My Kinderhouse is working under increased Alberta Health Services (AHS) regulations to ensure the safety of staff, children, and their families.
“The COVID-19 pandemic and the increased AHS health regulations have impacted programming in our sector at the administrative, operations, and curricular level,” said My Kinderhouse Founder, Amoriza Gunnink.
The COVID-19 pandemic and changing AHS regulations have forced My Kinderhouse to adjust policies and procedures, such as the sign-in process on the My Kinderhouse app where parents and staff are required to complete a daily checklist and symptoms prior to entry.
“Operationally, our childcare industry always maintained daily cleaning and sanitization however as is now common practice, we have added the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for staff and sanitizers throughout the classroom as well as increased sanitization of toys and materials daily right after use and in between cohorts as opposed to after every program session in the morning and afternoon,” Gunnink said.
Since My Kinderhouse offers boutique-style programming and an innovative approach to early childhood education with low teacher-student ratios, the students do not stay in one classroom but rotate throughout the entire facility learning at various subject-specific ateliers.
“This has required careful coordination and increased sanitization between teachers and their cohorts,” Gunnink said.
“At the curricular level, we are unable to use some sensory materials in children’s sensory and loose parts play as well as in our nature curriculum. Materials that cannot be washed or thoroughly cleaned such as sand, bark, twigs, and leaves cannot be used currently in our curriculum,” she said.
Adding, “Generally, we have integrated the new health requirements into our programming efficiently and effectively in a positive way. Overall, the COVID-19 pandemic has not changed our routines nor our curricular programming and learning outcomes in any way.”
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, My Kinderhouse has continued to grow and welcome new families and students.
My Kinderhouse has also expanded to add a developmentally appropriate online preschool program, led by a certified educator with many years of experience in education, that has had a successful uptake by families.
“Our program’s principles have been centered around the overall developmental growth and critical skill set acquisition of young children inclusive of socio-emotional skills, mental well-being, social and visual-motor skills, cognitive development such as language and numeracy skills, and kinaesthetic development,” Gunnink said.
“The sensitive period for children’s development is during the early years when the brain is most malleable. A pandemic does not change children’s developmental needs. In fact, it only serves to enhance the necessity for an increased emphasis and balance on the rights of children to be protected and nurtured physically and health-wise,” she said.
For Gunnink, the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need to afford children their procedural and participation rights in matters of their overall well-being.
“Children have a right to be social, to be agentic, to play, and to be expressive. They should be granted a voice in decisions that affect them, and they have a right to continue their learning and development with their peers and sense of normalcy in daily life,” Gunnink said.
“Young children are very sensitive to stress, toxic negativity, and anxiety in their environment and these adversely impact their brain development and in particular their cognitive mapping. Keeping children safe must also be accompanied by a commitment to their rights to overall development, and ensuring children are guided through both real and imagined pandemic fears, anxiety-producing media reporting with adequate coping strategies, in addition to ensuring children do not suffer developmental lags that will negatively impact them in the future either academically, emotionally or socially,” she said.
My Kinderhouse parents can expect that staffers will continue their commitment to maintaining AHS regulations and the provision of a high-quality education program and curricular materials in an atelier-style classroom setting.
“We will also continue to partner with our parent community to provide individualized education services through our low student-teacher ratios for a more personalized touch in early learning and care that they have come to expect,” Gunnink said.
Going forward, Gunnink is looking forward to being able to have more options authorized for extending sensory and nature play in the near future.
“Parents, in general, have been very appreciative of the great effort of the program and our staff to ensure maximum safety of children,” she said.
For more information please visit the My Kinderhouse website at, https://www.mykinderhouse.org/.
