What Is BioKids?
BioKids is a full-time, year-round child care option located in Building #44 at the University of Utah. MAP
Read Biology Department Newsletters, with stories about BioKids: Winter 2008 (see page 28,) Spring 2007(see page 19,) Fall 2006 (see page 16.)
To read the BioKids philosophy, please click here.
We serve children ages 6 weeks through 5 years in two classrooms - the Infant/Toddler Room for infants and toddlers up to 24 months of age, and the Preschool Room for children 2-5 years of age. BioKids offers a developmentally appropriate curriculum in an intimate setting. BioKids was founded by Biology Department faculty looking for quality care in a convenient location. BioKids is open to all families, although priority enrollment is given to Department of Biology faculty and staff, siblings of currently enrolled students, and employees of the University of Utah.
BioKids Steering Committee 2009 Flu Season letter
BioKids is taking the current flu season very seriously. For information, please read the attached letter from the BioKids Steering Committee. If you have any questions or concerns regarding our policies, please do not hesitate to contact Director Robin Perley. Click here for a pdf file with event details.
Enrollment Updates! Updated May 2009
Please note that the waiting list for the Infant/Toddler Room is currently open ONLY to University of Utah Department of Biology faculty and staff as well as siblings of BioKids students. The Infant/Toddler waiting list is closed to all others and will likely remain so until Spring 2010. Check this website for an update as to when it will be open again.
For more information, please
contact the Director, Robin Perley at (801-585-0528) or perley@biology.utah.edu
BioKids is accredited by the National Association
For The Education Of Young Children. To achieve this honor
BioKids met a set of rigorous standards representing
excellence in child care verified through extensive training,
documentation, and site visits.
November 2009
NEWSLETTER from Robin Perley, BioKids Director
Dear Parents,
About two years ago I wrote an article about out learning centers. I think very few of you were parents of a Preschool Room child at that point in time. If you were a Preschool Room parent, please forgive me as I re-iterate what I wrote about our classroom structure.
Play is a huge part of what happens in both out Infant/Toddler Room and our Preschool Room. It is easy for parents to understand that children under the age of two learn by exploring their environment. Each encounter with a toy, each experience, can bring a new level of understanding, mastery and comfort. I’d like you to consider that the same thing is true for older children as well. Our Preschooler’s day begins with Free Play until about 10:15. After Free Play, the day is fairly structured with outside play, circle time, lunch, nap, snack, more outside play, and a limited amount of free play at the end of the day. During morning Free Play, children are able exercise the most control over their environment; all activity areas, or learning centers, are open and children are able to choose which center they want to visit. In addition to being able to delve into an area that interests them, or share an activity with a friend, the ability to select activities, as opposed to being told where to play, gives children confidence and a sense of independence. It also gives them a valuable feeling of control. Many, many important things happen during that time of the day.
Preparing young fingers and hand muscles to write takes lots of work and practice. Children in the Art Center explore play-dough, glue, scissors, paints, crayons, and an assortment of small objects; these are wonderful experiences to enhance small motor skills as well as hand-eye coordination. Talking with teachers and friends about what they have made helps develop language and communication skills. Having to share the materials helps develop social skills. Children also feel a tremendous amount of pride in their creations. Quite a bit goes on in the art area, much more than what you find in the cubby at the end of the day.
For some children the Writing Center is a very social place and, again, they are multi-tasking. They manipulate letters, write or stamp letters, and talk about what they are doing to a friend or teacher. Manon has found that by pairing children of like interests at the writing center, wonderful things happen. They may decide to make tickets, shopping lists, name tags, birthday cards, or write in their journals. At this center, children develop fine motor skills, pre-reading/early literacy skills, language and social skills.
The Block Area involves cooperative play, problem solving, negotiation, social and language development. There is also a strong pre-math component to the Block Area; block sizes are compared, shapes are examined. Every child is a budding engineer.
Children are even learning pre-math skills during clean-up time. Toys go into labeled bins and on to labeled shelves. The labels are pictures of the item, along with the word. Sorting and classifying toys is preparation for grouping numbers. By the way, cleaning-up is easier when each item belongs in a specific place…try it at home.
Julie S. brought in a great illustration of learning centers from Parents Magazine. Please take a moment to read it over. When you visit one of our learning centers, look on the wall nearby. You will find a short list of open-ended questions to ask your child about what they are doing when they are engaged in that area. Think about using some of these questions at home; you might be surprised by the answers you get.
Robin
School Selection Forum – Saturday, November 14, 10:00-11:30
BioKids is once again co-sponsoring a School Selection Information Forum with the Department of Family and Consumer Studies Child and Family Development Center (Lab School). Last year several families from BioKids attended and gave the program very positive reviews. There will be parent representatives from several public and private school options available to give an overview of their child’s program as well as answer specific questions you may have. The meeting will be in the Alfred Emery Building, Room 320.
Outdoor Play
Please be advised that the Preschool Room children go out practically EVERY DAY all winter long, unless the weather was really nasty. So, please be sure that once the snow flies your child is well equipped with boots, gloves, hat, warm coat and snow pants. Yes, it does take forever to get all that gear on, and sometimes we don’t stay out for very long, but the children really need a chance to run around outdoors, explore the weather, and learn some independence by putting (or attempting to put) on all that stuff. Be sure all winter wear is marked with your child’s name; at the beginning of the season many children haven’t a clue what their gloves or boots, or even coat, looks like – they might know what they wished it looked like, but not which items are actually theirs. Our motto, taken from Ms. Bev Bos: “There is no such thing as bad weather, only bad gear!”
NAEYC Miscellaneous
If you noticed some hearts a-pounding at BioKids on October 20 it was because we had a surprise, “unannounced visit” from an NAEYC assessor. NAEYC randomly selects accredited programs to visit without prior notification and our number was picked. It truly was a BIG surprise, and honestly, not something we looked forward to with glee. The assessor reviewed our licensing materials, staff CPR/First Aid certificates, and spend an hour doing an in depth observation in each classroom, focusing on criteria necessary to meet accreditation standards. He did note that the “teachers are so friendly.” We should hear back from NAEYC by the end of January, either sustaining or revoking our accreditation. We are, of course, optimistic.
Later this month, Robin will attend the NAEYC Annual Conference in Washington, D.C., and undoubtedly return with new ideas, materials, books and knowledge.
Department of Biology Common Cold Study
Being located on a university campus certainly provides a preschool/childcare program with some unique characteristics and opportunities. Earlier this year, a representative from Dr. Wayne Potts’ lab in the Department of Biology came to BioKids and took bacteria samples from some of our classroom surfaces. Whatever they got must have been good, because the Common Cold Study was approved by the University of Utah IRB (Institutional Review Board) and BioKids has been asked to participate. The study will involve swabbing a child’s upper, outer lip with a q-tip when they have a runny nose. Your child’s participation in the study is totally voluntary; a copy of the consent form is attached; if you give permission for your child to be a study participant please sign it and put it in the envelope in the parent information area in the Preschool Room. The swabbing will be done on Fridays by Robin who will absolutely be wearing gloves! If you have any questions or concerns about the study, please contact Linda Morrison at 801-585-9678 or lmorrison@biologgy.utah.edu
