Finding quality child care is going to take a little homework. The following is a checklist of important information to consider when visiting several centers. We hope this will be helpful in making the decision that is right for you and your child. FREE - Download your Checklist for Quality Child Care here. Recent studies prove the long-term benefits of a Quality Early Childhood program: Increased IQ scores Greater achievement levels on proficiency tests Higher SAT scores More likely to attend college Over 14% increase in lifetime earnings Some of the highlights include: Convenient Locations. Experienced and Educated Teachers. Age-Appropriate Program. Extracurricular Activities. Competitive Tuition Rates. Well-maintained, Child-oriented Environment. We hope that after visiting several centers, you will choose to provide your child with a warm, caring, educational and fun experience. Thank you!!!! Download this FREE Checklist for Quality Child Care:

Water play does not have to be limited to the water table, take it outside! Grab a few small pails of water, large paint brushes, and have the kids help paint the playground! Got some chalk? Let’s kick it up a notch and turn this into a lesson about letters! This is a great activity to do on a hot summer day to push back against that summer knowledge slide… Beforehand, write some letters on the fence, wall, or floor. Assign each of the students a letter and instruct them to find their letter and “paint” over it. (It doesn’t have to be letters, you can switch it up and use colors, shapes, numbers, or words). Small amount of prep, minimal mess that will dry in the sun, and tons of fun! Additional Outdoor Activities: Tracing Shadows: trace the outline of your partner’s shadow and then color it in to create an alternate identity. Bird Watching: Set up a bird feeder (or make your own) and journal about what birds you see visiting the feeder each day. Create your own stationary to send to friends and family. Try crayon rubbings over tree leaves or pressing flowers. Try some catchy rhyming songs while skipping rope. Go on an ABC Outdoor Scavenger hunt! A-Ant, B-Bird, C-Cloud. Act out a familiar story. There are tons of adventure books to choose from: “We’re going on a Bear Hunt”, “We’re going on a lion hunt”, “The Listening Walk”, “Where the Wild Things Are”, and so much more!

