CONCEPT

 

A Paradise for Children

 

Publisher:
Hugenottenhofkita Berlin
Hauptstr. 13 a
13127 Berlin
Tel: 030 – 200 46 533

 

Text Content:

Staff of the Hugenottenhofkita Berlin

 

Funding Organization:

ASB Kinder- und Jugendhilfe gGmbH
Rudolfstr. 9
10245 Berlin

 

Operating License:

120 children, age 1-school age

 

Opening Hours:

6:00am – 6:00pm

 

Closing Times:

The Kita is closed on 25 days in the year 

Inhalt
1. Location of the Kita 2
2. Rooms and Outside Areas 3
3. Structure of the Children’s Groups 6
4. Opening Hours 7
5. Teamwork and Planning 7
6. Our Educational Approach 8
7. Concept of Development and Education 15
8. Educational Mandate in the Kita 15
9. Developmental and Educational Goals 15
10. The Rights of the Children 17
11. Educational Partnership— Parents 18
12. Complaints / Involvement 19
13. Transitions 20
14. Acclimation 20
15. Group Change within the Kita 21
16. The last year before school “Hurray, we’re the Tintenklekse (Ink blots- Kindergarterners)” 21
17. Daily Schedule 22
18. Our Team 23
19. House Rules for the ASB Hugenottenhofkita Berlin 24
Closing Statement Regarding this Concept 25

 

1. Location of the Kita

Our Kita is located at the Hugenottenhof on the outside edge of a residential area in the “green heart” of Französisch Buchholz. From early on, people of different nationalities have lived in Französisch Buchholz, such as farmer and gardener families from France. They were called the Huguenots. Around 1750, the name Französisch Buchholz began to be used to describe this area. The former village became a popular day-trip destination for Berlin families. Today, you will still find many green areas and garden centers here in Französisch Buchholz.

Our Kita is easy to reach with the tram line 50 (the stop “Französich-Buchholz Kirche is nearby) and Bus 154 (Stop “Blankenfelder Straße”). The excellent traffic connection makes it possible for our institution to take part in the cultural life of the surrounding area. We also use this as an opportunity to teach the children how to safely conduct themselves in traffic.

 

In direct proximity to the Kita are:

• Playgrounds
• Shopping Centers
• Banks
• Pharmacies
• Fire Department
• Library
• Meeting Places
• Social Institutions and more

 
2. Rooms and Outside Areas

Our Kita and its rooms are located directly behind the Sparkasse bank. Our sun-lit premises consist of two stories.

On the ground floor is the “nest group” (the youngest children) and an open group-area. Each group-area consists of two large group rooms and an adjacent bathroom. The bathrooms are equipped with children’s sinks and open children’s toilet stalls, as well as stalls with dividing walls and swinging doors in order to ensure privacy for the children.

The nest group-area consists of two group rooms and a coatroom. The adjacent bathroom is equipped with a large diaper-changing station with drawers for diapers, as well as a shower basin and two small toilets. In the bathroom, each child will also find his/her own basket with a change of clothes.

Two bathrooms and one diaper-changing station are accessible from the open group-area. Every child in our Kita has his/her own space in the bathroom where his/her towel and toothbrush are kept.

 

The youngest children recognize their spaces through stickers or photographs. The older children find their spaces with the help of nametags. Each child also has his own space in the group rooms for his/her personal items. We lovingly call these spaces: treasure drawers. Every child can place his/her personal treasure inside and keeps it there throughout the day.
Also included on the upper level is a small storage space filled with craft materials.

Next to our visitor restroom is a wardrobe for rubber boots to which the children have free access.

The lower level consists of 5 function rooms. The group room is the central entry-point for the children, where they will find a diverse range of activities to choose from. To the right of this room is the doll room and to the left is the exercise room. Across the hall is a large bathroom.
 

Here the children also have access to children’s sinks and toilets, which protect the children’s privacy, and each child has their own space for their towel and toothbrush. Each child in the lower level also has their own basket with a change of clothes.

The arts and crafts room is equipped with a large assortment of craft materials which give the children an outlet to express their creativity. The snooze room invites the children to relax and gives them a quiet place to which to withdraw.
 
