, development and implementation are not done for, but largely together with the children and are discussed throughout the week. During the project work, various activities (such as home economics, creative or musical activities) take place together with the children.

Past project topics:

- "Fairy tales"

- "Our town Schwabach"

- "Europe"

Parental Interviews

- Parent survey (evaluation)
In the annual parent survey (anonymous questionnaire), parents can express their wishes and suggestions, as well as criticism and complaints.

Overview

Our kindergarten looks after children from the Schwabach catchment area from the age of 2.9 until they start school.

The operating license offers space for a total of 32 children, who are cared for in two groups of 16 children each. Four places are reserved for children under the age of three.

We have integrative places, which enable us to accept children with special needs and to support and care for them accordingly.

Description and Stations

The facility, Kindergarten am Berg, Pinzenberg 6 is located on the edge of the old town of Schwabach. There is a bus connection within walking distance (approx. 3 minutes).

The town center is just a few minutes' walk away.