ECE 6: Integrate Health, Safety, and Nutrition Practices

As a teacher in early childhood we fill many roles, but are first role is to
make sure the children are safe, happy, and healthy. We have to make sure
all the children are being taken care off and their needs are being meet.
Some ways to get those needs meet is making sure that if we see any signs
of abuse, or neglect that it Is reported, because as a teacher we are
mandated reporters that is one of our roles. For me I would contact the
Barron County Department of Health and Human Services. I know for me if I
suspect something I dont need to do it alone my boss would be there each
step of the way reporting it. Some examples of abuse are physical abuse,
sexual abuse, emotional abuse or maltreatment. Some examples of neglect
can be physical neglect, medical neglect, educational neglect and emotional
and moral neglect. Some signs to look for with physical abuse is bruises,
cuts, burns, scares, broken bones that arent taken care of. Some examples
of emotional abuse is: shows extremes in behavior and doesnt seem to be
attached to parent or caregiver. Some examples of sexual abuse is: trouble
walking or sitting, displays knowledge or interest in sexual acts inappropriate
to his or her age, and makes strong efforts to avoid a specific person, without
an obvious reason. And signs of neglect are: clothes are ill-fitting, fifthly, or
inappropriate for the weather, hygiene is consistently bad, untreated
illnesses or physical injuries, and is frequently late or missing from school.
When I first starting working at Faith Lutheran Child Care I had the SBS
and SIDS training and then when I had continuing education classes before
school started I had covered SBS and SIDS and then we also had it in Health,
Safety and Nutrition class. Shaken Baby Syndrome is violently shaking the
baby. Some signs are irritability, lethargy, sleepiness, feeding problems,
vomiting, dilated pupils, poor muscle tone, pale or bluish skin, seizures, not
breathing, and loss of consciousness. All babies, cry, crying is their form of
language/communication for about the 1st year, which is how they let you
know they are uncomfortable, hungry, tired, dont feel good, they need a
diaper change, etc. There are time babies cannot stop crying so you need to
stay relaxed and if you need to put the baby down for 10 to 15 it is okay and
try to calm yourself back down and then go back and try to soothe the baby,
if its not working for you find help, call a neighbor, a friend, a co-worker, the
parents, someone you trust. You should have a plan. Some ways to sooth a
baby is feed the baby slowly and burp baby often, make baby as comfortable
as possible, provide gentle motion or relaxing sound, think this the baby
hungry? Thirsty? Bored? Anxious? Sleepy? SIDS is sudden Infant death
Syndrome, and it is still unexplained. SIDS is not hereditary, contagious,
caused by chocking, vomiting, caused by minor illnesses-colds, ear
infections, predicable, child abuse, neglect, anyones fault. Some statistics
are African Americans infants mortality rate is 3 times higher than that of

white infants, Native American infant mortality rate is double that of white
infants. Nationally about 0.5 babies out of 1000 die of SIDS each year.
Unaccustomed tummy sleep places infants at extremely high risk for SIDS,
there are higher incidence of SIDS in males. Characters of SIDS victim,
appears to be a healthy baby, frequently found sleeping on stomach, silentNo outcry. Some risk factors are: low birth weight lower than 5 pounds,
premature, maternal smoking during pregnancy, multiple births, and
maternal age younger than 18 years, mother with little to no prenatal care,
co-sleeping or bed sharing. Risk reduction methods are: get early and regular
prenatal care, breastfeeding is recommended, educate parents, and do not
let babies sleep in the same crib. Do not overheat it should be room
temperature set around 68 degrees to 72 degrees.
Like I said in the beginning of this that as a teacher the child health
and safety are a teachers number one concerns. Some ways we make sure
the children are safe is making sure the children are always accounted for.
We have two different spots for that, one is where when the child comes in
they get sign-in preferably by the parents but we always doubled, triple
check it if they got signed in and if they leave get signed out. And then at the
teacher counter we have a list with the childrens name and how many
children we have in our care at that time and then when they leave we cross
them out and change the number. We also have a procedure when a child
does not come around the time they are normally there and we did not get
verbal, email, text, or call they will not be in or coming at a different time we
will call the parents to see if they are coming or coming at a different time.
All the materials in the center are developmentally appropriate for our 3 to
12 year olds. All cords are tucked behind shelves, all plugins are covered.
Since the bathrooms are outside of the classroom we send one boy in the
boys and then at most 2 girls in the bathroom at a time, we give them a few
minutes before a teachers checks on them, but a teacher will always check
on them. We clean the tables and floors after every meal, we will clean toys
if they are put in someones mouth or on their face. We have the children
wash their hands before and after every meal, or if they had their hands in
their butt, mouth or nose. We clean the bathrooms at least once a day but
most of the time it is more. We give the more children 4 meals, breakfast,
lunch, snack and then a snack later in the evening. All our meals are
nutritious and follow the guidelines. Outside, a teacher is always near the
climber for their safety. We have rules for inside and outside, some inside
safety rules are common but defiantly important, no running/walking feet, no
throwing toys, are just a couple of safety rules. Some outside ones are no
jumping from the climber, down the slide not up, one on the slide at a time,
wait till the person is away of the slide, and no throwing rocks and sand, we
have rules like that because safety is so important for the children. We