We use this room to relax after using our sauna, which is fully equipped with shower rooms.

 

The lower level also includes:
• Restroom for personnel
• Storage room for education and cleaning materials
• Tool storage room
• Utility room

The rooms are designed to allow the children to freely learn and develop. All of the rooms provide the opportunity to experiment with different materials, media, and tools. These are made available to children age-appropriately. In order to help orient the children in choosing their activity or game, we work with the “Clothespin System.” This allows the children to “clip-on” to the room which they are occupying. Pictures and labels help to further orient the children in choosing their activity or mode of play. The rooms are continually changed and re-shaped to meet the needs of the children.

 

Next to the Kita is a fenced-in garden in which the children are free to satisfy their need for movement. The children have full access to an inviting wood-adventure playground. This “motor-activity garden” provides various opportunities to hang, balance, climb, jump, swing or seesaw.

 

 

3. Structure of the Children’s Groups

We currently provide care for 120 children, age 1-school age. Among them are also children in need of special support. The “nest-group” provides care for children ages 1-2. Children ages 2-4 are divided up into three groups and given a color (green/purple/yellow). We are in the process of transitioning to providing care for this age group in an open model (meaning that children are not confined to their respective rooms and teachers, but are free to move about as they please) as well. The preschoolers and kindergarteners, the blue group, are on the lower level. Here they are provided for according the open model.

 

4. Opening Hours

The Kita is open Monday through Friday from 6:00am to 6:00pm. We are closed on 25 days throughout the year. Parents are informed of the closing times for the coming year by November of the previous year.

 

5. Teamwork and Planning

For us, teamwork means not only cooperating with one another, but also learning from one another and growing together. We are a training institution and give teachers in training, FSJ volunteers, and interns the opportunity to learn and develop a passion for the occupation of a preschool teacher through the support of mentors. The mentors at our institution meet regularly as a team and discuss the mentorship process with one another. Our inclusion educators also meet regularly to discuss with one another and to develop further steps of action.

The educational planning is divided into yearly, monthly, and weekly planning. Staff meetings take place every 4 weeks with all personnel. The smaller teams on each level meet once a week. These meetings enable relevant planning steps to be taken and give the team the opportunity for collective reflection.

Performance reviews are conducted annually with each employee, resulting in goal agreements. The employees are held accountable for the implementation of these goals.
Through the internal and external evaluation of our work, we are continuing to ensure a quality of care which fully meets the requirements of BBP (Berlin’s Early Childhood Education Program), the guidelines of our funding organization and of our concept. In 2018 we were evaluated externally.

Every employee regularly takes part in training courses relevant for our concept.
We conduct two team training courses for professional qualification annually with the entire team.

 

6. Our Educational Approach

We have decided on partially mixed-age groups because children of different ages learn from one another. The “nest group” is a closed group. The children in the nest group transition into the (not yet completely) open group area (green/yellow/purple) after one year. The lower level (ages 3-school age) works completely openly among the groups.

As a bilingual institution, our educational approach focuses on linguistic development. In accordance with the Berlin Early Childhood Education Program (Berliner Bildungsprogramm), we additionally emphasize the following 6 educational areas in our work:
• Health: Exercise / healthy nutrition
• Social and Cultural Life
• Communication: Language, Writing Culture, and Media
• Art: Creative Design, Music, Play-Acting
• Mathematics
• Nature—Environment—Technology

 

Health/ Exercise
We offer a diverse program of opportunities for movement and exercise, inside and outside. The institution has an extensive outside area at its disposal, which offers the children usable movement areas as well as a motor-skills-oriented playground.

The lower level includes a large exercise room which is used by all the groups on a weekly basis for targeted, movement-intensive activities. This room is equipped with the following materials:

• Juggling veils
• Skateboards
• Wall bars
• Balls
• Jump ropes
• Tunnels
• Hula hoops
• Pedalos
• Material to build an obstacle course

 

As of February, 2019 we are taking part in the project “Profivereine machen Kita” (“Pro-sport-clubs doing Kita”). We are supported and guided by the handball club: “Füchse Berlin.”
To support the children’s security and risk assessment skills, we offer an annual self-defense class for future school children through an outside company. This helps the children test out their physical abilities and limits.