Today's blog post highlights Vogel Alcove, a unique concept center that is helping homeless families in Dallas, Texas. Dallas has the 6th largest GDP of any American city and more than 20 Fortune 500 company headquarters. Yet, approximately 4,500 children in Dallas will go to sleep tonight without a home. Families are the fastest growing segment of the homeless population, and 88% of those families are led by single mothers with multiple children under age five, often with no support system. They are fighting to survive. Homelessness is more than just a man standing on a street corner, it’s entire families. Housing is essential to ending homelessness. Still, families also need food, employment, childcare, education, transportation, mental and health care, and supportive relationships in order to thrive. Homelessness robs parents of the ability to give children the safety and security they need to grow. Without intervention, the trauma of homelessness can cause life-long mental, physical, and emotional damage. Vogel Alcove’s services and programs are helping families heal their trauma, empowering parents to build stability, and letting kids just be kids. Vogel Alcove is a nonprofit, non-religious 501(c)(3) organization that serves homeless children and families regardless of race, religion or gender. Vogel Alcove’s strategic initiative helps break the cycle of poverty by using a Two-Generational Approach to solving family homelessness. Vogel Alcove offers therapeutic educational programs that are specifically designed to support children (ages six weeks to 12 years) who are experiencing the trauma of homelessness. These programs include Early Childhood Services, School-Age services, Mental Health Services, Health Services & Family Support. Therapeutic Early Childhood Programming is accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). A research-based curriculum designed to help children living in traumatic circumstances like homelessness is utilized. This approach helps to improve developmental outcomes, foster social/emotional skills and creates a pathway for success in school. Therapeutic School-Age Services include summer camps for children in Kindergarten through 8th grade. These services “fill in the gap,” providing children with a safe place to learn, play and gain new skills outside of school hours. Mental Health Program is a critical component of Vogel Alcove’s programming. Being homeless creates a host of challenges for young children. Vogel Alcove’s approach is to understand these issues and offer a mental health curriculum focused on social/emotional skill building and creating community. On-site mental health therapy for children and adults is available. Health Services address the physical well-being of homeless children. Weekly, onsite access to medical care, two meals and a snack each day, and daily nap time for kids who may not be able to get peaceful, uninterrupted sleep at night is provided. A full-time School Nurse is available for the basic health needs of our children, perform vision and hearing screenings, and educate parents about children’s health. Family Support Program is an essential program for Vogel Alcove. To make the greatest impact on a child's life, the family must be included. Family support staff provide 1:1 case management, resources such as diapers and clothes, assistance procuring housing, education resources, employment assistance, career-ready training, partnerships with outside groups, parenting training, and more. With generous community support, Vogel Alcove has served more than 17,000 children and their families since 1987. A few key statistics for 2020-2022: 63% of parents were unemployed when their child/children enrolled at Vogel Alcove; 26% were employed in temporary jobs with limited hours and no benefits. 56% of parents were employed or in school when their child/children left Vogel Alcove. 85% of preschool children showed gains in the areas of social/emotional, physical, language and cognitive development and were on track for their age and stage of development. 68% of the children we served during the 2021-2022 school year had decreased or eliminated mental health risk factors. 93 children and parents received one-on-one therapy in 2021. After 8 months at Vogel Alcove, 80% of infant and toddler children are able to function at appropriate stages of development. Our impact shows that in 2020, 70% of families experienced decreased housing vulnerability. During the pandemic, NOT ONE FAMILY SLID BACK INTO HOMELESSNESS. The success of Vogel Alcove’s mission and the exponential growth of their programs and services over the last 35 years is not possible without the support of donors. Vogel Alcove receives funding from foundations, corporations, community organizations, government grants, private individual donations and through proceeds from special events, such as the annual Arts Performance Event and the Day 1 Dallas family fair. If you would like to donate to or be a part of Vogel Alcove, please contact them at https://vogelalcove.org or https://vogelalcove.org/donate/#

Our environment affects us all. Our physical surroundings affect how we feel, how comfortable we are, how we relate to others and how successfully we accomplish what we set out to do. For young children, the environment is particularly important. The size of the classroom and the outdoor play areas, the color of the walls, the size and type of furniture and flooring, the amount of light, the number of windows all influence how children learn. The physical environment is the setting on which everything takes place. An orderly environment creates orderly values and behavior in children. Everyone feels more relaxed and at ease in a neat, clean and orderly environment. Classrooms that are brightly decorated or decorated in natural tones, may affect children in different ways. To benefit children, classrooms should be child oriented and well stocked with a multitude of age appropriate learning materials and resources. Classrooms must be clean, safe and well planned to create an atmosphere for a variety of learning experiences for children. Child sized furniture, equipment, toilets and sinks help children to be self-reliant in taking care of their personal needs. Children should be encouraged to respect and take care of the environment as they clean up toys and materials, wipe tables and put away chairs. Teachers play an important role as they support, facilitate, and encourage children in the environment of the classroom and school. A room that is attractive, cheerful, orderly and filled with interesting objects conveys the message “This is a comfortable place where children can explore, feel safe and learn.” Good classroom set up means thinking about traffic flow. It accommodates both noisy and quiet areas and allows children to move from space to space easily and in practical ways.It allows children to find and put away materials independently. Children want to be in a welcoming, organized classroom. Additional things that make a classroom welcoming: Plants and natural materials help children connect to the environment. Children’s Artwork displayed at child's eye level helps children know this is their classroom. Add neutrals and earth tones as background so children see and respond to what you want to highlight. Use music to create a soothing calm atmosphere. Learning materials should be accessible throughout the day everyday. Pillows and other soft materials help promote an atmosphere of relaxation and comfort. Reflect the culture and community through home items. Books should also reflect the culture and family background. Print rich classroom materials showing family and community. Wall displays and print rich instructional tools. Learning centers that allow children to explore independently or in a small group. A well thought out planned engaging environment for children will prevent discipline issues and create a natural learning environment for children.

