Year: 2020 — Province: Ontario
Certificate of Achievement Recipient
Discovery Child Care Centre
Licensed child care centre for children ages 6 weeks to 12 years
Barrie, Ontario
[Brittney's] commitment and dedication to the infants in her care, and to the [early childhood education] profession, is unparalleled. She has helped lay the foundation for a passion for the outdoors, a zest for exploration and adventure, and a deep sense of feeling loved. I know we are one family, of an entire centre of families, that feel the same way.
Previously a manager at the centre, Brittney Bobbitt moved back into the classroom because she loves working with children and is, in the words of her nominator, a "natural" with infants. In particular, she ensures that even the youngest children in her care benefit from the significant nature and outdoor focus of the centre.
Philosophy of care
Brittney believes that understanding the values of the community helps her establish strong relationships and determine what is best for children in the infant room from the perspective of both educators and families. Values help her explain both why her team offers the experiences they do and how they are going to do it.
Support of child development
- Emphasizes language adaptation: encourages infants, even younger than 12 months, to use words to have their voices heard and to see the power they have to communicate; builds on this autonomy with songs, rhymes, stories and signs; and helps very verbal children develop their conversation skills.
- Takes children outdoors for the majority of each day to provide sensory experiences and spark children's curiosity: children's interest in a bird's nest led to reading stories about birds and studying a bird-watching picture book; even infants could identify the birds they saw outside and match them to pictures.
- Creates individualized programming: each child has their own schedule, created with the parents/guardians, so they can eat, learn, socialize, play and nap at their own pace, with activities planned around those schedules, as well as allergies, and dietary restrictions and choices.
- Supports and guides infants to become independent by learning life skills: children learn to feed and dress themselves, even how to walk, how to ask for help and how to persevere in order to build grit and resilience.
Involvement with parents, families and the community
- Provides parents with written and verbal information individualized to each child and based on what parents request, such as daily highlights of important learning moments or pictures of activities.
- Documents learning through large-format floor books that infants help create; starts a Journey Book for each child who enters the centre that stays with them as they progress to the toddler program.
- Played integral role in supporting families when centre moved from two locations to one, helping children transition to the new space and developing an invigorated Infant Program.
- Is an active facilitator with the centre's Professional Learning Division, which offers professional developments opportunities for educators from across the province; leads interactive and hands-on sessions on working with infants, nature-based learning and reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples.
Get in touch!
Discovery Child Care Centre
101 Harvie Road
Barrie ON L4N 4C9
705-733-2052
karen@discoverychild.on.ca
https://www.discoverychild.on.ca/
Facebook: @DiscoveryChildCareCentre
Twitter: @Discovery_Child