To complement active movement, we offer regular sauna sessions for relaxation. There are water toys in the sauna area with which the children are free to play.
 

The cuddle corner serves as a place of retreat and relaxation in each group. For specific relaxation activities, we have a relaxation and quiet room equipped with music and massage balls.

 

Additionally, we make sure that an appropriate afternoon nap-time/rest-time can take place, so that every child has the opportunity to rest and recoup.

In order to encourage the children to develop awareness for their own bodies, we make dental hygiene a priority. This goal is further supported by regular visits from Dental Medicine Public Health Services and the health department of Pankow.

We also make sure to support the autonomous use of the toilet by the children according to their level of development. We emphasize the natural contact with one’s own and the opposite gender, and the sexuality of the children is not made into a taboo.

 

Health/ Nutrition:

Since January, 2018, our Kita is taking part in the LggK (Landesprogramm gute gesunde Kita- State program for good, healthy Kitas).

We make sure to provide a balanced and wholesome menu according to the current nutritional science recommendations of the DGE (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Ernährung- German Society for Nutrition). We offer fruit and vegetables daily and water and unsweetened tea are available to the children at all times.

It is important to us that the meal atmosphere is a pleasant one. The meal schedule is made according to the needs of the children, and we pay close attention to food allergies and digestive problems, as well as ethically-based eating habits, and make sure that the needs of these children an met in an inclusive way.

Our daily menu is represented through pictures for the children in our entranceway, where parents can also find the current weekly menu.

In order to encourage independence within our suggested nutritional lifestyle, we involve the children once a month in the planning and preparation of meals. This is used to enhance the communication with children and their parents regarding healthy nutrition.

 

Social and cultural life
Our foundational principle is to encourage the children’s social relationships and social life because they provide a necessary basis for the educational process.
Children’s conferences take place once a week, in which the children actively participate and codetermine the process, and in which rules of interaction with one another are set.
These social rules are visually displayed for the children in every room.
 

We use our projects to illuminate the diversity in our society, in which we discuss different career paths, family constellations, religions and cultures.

In order to bring different generations together, we have “reading grandmas” and “reading grandpas”- elderly volunteers who come daily to read stories to the children.

 

Communication: Language, Writing Culture and Media

The meaning of language and writing plays a large role in the everyday life of the children.
We as teachers are careful to be positive language role-models for the children. In order to do so, we focus on pairing our every action with verbal description.

We work together with native English speakers in order to encourage multi-language learning.

In order to visually depict language and writing, all of the materials and objects are given a pictorial symbol and are labeled in both German and English.

A developmental progress-diary is kept for each child in order to carry out targeted observations and to determine a possible developmental delay or disability in the child’s linguistic development.

 

Regularly reading and looking at picture books is part of daily life for us in the Kita.

Additionally, we visit the library and theater regularly with the preschoolers and kindergarteners.

 

Art: Creative Design
Creative activities serve as a means of expressing thoughts and feelings. Our children are given enough space and time in the daily Kita schedule to develop their fantasy and creativity.
They have access to different materials to support this goal (playdough, paper, pencils, scissors, newspaper, glue, watercolors, etc.).

We especially emphasize letting the children implement their own ideas and have fun within the creative process. In order to underscore the importance of the creative process as a process of recognition, the children’s artwork is displayed on the children’s eye-level throughout the Kita.

 

Mathematics
We engineer situations in daily Kita-life to awaken the children’s interest in mathematics.
Counting on a daily basis is part of our routine.

We provide the children with many opportunities to sort and organize, measure, and weigh, as well as to estimate and compare amounts.

Nature – Environment – Technology
It is important to us to teach the children awareness of the environment and to give them a sense of responsibility for nature.

We enable the children to come in contact with the animal and plant world. In our garden and the surrounding area, they can discover many insects and we give them the opportunity to examine these more closely.

We care for our garden together with the children through weeding beds and planting flowers.

