Classroom Record Keeping and Administrative Responsibilities

Supervising teachers are responsible for maintaining all classroom records required by the EEC and the Fort Hill program. This section is an overview of the administrative responsibilities.

Tadpoles

• Close the Tadpole application once all the children in your classroom are checked out at the end of the day (double click on the home buttton and swipe up to close the app.
• Turn the iPads completely off at the end of the day
• Turn on iPad in the morning and load Tadpoles to start the day

Workflow

Work Stations

Each supervising teacher is assigned a dedicated work station in the teachers room. The visual arts supervising teacher maintains a work station in the visual arts studio.

One work station in the Teachers Workroom is designated as a shared work station for teachers to access. Please maintain the shared workspace as a clean, uncluttered space for all to use.

Computers

Each supervising teacher is assigned a computer, which is deployed and upgraded by the Smith College Information Technology Services Center (ITSC). The supervising teacher is responsible for maintaining upgrades, ensuring that no data is stored on the computer, and downloading software programs as needed.

Laptops should be turned off every night.

Data Storage

• All documents, files, images, etc. must be stored on either:
  • Google Drive ;
  • the Smith network (H Drive); or,
  • Google Photos (images)
• No data is stored on the hard drives of the computers.

General Accounts

Forthill@smith.edu is a general account that is monitored by the office coordinator.

CECE@smith.edu is an alias account of the office coordinator’s individual Smith email account. 

Children

Supervising teachers maintain records on Tadpoles and on clipboards with a daily sign-in sheet, which the office coordinator prepares and distributes on request. The sheets include additional information, some of which is completed by the teaching staff on a daily basis and includes periodic child counts throughout the day and groupings for music studio. Supervising teachers are responsible for ensuring that both families and teachers accurately and fully complete the information each day.

Classroom teachers sign-in and -out children who arrive or depart by bus to attend another program; if children arrive by bus, the supervising teacher clarifies with the parent that the parent is responsible for providing accurate contact information for the following day when they pick up the child on the previous day. These sign-in records must accompany children to the playground, on field trips, and during evacuations.

The office coordinator visits each classroom every morning to verify the attendance and records the names of children who are absent in the office. If a child is absent and the school has not received information from the family regarding the absence, the office coordinator calls the family to confirm that the family is aware of the absence.

Staff

Supervising teachers post a staffing chart in the classroom; the office coordinator maintains a staffing chart in the notebook in the office. The assistant director maintains a staffing chart online.

All staff sign-in and -out  on the iPad in the office and record any changes on the classroom iPads in a timely manner.  The office coordinator posts a daily record of the staff members who are out each day on the sign-in sheet to communicate absences to all staff.

All planned absences are approved prior to the event by a direct supervisor and are recorded electronically through the time-off request form. The approved absences are posted on the school Google “Rotating Teacher” calendar. Please check the calendar to confirm a rotating teacher is available before submitting a request for time-off.

All unplanned absences are communicated using the protocol below. Supervising teachers communicate the names of teachers who are absent to parents through a posting on the classroom white board.

Health and Safety

Please see the Health Care Policy for details about Health and Safety.

Please note that if you determine that a child is ill during the school day and contact the parent to pick up the child, you must notify the office immediately.

Injury and Incident Reports

Teachers complete injury and incident reports whenever children are hurt or engage in harmful behavior. Forms are available in Google Drive. More details are available in the Health and Safety section of this handbook.

First Aid Kits and Travel

Supervising teachers monitor the contents of the First Aid Kits and emergency travel kits and request supplies as needed.

Emergency Cards

Supervising teachers maintain emergency cards in the classrooms for evacuation and communicate any changes to the office coordinator.

Individual Health Care Needs

Supervising  teachers maintain records of individual health care needs and medication administration according to EEC regulations and communicate health care issues to the administration.

Children’s Development and Experiences

Blogs and Documentation

Supervising teachers maintain a classroom or studio blog and post at a minimum of once a month by the 15th of the month. They maintain a record of the children who have been featured in the blog and ensure that children are fairly represented over the course of the year.

Supervising teachers submit a documentation page through Google Drive every Friday afternoon. The documentation includes the classroom name and the date.

Please see more information about blogs and documentation in the Curriculum section and the Communication section.

Assessment and Reporting

Supervising teachers develop and maintain systems for consistent and frequent observation and documentation of children’s experiences and development. They plan for all teachers to contribute through this system and use the observations and documentations to prepare annual reports and portfolios.

Supervising teachers maintain detailed documentation when they are concerned about the development of individual children. They communicate with the director as soon as possible to share concerns and develop a plan.

Meetings

Meetings with Families

Supervising teachers document and maintain records of all meetings with families that involve an extended conversation. This documentation may involve a brief summary of an impromptu conversation, or longer notes for more extensive conversations. Teachers record notes of conversations that take place during scheduled conference periods on forms available on Google Drive.

Supervising teachers maintain a “Communication Log” in an easily accessible, yet confidential, location to share information with teachers who may not be present for a portion of the day. For example, a notebook may be kept on a shelf with the cover closed to communicate information from parents, or incidents during the day, such as an important event that happened to a child, to provide all teachers with information to better meet the individual and group needs.

Staff Meetings

Supervising teachers record minutes of all meetings with staff. These meetings may include team meetings, planning meetings, supervision meetings, level meetings, etc. Minutes of team meetings and planning meetings should be accessible to all staff members. Minutes of meetings involving more than an individual or classroom team should be posted in Google Drive and shared with all.

Curriculum

Supervising teachers maintain minutes of all team and planning minutes in an easily accessible location known to all team members and supervisors.

Supervising teachers document all curriculum plans and maintain a notebook of the plans in a visible location in the classroom. Forms to guide curriculum development and documentation are available in Google Drive.

Walking Field Trips

We take only walking field trips and do not transport children. Please sign the group out on the dedicated clipboard in the office before leaving the building on a field trip. Please complete each of the following steps before taking children off the Fort Hill grounds:

• Notify the office well in advance of plans to take children off site. Lori will record this information in the office daily records. Except on rare occasions, trips off-campus should be planned in advance as part of the curriculum planning process.

• • • Send email notification of all trips as far in advance as possible (in the case of the rare spontaneous trip, the signature on the notification below is sufficient).

• • • Print and post  a “notification of field trip” document for families to sign before the trip occurs. Please click here to access a document you can use at sign-in to document parental notification. They may sign this as far in advance as you would like. Please keep this document with your sign-in sheet and turn it in to the office when you turn in your sign-in sheets. No child should be taken off site unless a parent has signed this notification.

Budget and Finance

Supervising teachers maintain a record of expenses charged to their classroom budgets to monitor and guide expenditures and stay within the annual budget amount.

Materials and Inventory

Many of the materials at Fort Hill are shared among classrooms. All shared materials are stored in bins in the closets. When you borrow a material, please remove only the material, not the bin. This system allows others to know which materials are shared materials. Please return items to the appropriate space and separate items with broken or missing parts. 

The books in the children’s library are available for check out at any time. Teachers are responsible for accurately recording information and returning items.

Supervision

Supervisors maintain records of meetings with those they supervise, following the policies and procedures of the Smith College Performance Review process. Records include, but are not limited to, goal-setting meetings, mid-cycle reviews, supervision meetings, annual performance review meetings, etc.