In the very busy world of child care, there is nothing more important than child retention and keeping families that are enrolled in your school happy, so they continue to come back day after day and year after year. Successful child care centers are successful because of their attention to the detail of customer satisfaction. When parents believe in, and feel a part of your school, they buy into the culture, the program and curriculum. They become invested in the people and relationships and are less likely to take their child somewhere else. C.A.R.E. stands for Customer Attention Retains Enrollment. C.A.R.E. reminds all center staff to take the extra step to provide exceptional customer service to both the child and the parent. C.A.R.E is not hard to do, it can be as simple as greeting every parent and child, every day, with a warm genuine smile and an enthusiastic “Good Morning!” C.A.R.E. is the process of getting to know the parent and child. What motivates them? What are they interested in? What are their expectations of the child care environment? Then, applying that knowledge to how YOU can help make the parent and child’s life easier, better, and the experience richer. When C.A.R.E. is provided on a consistent basis by all staff, parents can “feel” the difference and they remain enrolled at your center longer. C.A.R.E. ensures that the child and parent are getting the specialized attention that retains enrollment. The goal is to reduce parent anxiety and help parents enjoy and celebrate the quality of the program that their child is experiencing. The following are some C.A.R.E. steps you can take to make sure children love your child care center and parents continue to support your school. Create strong and sustainable relationships. With Families Share what you know about their child in a respectful way. Develop strong family relationships with all members of the child's family. Have honest, authentic conversations that build trusting relationships with adults and parents. Listen to the families’ ideas and concerns without preconceived judgment. Give parents a phone call just to check in. Let parents know how their child helped in the classroom today. Let parents know how their child helped a friend today. Check in with families at drop-off and pick-up times. Greet every adult enthusiastically. Keep parents informed about upcoming events. Thank the parents for enrolling in the program. With Children One of the most important aspects of adult-child interactions is engaging children. Talking to children about what you are doing, and describing what you are seeing and experiencing helps young children make sense of the world they live in and builds a trusting relationship. Have fun. Creating an outstanding C.A.R.E. environment in your center is not only about retention, but also about building enrollment. Use software like IntelliKid Systems to keep parents informed with the happenings of the center as well as give them the opportunity to easily refer new parents. IKS is a leading CRM in the child care industry and can automate the process from a happy parent referral all the way to a newly enrolled happy family! IntelliKid Systems helps centers across the globe modernize their enrollment by: Keeping parents engaged throughout the decision-making process: from a first impression all the way to enrollment. Communicating with parents all in one place via SMS, Email, Facebook Messenger, and Zoom Using easy, embeddable landing pages to collect information from prospective parents on your website including allowing tours to be booked with IKS’s self-scheduling tour tools including calendar sync! Recording and managing your inquiry calls all within one system with no hardware needed! Communicating with enrolled parents via newsletters with IntelliKid Systems best-in-class drag and drop email editor and campaigns feature. Book a demo with IntelliKid Systems today! www.intellikidsystems.com/demo