In line with the LggK (State program for good, healthy Kitas,) we built a raised bed in our garden in 2018. Here we plant fruits and vegetables. In this way, the children learn what grows where and how, what kind of care nature needs and when it can be harvested.
We give the children the opportunity to experiment with different materials to prompt interest in this field.

 

7. Concept of Development and Education

A Kita is a place where children should feel happy and comfortable.
We see it as our responsibility as educators to teach the children societal norms and values, to work together in an educational partnership with parents and to initiate social and sensory processes.

The children learn in our Kita to see themselves as independent personalities and to develop freely.

We encourage the children in developing the skills they need to be prepared for school and for the rest of their lives.

8. Educational Mandate in the Kita

Our organization works according to the Berlin Early Childhood Education Program and to the principles of bilingual, health-oriented and sport-oriented education. Our team has a very high view of each child.

We work according to the motto:
I’ll show you how you can learn it!

9. Developmental and Educational Goals

It is important to us that the children get to know their skills and abilities from the start, and that they learn to utilize and strengthen them.

 

Self-Awareness and Autonomy
The children learn to express their feelings and are supported by us according to their expectations, interests, and needs. They learn to confidently and independently determine their daily routine and show their curiosity in various areas. This enables them to acquire abilities and skills and apply what they learn to discover different strategies and approaches to solve their problems. The children learn verbal and non-verbal communication as a means for conflict resolution.

They learn to overcome transitions and take on new challenges, as well as how to accept failure and deal with it.

In our everyday context of community, the children learn self-awareness and self-confidence in order to work together to meet their goals and to accomplish things.

The children recognize their strengths and weaknesses and learn to stand up for their rights and to get help when they need it.

 

Social Skills
The children develop social relationships with one another and learn how treat one another respectfully, although each child is allowed to express critique. They develop rules together and put them into practice in daily life. They learn how to directly deal with conflicts with one another.

They learn how to make friends across cultures and navigate inter-group interactions in a large-group setting.

Practical Skills
The children are given the opportunity to experiment with a variety of materials and tools and to try out different ways of working. Through the interaction with media items (books, photos, audiobooks, etc.,) the children learn to perceive and use their senses in a nuanced way.

They get to know the area surrounding the Kita and learn how to respectfully interact with nature, art, and music.

Learning traffic rules is an important aspect of our curriculum from day one.

Learning Abilities
The teachers give the children the opportunity to determine their own pace of learning and are encouraged to be patient and to persevere in daily activities and situations. They are given the opportunity to dedicate themselves to a task and learn not to give up when things get hard.

The children learn from one-another and with one-another and experience reward and trust as motivation for action.

Through our native speakers, the children learn to understand the English language and later to use it.

 

10. The Rights of the Children

 

What children need from us:
• Stimulation
• Safety/structure
• Feeling of security/understanding
• Tolerance
• Appreciation/warmth/empathy
• To have boundaries set
• To have norms and values conveyed to them.

 

The relationship between the teachers and the children is shaped by the rights, needs, and interests of the children.

Children have a right to: 
• Equality
• Health
• Parental care
• Life
• Love
• Care
• Sleep or rest, when he/she is tired
• Protection
• Education
• Freedom of opinion/participation
• Play and free-time

Children are given stimulation, safety and structure, security and understanding as part of daily life in the Kita. Tolerance, appreciation, warmth and empathy are prerequisites for daily work with children.

We give them boundaries and simultaneously communicate norms and values.

11. Educational Partnership — Parents

Through parent-teacher meetings, an intense exchange is enabled between both parties which has a positive effect on the care of the child. Parent-teacher nights also take place at least twice a year and always include educational topics.

Individual parent-teacher meetings are held around each birthday of the child, as well as after the acclimation phase in the form of a reflection meeting.

The systematic observation and documentation process serves as the foundation for the annual development meetings. They are an important part of providing optimal support for a child.

Additional tools are the children’s portfolios and developmental progress diaries (Sprachlerntagebuch.) We make our work and the children’s work transparent for both the children and their parents through project documentation and displaying the children’s artwork throughout the building.

Oral and written information, as well as individual learning documentation is handled confidentially and kept securely.