always stay in ratio and follow the guidelines for teacher child ratio and how
many teachers need to be in the center after a certain number. On our list of
children we have their ratio number so all the 3 year olds are a .10, 4 year
olds are .077, 5 year olds are .059 and 6 years and up are .056. Most
morning we have about 10 children and one teacher is necessary but we like
to have a small ratio to a teacher so we can get more one-one or a few
children activities with the children, and still make sure the children are safe
and counted for.
Like I said we always make sure the child to teacher ratio is followed to
what the state licensing rules state. I have done a couple of scavenger hunts
with the state rules book and have read most or about everything in that
book. I have referenced it a few times by going to the index and then going
to the page it directs me too. I follow the DCF 251 Licensing rules for group
child care centers because I work in a group child care center. If I want to
look up supervision I will go to the index, go to S and find supervision and
then it gives me a list of supervision for example, assistant child care
teacher, field trip, general requirements, naptime, pets or animals, schoolage care, staffing and grouping, swimming and vehicles. So I want to learn
more about the general requirements so it says to go to page 17. So on page
17 I looked for the works supervision and it stated (a) at least one child care
teacher shall supervise each group of children, (b) assistant child care
teachers who are at least 18 years of age and have completed the training
required for the position may provide sole supervision to a group of children
in full-day center for opening and closing hours, not exceed the first 2 hours
and the last 2 hours of center operation (c) each child shall be closely
supervised by a child care worker who is within the sight and sound of the
children to guide the childrens behavior and activities, prevent harm and
assure safety, (d) a child care worker may not provide care to children at the
center more than 10 hours in any 24-hour period, (e)a child may not be in
care more than 12 hours in any 24-hour period, (f)the center implement a
procedure to ensure that the number, names, and whereabouts of children in
care are known to assigned child care workers at all times. (g) A child may
not be released to any person who has not been previously authorized by the
parent, (h) the center shall implement a procedure to contact a parent if a
childs absent from the center without prior notification from the parent (if)
no child shall be left in sole charge of a person under the age of 18. I find it
easy to adhere to the state licensing rules because if I have any questions I
can go to the book or call state and ask my questions.
Giving nutritious meals when the children are in your care is so
important because sadly some dont receive the nutritious meals at home,
and they sometimes they are willing to try it even if they dont like it if they
dont get it at home. The group we have now is very willing to try different

foods. For breakfast you have to give the children 1 milk, 1 fruit or vegetable
and 1 grain or bread. For milk for a 3-5 year give them cup and then for 612 you give them 1 cup. For fruit or vegetable a 3-5 year old cup and then
6-12 give them cup. For 1 grain or bread it varies on what you are giving
them. A typical breakfast here, is we offer them cereal, juice, milk, or
oatmeal with a fruit to go with it. For the grain they should then receive 1/3
cup for a 3-5 year old and then cup for 6-12. For lunch you have to give
them all four components which are milk which the serving sizes are the
same for breakfast, fruit AND vegetable, 1 grain or bread and 1 meat or 1
meat alternative. A typical lunch that we serve is chicken casserole which is
vegetables, cream of chicken, whole noodles, and children and then we serve
it normally with apples and milk. Then for snack you can pick 2 of the 4
components so milk, grain or bread, 1 meat or meat alternative and fruit and
vegetables. One favorite of the childrens snack is yogurt and bananas with
water.
We wash the tables with soapy waters first and then we sanitize the
tables. We rinse the dishes first and then we run them through the industrial
dishwasher that sanitizes the dishes. We sanitize all toys or materials that
have been sneezed on, or put in their mouth. We make sure to sanitize the
bathrooms every night, sanitize the floors, their napping bags go home every
Friday. Chairs, shelves, toys, and all centers have a sanitize schedule for
example, chairs and tables are Mondays, math/blocks/science gets sanitized
Tuesdays, art/sensory gets sanitized on Wednesdays, etc.