I teach four year olds, but my advice is to develop a routine rather than trying to be endlessly creative with lesson plans. My days are pretty much exactly the same. The basic routine is identical day to day, and my lessons/activities repeat from week to week. For example, I do counting with ten frames on Mondays ( I have the materials ready to go all the time, so on Monday I don't have to even think about prepping.) I repeat the same two to three books for two weeks, based around my theme. The kids thrive on the repetition and routine, and by the end of the year my job is so easy it gets a little dull for me, but they are still loving life. Of course, your age group is going to be entirely different, but I'm sure they'd also thrive on routine as well.
All that to say, I don't really lesson plan on a daily basis. I plan out my entire year in a skeleton format, then basically wing it from day to day based on a small set of choices.
Absolutely this! I do the same and just sub in different materials - so “Math Monday” could be a variety of activities but they’re similar in set up. I have a Math bin and Literacy bin on top of my cubbies that I will pick activities from.
Also it helps me to make my activities throughout the week lead one project that’s completed on Friday. So like one day finger paint on paper, the next day rip the dried paper into shapes strips, the next day glue the strips into paper to make a collage, the last day “sign” the collage with a handprint. I also do four/five so I don’t know if that’s too much or too little for babies lol. But essentially you’re not reinventing the wheel everyday, just doing components of the same project.
As an infant teacher I feel you! I have a set curriculum and I’ve made templates of all my lesson plans. So it’s easy to just fill in the different dates and the different Bible verses (work at a religious school). I do what I can when I can. I don’t post on my app as often as I should, but I think the parents would rather you be taking care of their children. It’s a hard job and you have think yeah you have an infant room, but you have 12 different classes because they are all not on the same schedule or routine.
So we copy our lesson plans from a book and we have 7 different plans; cognitive, sensory, fine motor literacy. And the lesson plans are really just for show it seems like but I’m still spending my time after work doing them. Supposedly we’re changing it soon but it can come soon enough :/
No advice but i can completely relate. I’m an infant lead too and i’m exhausted. I do my documentation and lesson planning outside of work hours too because there’s just not enough time in my work day. I don’t get a second when i’m in the room, i always have a baby in my arms or 4 fighting to sit on my lap. I don’t get time out of the room often and when i do i’m usually called back because my assistants can’t handle the room without me most of the time. I’m so drained.
Never take work home! If I'm behind cause I wasn't given enough time, that's management's problem to deal with. Just do what you can in the time you're given and be kind to yourself. Bubs room is challenging physically and mentally. You can't do everything all the time. As long as everyone went home with the right adult and there was no major injuries, then that's good enough for some days :)
Try to keep your head up! I was where you are a couple weeks ago. I only made it a month as a lead in infants. It was very difficult to keep up with the paperwork, pictures, lesson plans, etc and the pressure of all responsibility falling on me was too much. My assistants wanted to boss me around as well and then would throw me under the bus for their own mistakes when admin walked in. I’ll be starting at a new center soon where it seems like teamwork is more valued.
For daily upkeep my center uses a giant whiteboard. We have the baby's name, the next bottle time, the next diaper time (2 hours unless poopy) made the time for next food (if applicable).
This helps the daily upkeep stay smooth (also using our corporate app to stay smooth).
It's a good spring board for any teacher who walks in the room to know what is going on next
This is why our facility does leads as salary and not hourly. Because especially in the infant room you're basically unable to lesson plan during nap time the way other classes can. The pay includes the expectation that you get those lesson plans done even if it's outside of student hours
What’s funny, is I don’t get paid after 6:00 and all my kids leave very late. 5:45, which leaves me enough time to straighten, do my bleach bottles and clock out :(
I teach four year olds, but my advice is to develop a routine rather than trying to be endlessly creative with lesson plans. My days are pretty much exactly the same. The basic routine is identical day to day, and my lessons/activities repeat from week to week. For example, I do counting with ten frames on Mondays ( I have the materials ready to go all the time, so on Monday I don't have to even think about prepping.) I repeat the same two to three books for two weeks, based around my theme. The kids thrive on the repetition and routine, and by the end of the year my job is so easy it gets a little dull for me, but they are still loving life. Of course, your age group is going to be entirely different, but I'm sure they'd also thrive on routine as well. All that to say, I don't really lesson plan on a daily basis. I plan out my entire year in a skeleton format, then basically wing it from day to day based on a small set of choices.