Regular house projects take place across the groups multiple times a year. These are oriented around the interests and needs of the children.

Our activities in the Kita are documented in the entryway and the coatrooms through weekly plans, photos, notices and the children’s work. Other means of documentation are folders and portfolios for the children and through a developmental progress Diary (Sprachlerntagebuch.) Every child in our Kita receives this diary. It is his/her property. Parents have the opportunity to take a look inside at any time. Should the child leave our Kita, he/she will take the diary with him/her.

 

12. Complaints / Involvement 

“Every complaint is fundamentally justified and provides an opportunity to reduce sources of mistakes and to optimize the quality of care.” (Source: Kindergarten Heute, basiswissen Kita Herder Publisher Herder 2004)

 

In order to ensure a successful and cooperative handling of complaints, we offer:
• Office hours with Kita director Ms. Pusch (the first Tuesday of every month from 4pm to 5:30pm, with an appointment)

• Complaint-mailbox in the foyer (emptied on the 1st of every month).

We value continual dialogue with parents. We use the drop-off and pick-up situations, parent-teacher cafes, and annual development meetings to implement this. Parents additionally have the opportunity to address their concerns to the parent representatives.

In order to get an impression of every-day life in our Kita, parents are welcome to sit-in on our daily program as an observer.

“Children who can confidently stand up for their rights and needs and feel valued and empowered are better protected from endangerment. The development of opportunities for complaint plays an important role in preventing violence and ensuring that each child is protected.”
(Source: Kindergarten Heute, Praxis kompakt Herder Publisher 2014)

To make this possible, we emphasize the word “Participation” in our institution. It is important to motivate the children to speak openly about their feelings, wishes, needs, and ideas. We sensitively pay attention to the children’s body language, gestures, and facial expressions.

 

Through democratic and negotiation processes, such as the children’s conference, we make a transparent set of rules and guidelines:
• Encouragement of independent problem/conflict solving
• Offering various solutions
• Morning circle in smaller groups
• Individual conversations with the children/smaller groups of children
• Learning how to say “NO” and “STOP”
• Cooking a meal of the children’s choice once a month, including shopping and preparation with the children.
• KIKO (Children’s conference

13. Transitions

-Acclimation
-External transition
-Internal transition
-Transition into the open group-structure
-Change of main care-provider
-Kindergarten

 

Transitions are especially delicate phases in the life of every child. The first meaningful transition is the change from the family to the Kita. Transitions from one room or group to another can also present a new challenge for many children and parents.

Children who are able to perceive the first transitions in their lives positively are more likely to master future transitions in life.

 

The first contact between parents and the Kita takes place by e-mail, telephone or in person before the acceptance of the child into our institution. The initial meeting and signing of the contract take place with the director.

 

14. Acclimation

Through intensive conversations and dialogue, we seek to reinforce parents in their special role as their child’s most important attachment figures.

 

The children are acclimated to the Kita according to the guidelines of the Berlin Acclimation Model.

 

15. Group Change within the Kita

Transitions between groups and group structures take place within our Kita. The children get to know the new rooms, spaces and diversity of new activity possibilities together with teachers they know well.

 Our teachers meet to discuss the needs and developmental level of the child who is changing groups, which enables the teachers to structure the transition according to the child’s individual needs.

Through parent-newsletters and informational evenings/parent café, we give parents an impression of their child’s new environment.

How the children describe this time: “Today is Anni-time!” “We’re checking out the blue rooms.” “I’m coming to see what I can play with here soon.” “It’s really cool down here.”
If a child leaves the Kita during the Kita year, we send him/her off individually and with a personal “goodbye-letter”.

We offer parents a final meeting and pass on the child’s collection of artwork in a portfolio and their developmental progress diary.

16. The last year before school “Hurray, we’re the Tintenklekse (Ink blots- Kindergarteners)”

 

The entire time in the Kita serves to prepare the children for school.

 

In an informational parent-teacher night, parents are transparently informed about the pedagogical emphases and kindergarten work.