Teacher appreciation is not something to be done only once a year during Teacher Appreciation Week! Showing how much we value and appreciate our teachers should be an everyday occurrence. Helping teachers reduce stress and feel valued for their hard work is something you can do year-round everyday! Let’s look at several tips you can do daily to help your staff feel valued, reduce stress, feel appreciated and prevent teacher burnout. 1: Bring Treats: Everyone appreciates treats and goodies, especially teachers. Little snacks give teachers the energy they need to execute engaging, enriching lessons throughout the day. Find out their favorite treat and sneak it into their mailboxes. 2: Provide Breakfast or Lunch: During the school day, teachers are often so focused on their students and the tasks at hand that they do not have time for a well-balanced breakfast or lunch. Treat them to a meal of their choice. 3. Wash their Car: Working long hours at school means that teachers rarely prioritize taking care of their own “life tasks.” A washed car seems like a simple thing, but will really help a teacher out. 4. Craft a “Thank You” Banner: Collect notes or messages from students in the teacher’s class and compile them onto a banner or poster. Hang it in the hallway so everyone passing by knows how much the teacher is appreciated. 5. Send an e-mail: A quick, but meaningful way to appreciate a teacher is just to write it in a note or email. Include personal stories of what you saw or heard the teachers do that made a difference and impacted you. 6. Give a Break: Make a date to read a book aloud to the class, supervise lunch or give the teacher a break during outdoor recess time. This can make a huge difference on a frustrating day. 7. “Tell On” a Teacher: Create a board where teachers are publicly recognized for excellence and a job well done. Parents, administrators and other teachers can share comments and brag about the excellent teaching they witness by “Telling on“ the teacher. 8. Create Candy Puns: There’s no shortage of clever candy puns and wonderful snack food wordplay. Leave a mason jar full of Mike-and-Ike’s, Skittles, or M&M’s labeled “chill pills.” Or place individual portions of marshmallows, chocolate, and graham crackers in a baggie with the phrase, “We need s’more teachers like YOU!”, a Three Musketeers bar with a note that says, “To someone who does the work of three people – THANK YOU!”, “Have I told you “Reese”- ently you are wonderful to work with.” The creative and yummy teacher appreciation ideas for staff are endless! 9: Create an Individual Award for Each Teacher: Create an award for each teacher that highlights that teacher's strengths. Post the award in the teacher’s classroom. 10: Create a positive school culture: For any teacher appreciation effort to deliver lasting change, it must be grounded in positive culture: an environment where teachers feel valued every day, are given a voice and are set up for success in their classrooms. Every action you take as an administrator should forge and foster this positive culture. The most important asset we have in our schools are our teachers!

At IntelliKid Systems, we know the frustration that can sometimes surround lost possessions in the childcare environment. The following is a cute and funny way to remind parents about the importance of labeling everything a child brings to a group care environment. Feel free to modify, edit or use in your early childhood environment. If You Liked It, You Should Put A Label On It! Whether it’s your infant's change of clothes, preschooler’s jacket, kindergartner's backpack, or your lunch in the office fridge: “If you liked it, you shoulda put a label on it.” Cool weather is coming and new jackets are arriving at Target (or your favorite store to buy children’s clothes). An adorable Dinosaur jacket is on display and it’s on sale! Of course, you nab it! But so does every other parent. Teachers always know what’s trending, because soon multiple students will be wearing the same things. Including that adorable dinosaur jacket that was priced too perfectly to pass up (so much so that you bought a larger size up for next year). The child you sent to school with their new jacket now comes home with one that is slightly smaller, maybe it’s a bit more worn, or, worse, it has melted gummies (or at least you hope it’s gummies) in the pockets. How was the teacher supposed to know which child’s jacket was which? If you liked it, you shoulda put a label on it! Everyone wins when we know what belongs to each child. Thank you for labeling all your child's possessions! We really appreciate it!

1. Urgency vs. Importance (Steven Covey) Consider the importance (or “weight”) of the items on your list, and the urgency “when is it due?” 2. The ABC Method (Alan Lakein) The ABC Method was originally developed by Alan Lakein and consists of assigning a priority status of “A”, “B”, or “C” to each of the items of your to-do list or task list. “A” Status Items - “Must Do”High priority, very important, critical items, with close deadlines or high level of importance to them.“B” Status Items - “Should Do”Medium priority, quite important over time, not as critical as “A” items, but still important to spend time doing.“C” Status Items - “Nice to Do”Low priority at this time, low consequences if left undone at this moment. 3. Other Considerations... (adapted from David Allen) What can I do where I'm? (Think about location. What can you do where you are now? Sometimes we have unexpected pockets of time. How can you use them to your advantage?) How much time do I have and when do I have to do something else? (Be realistic about what can' be done. Your to do list might shift based on how much time you have available) How much energy & focus do I have? (What can you realistically take on right now?) What has the highest payoff for me if I do it? (Yet another way to think about importance, weight, or priorities) Sources: Allen, D. Getting Things Done Website & Newsletter: http://www.davidco.com/newsletters/archive/0512.html Covey, S.R (1987). “Principles of Personal Management”, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. NY: Fireside. Haynes. M.E. (2009). Time Management: Get an extra day a week. 4th Ed. Axzo Press.