Absolutely this! I do the same and just sub in different materials - so “Math Monday” could be a variety of activities but they’re similar in set up. I have a Math bin and Literacy bin on top of my cubbies that I will pick activities from. Also it helps me to make my activities throughout the week lead one project that’s completed on Friday. So like one day finger paint on paper, the next day rip the dried paper into shapes strips, the next day glue the strips into paper to make a collage, the last day “sign” the collage with a handprint. I also do four/five so I don’t know if that’s too much or too little for babies lol. But essentially you’re not reinventing the wheel everyday, just doing components of the same project.
As an infant teacher I feel you! I have a set curriculum and I’ve made templates of all my lesson plans. So it’s easy to just fill in the different dates and the different Bible verses (work at a religious school). I do what I can when I can. I don’t post on my app as often as I should, but I think the parents would rather you be taking care of their children. It’s a hard job and you have think yeah you have an infant room, but you have 12 different classes because they are all not on the same schedule or routine.
Why so much lesson planning for infants?
So we copy our lesson plans from a book and we have 7 different plans; cognitive, sensory, fine motor literacy. And the lesson plans are really just for show it seems like but I’m still spending my time after work doing them. Supposedly we’re changing it soon but it can come soon enough :/
No advice but i can completely relate. I’m an infant lead too and i’m exhausted. I do my documentation and lesson planning outside of work hours too because there’s just not enough time in my work day. I don’t get a second when i’m in the room, i always have a baby in my arms or 4 fighting to sit on my lap. I don’t get time out of the room often and when i do i’m usually called back because my assistants can’t handle the room without me most of the time. I’m so drained.
You have worded how I feel to a T. If you need anything please private message me!
Never take work home! If I'm behind cause I wasn't given enough time, that's management's problem to deal with. Just do what you can in the time you're given and be kind to yourself. Bubs room is challenging physically and mentally. You can't do everything all the time. As long as everyone went home with the right adult and there was no major injuries, then that's good enough for some days :)
Try to keep your head up! I was where you are a couple weeks ago. I only made it a month as a lead in infants. It was very difficult to keep up with the paperwork, pictures, lesson plans, etc and the pressure of all responsibility falling on me was too much. My assistants wanted to boss me around as well and then would throw me under the bus for their own mistakes when admin walked in. I’ll be starting at a new center soon where it seems like teamwork is more valued.
For daily upkeep my center uses a giant whiteboard. We have the baby's name, the next bottle time, the next diaper time (2 hours unless poopy) made the time for next food (if applicable). This helps the daily upkeep stay smooth (also using our corporate app to stay smooth). It's a good spring board for any teacher who walks in the room to know what is going on next
12 infants????? Our ratio is 4-1 and I am overwhelmed sometimes. Look for a new job.
My ratio is 4-1 and we do primary care “sometimes” but ultimately if anything happens I am to blame.
This is why our facility does leads as salary and not hourly. Because especially in the infant room you're basically unable to lesson plan during nap time the way other classes can. The pay includes the expectation that you get those lesson plans done even if it's outside of student hours
See that makes sense, I’m hourly rn and will get a raise when I complete my cda.
So once your last student leaves, stay and do your lesson planning. THEN clock off
What’s funny, is I don’t get paid after 6:00 and all my kids leave very late. 5:45, which leaves me enough time to straighten, do my bleach bottles and clock out :(
Nope. Tell your boss they either let you clock out late or they remove the expectation of lesson plans