 

The children in the last Kita year are strengthened in their cognitive, motoric, emotional, social, and linguistic skills through special activities and materials which are oriented around the Berlin Education Program (Berliner Bildungsprogramm).

 

Special activities are for example the self-defense class, learning the way to the new school, learning how to follow traffic rules, visiting an elementary school class and the weekly kindergarten schoolwork.

 

Every child has a “Kindergarten box” with various materials (paint-box, pencil case, folder) which is available to the “Ink blots” at all times.

 

A special highlight is the “Zuckertütenfest” (“sugar bags festival”- celebrating graduation from Kindergarten and the imminent start of school). Our future school-children are sent off with little surprises and a colorful program.

17. Daily Schedule

6:00am   Opening of the Kita

6:00 – 7:30am   Greeting of the children and free play

7:30am    The children move to their respective group room

8:00 – 8:45am   Breakfast

9:00am – 12pm  Morning circle
Educational program
    Free play
    Time outside

11:00am – 12:30pm Lunchtime- exact time flexible across the groups
11:30am – 2:00pm Naptime or quiet-time, depending on child’s needs

2:00 – 6:00pm  Afternoon snack
    Free play
    Preparation of afternoon snack with children

3:00 – 6:00pm  Free-play
Time outside

 

18. Our Team

1 director/teacher:
1 deputy director/ teacher: 

1 teacher/child welfare officer

1 teacher/health and safety representative

2 inclusion educators

2 curative educating caretakers

2 native speakers

4 teachers in training

1 social assistant

9 teachers

1 FSJ-volunteer

1 BFD-volunteer

1 housekeeper

1 caretaker

Teacher Responsibilities:  

• Knows the needs and interests of the children 
• Observes, plans, and documents
• Acts individually according to a child’s respective development stage
• Works transparently
• Possesses expertise and continues to learn 
• Reflects on his/her work
• Holds annual meetings with parents regarding their child’s development 
• Plans and holds 2 parent-teacher conferences with educational themes

 

19. House Rules for the ASB Hugenottenhofkita Berlin

The ASB Hugenottenhofkita has two entrances.

 

When the children are brought or picked-up, the child and parents personally greet or say goodbye to the teacher together. Only then is the child officially brought or picked-up.
Parents shall provide a written, legible note of authorization for any person who may pick up their child.

 

In order to avoid injury, children may not wear necklaces or hanging earrings. Cords and strings are to be removed from articles of clothing.

 

In case of sickness or absence, parents shall notify the Kita by 8:00 am.
After having an infectious sickness, a doctor’s certificate from a pediatrician is required before the child can return to the Kita.

Should a child have fever, he/she must be fever-free for a minimum of 24 hours. For stomach viruses, the child must be symptom free for a minimum of 48 hours. In the case of reoccurrence, we require a doctor’s certificate.

 

There is an exception in the case of pathogens such as the rotavirus or if the sickness occurs multiple times in the Kita. In this case, the institution can require a doctor’s certificate in order to prevent an epidemic.

 

Medicine shall only be administered by teachers under exceptional circumstances and according to the written stipulation of a doctor. The form for this exception can be obtained from the director.

 

Only Kita personnel may enter the housekeeping, storage, and kitchen facilities.

Bicycles shall be parked in the provided parking spots. Space for strollers is provided under the carport at the entrance to the garden.

 

We would like to ask all families to pay attention to cleanliness and order on the entire Kita premises.

 

Please remove your shoes before entering the rooms.

 

Taking pictures and filming in our institution is prohibited!

 

You may ask the teachers to view the portfolios and developmental progress diaries of YOUR OWN CHILD.

 

Children will not be released to persons under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

 

We ask that you adhere to the care times listed on your child’s Kita voucher. If you are late, you will be informed by an employee and, where applicable, charged.

 

The employees of the ASB Hugenottenhofkita have householder’s rights on the Kita premises.

Should parents commit a violation, show aggressive behavior towards or slander the team, individual employees, or the ASB, they will be banned from entering the premises.

Closing Statement Regarding this Concept

This concept is to be understood as a collection of loose sheets, in which the individual pages and items may be supplemented, revised, and updated at any time.

 

March 4th, 2019