In the early childhood world, we all know that word-of-mouth is the best marketing tool. But the question is, how do we get that ball rolling? One great way to encourage this is through a referral program. Word-of-mouth referrals remain the most important influencer for parents of young children. Parents trust recommendations from their family and friends, over any other type of advertising. For early childhood programs, developing and promoting your parent referral program is one way for your early childhood program to gain enrollment. A child care referral program is when you encourage your current families to share your program with their friends and family. When they share your program and someone signs up, you then reward them with a discount as a ‘thank you’. Now, how do you get started? When developing your referral program, you will want to think about a few things. First, the discount percentage you’d like to offer. To really get parents talking, you should make it worth their while. Offer a free week of tuition for the person who referred their friend and a $100.00 off of the first week's tuition or a free registration fee for the person that was referred. Next, you will want to think about how the families can apply for the referral program and how you will track the referrals. There is nothing worse than a parent who’s referred someone saying they didn’t get their referral credit. Using your website as a place where referring parents can submit their referral forms keeps you organized and provides a record of who referred who and when the referral occurred. Creating a referral form on your website saves paper, time and is an easy systematic way for parents to be able to make referrals without a lot of effort on their part. Lastly, think about whether or not you want to offer it per child or per family. Most schools offer the discount per family sign-up, however, it’s completely up to you! Let your Families Know Once you have developed your referral program, you’ll want to let your families know all about it. Notify families of the new referral program through all communication avenues: Parent communication app Mass email Mass text message Social media posts Website Banner/sign at the front desk Referral flyer Add to your brochure and enrollment forms A mix of these options works the best. Also, letting families know that you are a referral-based program on a tour is a great way to promote it as well. Families love hearing about ways they can save on tuition!

We are here to save you time! Our rule of thumb is that your IKS portal should be checked 2-3 times a day (in the Morning, during Nap Time and during Closing). It only takes an average of 10-15 minutes at each check-in, but, in turn, saves you hours in lead follow-up! We have created a daily user guide to help you navigate the system: feel free to check it out, print it and keep it as a handy enrollment tool!

"What if I was to tell you that a game of peek-a-boo could change the world?" asks seven-year-old Molly Wright, one of the youngest-ever TED speakers. Breaking down the research-backed ways parents and caregivers can support children's healthy brain development. Wright highlights the benefits of play on lifelong learning, behavior and well-being, sharing effective strategies to help all kids thrive by the age of five. She's joined onstage by one-year-old Ari and his dad, Amarjot, who help illustrate her big ideas about brain science. (This TED Talk was produced in collaboration with Minderoo Foundation as an educational tool for parents and caregivers around the world and is supported by UNICEF.)

Knowing who your competitors are, and what they are offering, can help you to make your school and marketing stand out. It will enable you to set your prices competitively and help you to respond to rival marketing campaigns with your own initiatives. Growing your business requires you to be constantly learning about it and making necessary adjustments. However, you can only grow and improve so much when you are learning in relation to yourself. You only know what you know. This is why it's important to get to know your competition. Knowing about your business in relation to the competition will broaden your knowledge about your target audience, so you can refine your business strategy. Staying up to date on current trends in curriculum offered, extracurricular services, how childcare is using technology etc. will help you stay competitive. Knowing about your competitors will help you stay current. You will be able to determine what parents are looking for and navigate challenges in your market. Here are five things to know about your competitors that will help your business in these areas. What Kind of Competitor Are They? Your competitors include any business that might deter a potential customer from choosing you, but this can take different forms. Direct Competitors Direct competitors are other childcare centers or businesses that offer the same things that you do. Indirect Competitors Indirect competitors are those who don’t offer the same service but meet the same need in an alternative way. These could include after-school safekey programs, tutoring services etc. Information about your indirect competitors will help you to find effective ways of getting in front of your target audience. Knowing what kinds of competitors you have, and why they are competitors, can help you to identify which marketing activities and messaging are the most effective for your business. Know your Competition Many childcare centers offer the same kind of services or cater to the same age group of children. That’s ok. There is room for everyone. If you have similar positioning to your competitors, pay attention to the details. If you both serve lunch, knowing that you offer lunch developed by a certified nutritionist whereas your competition does not, can give you a talking point. Knowing that the children in the competitors' program leave their classroom and go to a cafeteria can help you talk about the benefits of eating in their own classroom. Knowing how your competitors are operating within this context can help you develop talking and selling points for your program. Knowing more about your competition will give you a better understanding of their program and how yours compares. This will help you to compare and contrast those differences. Both schools offer an after-school program, but you offer the use of technology for your students to complete their homework online. The more you know about your competition, the more you can differentiate your program from the competition. Talk about what makes your school unique and different from the competition. What do you do better than your competition? What things do they do better? Being able to contrast the similarities is also important. You may want to create a comparison checklist, which will help your parents choose between two centers. Making it easier for customers to quickly compare businesses and understand how those differences apply to them will help them to make a decision about enrollment. Understand Your Competitors’ Pricing You should know about your competitors’ pricing for many reasons. The first is so that you can keep your pricing in line with what people in your target market are willing to pay. In addition, you might learn about new pricing models that are more appealing to customers. Knowing your competitors’ pricing isn’t always so that your pricing can match or beat theirs. The point is to understand where your pricing falls in relation to your competitors in the greater market. If your pricing is lower than theirs, this is an advantage. However, you may need to convince prospective buyers that the value of your product or service is as good as those with higher prices. On the other hand, if your pricing is higher than that of your competitors, you will need to be able to convey the added value that comes at this price. Even loyal customers may turn to a competitor if the price is low enough, so you need to give people a reason to pay more. Knowing about your competitors’ pricing will help you determine the pricing that is right for your business, and also to obtain and retain customers with those prices. What Are Your Competitors’ Strengths? Yes, you want to beat your competition, but ultimately you want to best serve your customers. Therefore you should know what your competitors' strengths are. What do their customers like about them? For some things that customers really like, you may want to offer those too, or something similar or better. You have your own offerings, but the addition of something else that customers really like may be enough to win them over. However, there may be some things that your competitors offer that you won’t be able to match or exceed. In this case, it won’t be worth your time or effort to try and win customers over in this area. Your business can’t meet every need, and that’s perfectly okay. Now you know where your time and energy will be best spent. What Are Your Competitors’ Weaknesses? In addition to knowing where your own business can improve, you should also know the weaknesses of your competitors. First, because many of your own strengths come naturally to you, so you don’t always realize you have them. Knowing your competitors’ weaknesses may help you identify your strengths. At other times, your competitors will have weaknesses that are strengths you know you have. Knowing the weaknesses that stick out to people can help you determine which strengths to highlight in your marketing and messaging. Sometimes, your competitors’ weaknesses will reveal an area of importance that you hadn’t thought of, which you can incorporate as a new strength into your business. Knowing the gaps in your industry created by your competitors provides opportunities for you to fill them. Yet in other cases, your competitors will have a weakness because of a significant or common problem in your industry, community, or target market. In this case, seeing how your competitors face those challenges can help you learn how to handle them better or know what to avoid. It is extremely important for you to know about the positioning, pricing, strengths, and weaknesses of your competitors. The insights you gather will help you to improve your marketing strategies and truly stand out to your target audience.